Beloved

5 Pages 1293 Words

Toni Morrison's Beloved is a book about a community made up of individuals running away from their pasts. Learning how and what they are running from, it becomes obvious that no one can deal successfully with the burden of past memories alone. The black community is the core of African American culture and life. This is due in part by segregation and other socioeconomic factors, but also to the social unity of each black member. This was well exemplified in the Toni Morrison’s Beloved. Each former slave underwent struggles to mend the broken pieces of their lives and attempt to become independent members of the community. The black community played a major role in Beloved, especially with their interaction with Sethe, Baby Suggs and Paul D. The community would keep their support withdrawn from the family that lived in 124, so Baby Suggs, Sethe and Paul D are left to deal with their trials alone. So this paper will examine the role of the community in the lives of Sethe, Baby Suggs and Paul D. in Toni Morrison’s Beloved.
In Beloved we see the African concept about neighborhood, how community feeling and responsibilities prevail over the family structure. However, community can be very helpful or become destructive. Beloved is a good example of how the community can help people to find their identity, help runaways to escape and help exorcise Beloved. In talking with Paul D about Home Sweet Home and their past, Sethe says: "but it's where we were, All together. Comes back whether we want it to or not" (14). Although, “they a community life at “Sweet Home” (Jesser, 330), Sethe was determined to run away, as she did, from Home Sweet Home. After Sethe's escape from slavery, she traveled to Cincinnati to reunite with her children and mother-in-law. Baby Suggs. “An escape involves even more risk and requires greater reliance on connection to a community” (Jesser, 330). She arrived at 124, a house constantly filled with people ...