The Physical and Psychological Abuses of Slavery - Essay Example

Task: The bodily and mental mistreatment of slavery in Beloved There are several physical and psychological abuses of slavery addressed in Beloved. For instance, the physical mistreatment depicted by the author involves Sethe, the runaway slave who has managed to murder one of her daughters, Beloved and has the determination to murder the other three. Sethe does this to prevent a re-arrest from slave owners, who want to capture his family including the children (Bloom 88). Toni Morrison continues to indicate the ugly scars that dot the back of Sethe because of whippings, which has become hard to forget. A former slave, Stamp Paid, narrates in the book about the merciless lynching of up to eighty-seven Negroes in a year, in Kentucky (Keizer 199). The character laments the whipping of adults as kids and caning of youngster as grown men. In addition, there is the breaking of necks by the slave owners. There is even raping of black women by the crew of the slave owners. Additionally, the writer reveals to us the physical scars carried by Sethe’s mother, which are caused by psychological distress for Sethe. Paul, a former slave, cannot forget the physical humiliation when is compelled to wear a horse’s bit during his days in slavery. Similarly, Baby Suggs who is the mother-in-law to Sethe suffered broken hip, and she has a painful limp as a result of past beatings (Lister 37). It is because of such physical abuse that we realize the psychological dread of the character in her fear of being knocked down. The author also draws attention to the senseless lynching of Sixo by the white men. Toni Morrison further writes about the separation of the slaves away from their children. As a result, when a slave such as Sethe finds the opportunity to escape, she is willing to kill her children to avoid capturing by the slave masters. This because of the past traumas of beatings and whippings suffered both her mother Nan and now her. In addition, the forced separation between mother and child left the slaves with mental scars because of damaged family connection. The author says there is splintering of nuclear families as different members of the same family are sold to different slave masters (Li 44). Baby Suggs recalls with nostalgia the renting, loaning out, winning, mortgaging or stealing of slaves, which brings psychological stress and trauma to the victims. In other words, the author tries to present the subhuman treatment of the slaves by their masters with the intention of perpetuating a mental torture. We told Baby Suggs has no chances of having a complete family. This causes all her eight children to have different fathers, and she has no opportunity to see them grow to adulthood except for the last child Halle. Furthermore, the slaves are forced to change their family names and adopt that of their white owners. This causes the distress of lost identity, which haunts most, slaves and the impossibility of family connection to restore the identity (Raman 139). For example, Paul D laments the stripping of the black male of everything he owns from his real name, personal history and even self. The author, in this book, Beloved, furthermore depicts the mental trauma suffered by Sethe because of the recurrent sexual abuse by Mr. Garner. It this beastly acts forces Sethe to escape with the purpose of also linking up with her husband, Halle. Unfortunately, we learn that her husband cannot escape due to the psychological paralysis of forcefully seeing the sexual abuse of his wife. In the text, Morrison explains the determination of Sethe to guard her freedom at Cincinnati to the point of killing her children to avoid capture back to the farms. This psychological anxiety later forces Sethe to murder one of her daughters (McDonald 227). This is so disturbing even to Mr. Garner who had come take them back to slavery and he leaves without doing so. Additionally, this act of murdering her own child makes Sethe an outcast among the other African Americans, which later causes to suffer the psychological pains regret and remorse. This is made worse by the return of the murdered child as a ghost who now haunts Sethe and members of other family. The ghosts of the murdered child, Beloved leaves a trail of fear, dread, apprehension among those who happen to live in the house of 124 Bluestone Road in Cincinnati. Toni Morrison tells us for twenty one years the foul memories of killing her daughter haunts Sethe to the point of mental and emotional breakdown. Beloved, the slain daughter, appears to her mother, her sister, Denver and another freed slave and friend of Sethe, Paul D (Wyatt 46). As a result, of the guilt of her past mistake, Sethe decides to respond to all the wishes of her dead daughter. This is heightened by the desire of Denver to know her sister, which causes, a continued psychological tension in the entire book. Finally, the author presents loss of maternal self among the main characters such as Sethe and Baby Suggs. There is a form of disturbed motherhood among these characters due to a lack of their own voices in the struggle to attain their lost identity. According the author, the robbing of these two women of their natural maternal roles is the cause of all psychological tension and anxiety. This in turn, affects characters such as Denver and Paul D. In other words, the female characters lose their maternal power in their quest to be free which later creates emotional gap of losing control (Schreiber 37). For instance, Sethe cannot recollect her birthplace despite her age and role as a mother. It is only after the revelation by an eight year old does she recognize her mother. In this aspect, there is a psychological humiliation of not being in control of one’s identity and self hence causing a psychological abuse of self. Furthermore, the writer depicts the extreme maternal passion of Sethe brought by persistent physical and psychological abuse in slavery in murdering her daughter, Beloved. Furthermore, due to interference with maternal power of a woman such as Sethe due to past abuses of mental and physical nature, she takes long to recognize her true personality (Rodriguez 123). Works Cited Bloom, Harold. Toni Morrison. New York, NY: InfoBase Publishing, 2005. Print. Keizer, Arlene. Black subjects: identity formation in the contemporary narrative of slavery. New York, NY: Cornell University Press, 2004. Print. Li, Stephanie. Something akin to freedom: the choice of bondage in narratives by African American women. New York, NY: SUNY Press, 2010. Print. Lister, Rachel. Reading Toni Morrison. West Port, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2009. Print. McDonald, Katrina. Embracing sisterhood: class, identity, and contemporary Black Women. Maryland, MA: Rowman & Littlefield, 2007, Print. Raman, Meenakshi. Critical perspectives in American literature. New York, NY: Atlantic Publishers, 2005. Print. Rodriguez, Junius. Encyclopedia of slave resistance and rebellion, Volume 1. West Port, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2007. Print. Schreiber, Evelyn. Race, Trauma, and Home in the Novels of Toni Morrison. Louisiana, LA: LSU Press, 2010. Print. Wyatt, Jean. Risking difference: identification, race, and community in contemporary fiction and feminism. New York, NY: SUNY Press, 2004. Print. Yu, Yi-Lin. Mother, she wrote: matrilineal narratives in contemporary women's writing. New York, NY: Peter Lang Publishers, 2005. Print.   Read More