Critical Lens Experts Blog Entry

Text: Figurations of Rape and the Supernatural in Beloved

Critical Lens: Feminism Lens

Beloved

Slavery was known as a historical period filled with horror and pain for thousands of slaves around the world. Specifically looking at the United States, there were thousands of slaves that endured poor working and living conditions on a daily basis. Majority of slaves that were forcefully shipped to the United States, they didn't do it out of seeking a better life for fambam, they did it because they had no choice. the US made them slaves no matter what their choice was. It wasn't to help their family.Slaves endured lots of trauma either being mental, physical, or emotional and often led them to remain silent in order to forget the trauma they faced when working in the plantations. To understand slavery in a deeper level, each country had their own policies regarding  slavery. For instance, in the United States, each state enforced different policies regarding to slavery such as the amount of slaves each person should have, their age requirements, and plantation size limits for each slave owner. If most slave owners disobeyed state policies, they wouldn’t have their property taken away however each will have less slaves working in their plantations.

Ending Slavery

When reading Pamela E. Barnett’s article, Figurations of Rape and the Supernatural in Beloved, she explains controversial issues involving the divisions towards race, gender, and the social class during the mid 1800s early 1900s. Taking a closer glimpse Pamela E. Barnett, she is an English professor at Emory University and has knowledge of various books and the different perspectives that are shown in those books. Knowing that Barnett is an English professor, she manages to acknowledge various perspectives of novels like Beloved which helps students and readers fully understand a book. Racial, gender and social divisions that happened in the novel were the whites had more power over the African Americans during slavery. The African Americans would be very cautious around the whites, but would fight back in any possible way.

Recalling the article, Barnett also explains how a person’s conflicts between a person, society, and past events can affect you when someone comes into your life and does not only cause a negative change but also helps reveal the truth of what a person is capable of doing through their actions. Toni Morrison’s novel Beloved, there are several conflicts shown with other characters such as Beloved, Sethe, Paul D, and American society. For example, looking at Beloved’s character, she was illustrated as a haunted baby ghost who manages to make other characters remember their past causing them to think of events they wish had never occurred like Sethe killed Beloved or Paul D to remember his past and what he did. Beloved disappears but no one knew where she was was later found at a farm. Beloved manages to come back in the novel by walking out of the water, a symbol that she was reborn. She comes back to haunt everyone because of her mother's actions towards her, killing her at an young age due to protection and purity.