Motherhood or Slavery?

The article I read was “Slavery and Motherhood in Toni Morrison's Beloved” by Terry Paul Caesar. The main argument in the article was that being a mother is like slavery because you belong to your children. I somewhat agree with this point because mothers cater to their children and put them before everyone else. Which was what the slave owners wanted from their slaves. Mothers are also the most loyal person to their kids, as well as slaves to their owners. Slaves and their owners don't have a positive relationship similar to Sethe and her offsprings.

The author of the article brings up the point that the book was based more on motherhood than slavery. I agree with this because even though Beloved has a great amount of references to slavery it was more focused on the relationship between Sethe and her children including Beloved. Sethe and Beloved were never able to have an actual mother daughter connection. The school teacher came with other men to try and take Sethe and her kids “Inside, two boys bled in the sawdust and dirt at the feet of a nigger women holding a blood-soaked child to her chest with one hand and an infant by the heels in the other”(Morrison 175). The action Sethe took will haunt her forever and also affect her children that survived. Sethe's love for her children made her make impulsive decisions. Although Beloved dies Sethe lost her self respect and worth, the townspeople viewed her differently after that as well. Sethe ruins Denver's life in addition because she is not allowed to go to school or go outside her house due to that too.  When Denver find out that Sethe killed Beloved as infant she develops fear for her mother. Denver is scared that Sethe will get in that mindset and kill her too. Sethe committed a tragedy like many slaves owners do. The cards flipped now Sethe seems like the slave owner and her children are the slaves.

Another point the author discusses in the article is that Sethe did not have “enough milk for her children” in reality meaning love. The reason why is because she is so scar with the trauma she has from being a past slave. Sethe's version of love for her children is killing them to help them not live the painful experience of being a slave. Even though most people argue that Sethe's was wrong for doing this it could be justified. Later Paul D asks Sethe to have a child together but Sethe quickly declines the offer because she cannot go through the process of having kids because it's like being in slavery. Sethe did not only suffered for being a slave but also a mother.