On the Subversion of Mother’s Role in Beloved.docVIP

On the Subversion of Mother’s Role in Beloved 　　【Abstract】 Beloved is a classic novel by the American writer Toni Morrison, set after the American Civil War (1861–1865). It tells a story about a mother Sethe who kills her daughter to prevent her from being recaptured. In this story, the role of a mother is subverted by Sethe’s killing of her baby. This paper tries to analyze the subversion of mother’s role in Beloved form two aspects: 1. motherhood and slavery 2. breaking of stereotyped mother images 　　【Key words】slaverysubversionmotherhood 　　Introduction 　　Sethe, a poor slave, lives in a Kentucky plantation where she is maltreated both physically and spiritually. In the plantation, woman slave’s body is not only sexually abused but also her rights to be a mother are deprived of as well. She flees with her children to get rid of this miserable life when the posse arrives to seize them back a tragedy happens. In order to save her children free from the brutal slavery system Sethe let her children die rather than live. Beloved is such a novel to explore to what extent mother and daughter bond are destroyed. In other words, the mothers role is destroyed under slavery system. 　　1、Motherhood and Slavery 　　As a capable black woman and as a mother, Sethe feels obligated to provide Beloved, whether her daughter or not, everything she can do to satisfy her. Therefore, her job as mother, caretaker, life-giver and life-maintainer is never-ending, and because it is never-ending, it has the potential to take her to her grave. Sethe bears in mind that she loves Beloved and fears losing Beloved before she can make her understand that worse than killing her own daughter is the slavery. 　　For Sethe the most important thing she values and slavery has not taken away from her is motherhood. 　　However, on the plantation, the black women’s nurturance—from nursing milk to energy is used up primarily in working fields and tending white children. Sethe is able to have her children w