Maternal Bond in Toni Morrisons Beloved Essay -- Toni Morrison Belove

Maternal Bond in Toni Morrisons Beloved The maternal bond between sustain and kin is valued and important in in all cultures. Mothers and children are linked together and joined physically, by womb and breast and emotionally, by a sense of self and possession. Once that bond is established, a experience will do anything for her child. In the novel Beloved, the author, Toni Morrison, describes a woman, Sethe, whos bond is so strong she goes to great lengths to keep her children safe and protected from the evil that she knows. She gave them the throw of life, then, adding to that, the joy of freedom. Determined to shield them from the hell of slavery, she took drastic measures to keep them from that life. But, in doing so, the bond that was her specialness became her weakness, destroying the only thing she loved. Slaves, in the United States, were denied everything -- all forms of identifying with the human race. They were denied their freedom of life the very right to appreci ate and revere the beauty of nature in the world, it not being theirs to enjoy. Additionally, they were denied the very behavior in which all humans identify themselves -- through the influence of others. They were disallowed federation and harmony among their peoples. Children were taken from their mothers, and brothers from their sisters. Dr. Kubitcheck says, ?Another crucial percent of identity and culture, language, likewise has been lost to the slaves? (126). Individual slaves were often placed on plantations with other slaves from assorted parts of Africa, speaking completely different languages, and thus having no port of communication between them. ?Symbolically,? Kubitcheck says, ?slavery . . . obliterated African identity? (126). Because... ...ing - the part of her that was clean? (251). Sethe?s ?commitment to her children remains unshakable,? Kubitcheck says (123). Though her actions were appalling and smutty according to the community, it was d one with a sense of love and protection, so as not to break the maternal bond. The bond between a mother and her child is beyond the grasp of words. Toni Morrison, in Beloved, tries to take hold of it. Creating a character who is so consumed by her children being a measure of her worth, Morrison shows the strength of the maternal bond. It is that which has the power to love something or someone with all one?s heart. It is that love which, giving life, is strong enough to kill. Works Cited 1. Kubitcheck, MD. Toni Morrison A Critical Companion. London Greenwood Press, 1998. 2. Morrison, Toni. Beloved. New York Plume, 1987.