Abstract

Beloved, by Toni Morrison, is one of the representative works of Black Feminism. It was published in 1987, which attracts lots of scholars’ attention and raises great influence in American literature. 

The whole story is concerned about a black slave mother: Sethe who has a miserable and desperate motherhood. In order to protect her children from being slaves, living without dignity and freedom, she kills them. Eighteen years passing by, the daughter who was killed 18 years ago comes back and lives in Sethe’s home, which stirs up great influence.

This paper is divided into five parts. The first part briefly introduces Toni Morrison’s life and background of Beloved. The second part is the theory of Black Feminism. The third part is literature review. The fourth part focuses on analyzing the complexity and multiplicity of motherhood of Sethe, Baby Suggs and Sethe’s mother. The fifth part analyzes the causes of motherhood’s multiplicity and complexity. Finally, it is the conclusion of this paper. 

Key Word: motherhood; multiplicity; complexity; black feminism, self-consciousness

Contents

Abstract

摘要

1 Introduction .1

2 The Theory of Black Feminism-2

2.1 Formation and Development-2

2.2 The Black Feminism in Toni Morrison’s Novel-3

3 Literature Review-4

4 Deformed Motherhood in Beloved-5

4.1 Sethe’s Motherhood-6

4.1.1 The Twist Experience-6

4.1.2 Embodiment of Multiplicity-6

4.1.3 Embodiment of Complexity-8

4.2 Baby Suggs’ Motherhood-9

4.2.1 The Bearable Experience-9

4.2.2 Embodiment of Multiplicity-10

4.2.3 Embodiment of Complexity-11

4.3Sethe’s Mother’s Motherhood-11

4.3.1 The Unbending Experience-11

4.3.2 Embodiment of Multiplicity-12

4.3.3 Embodiment of Complexity-12

5 Causes for Motherhood’s Multiplicity and Complexity13

5.1 Deprivation of the Nurturing Nature13

5.2 The Slavery Background13

5.3 The Influence of Community on Motherhood…14

6 Conclusions14

References.16