English IV: Beloved by Toni Morrison: Home

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"Toni Morrison with Her Book Beloved in New York, 1987." Gale Biography in Context. Detroit: Gale, 2010.Biography in Context. Web. 5 Nov. 2015.

African-American Voices

N. L. Eisenberg

Beloved Essay

Write a clear, well-organized,  multi-paragraph essay (4 pages) in response to one of the following questions.  Your essay must begin with an introductory paragraph ending in a thesis statement.  Each body paragraph must contain at least two quotations from the text. In addition, you must parenthetically cite at least two critical sources and submit a Works Cited page.

1. Discuss the Biblical references in the novel.  What is Morrison suggesting in each?
2. In speaking of the novel, the critic Michiko Kakutani says that “redemption may be found in forgetting” while another critic, Sherley Anne Williams says that redemption may be found in remembering.  Is this novel about remembering or forgetting?  Be sure to include discussion of “rememory,” “something that is gone yet remains.”
3. Many critics believe that Denver is the central character in the novel.  Referring to the text, defend this stance.
4. Discussing any two of the three, Sethe, Paul D, and Denver, explore the role of the past in the creation of identity.
5. Consider one of the following motifs:  motherhood, manhood, community, resilience of the human spirit.  Referring to the text, discuss what Morrison is saying about the motif.  You must treat the motif fully, referring to passages throughout the novel.
6. What is the significance of the final chapter of the novel?  Of the repeated line, “It is/was not a story to pass on.”?
7. Before she leaves the yard to get help for her family, Denver recalls her grandmother’s words:  “Know it, and go on out the yard.  Go on” (244).  What is the significance of Baby Suggs’ advice for the novel as a whole?
8. Who or what is Beloved?
9. A critic has said that Stamp Paid and Sixo are existential individuals.  Discuss.
10. Discuss the significance to the novel as a whole of three of the four repeating images in the novel:  water, milk, trees, money.
11. This novel has much to say about reclaiming the self and reestablishing a sense of self when that sense has been severely assaulted.  Consider characters who lose and gain a sense of self.  What contributes to the processes of loss and reestablishing?  Discuss two of the three characters:  Sethe, Paul D., and Denver.
12. The critic Ashraf Rushdy writes:  “The novel both remembers the victimization of the ex-slaves who are its protagonists and asserts the healing and wholeness that those protagonists carry with them in their communal lives….Morrison…writes from the double perspective of accusation and hope, of criticizing the past and caring for the future.”  Defend or refute this statement.

Your thesis statement and thesis strands are due Friday, November 13.  The rough draft is due Thursday, November 19.  The final copy is due Thursday, December 3.   

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