Analysis Of Toni Morrison's Beloved

“Dearly Beloved, we have gathered here today to get through this crazy thing called life.” Worldwide musical icon, Prince, begins his hit song “Let’s Go Crazy” with this line. He, like many other entertainers, artists, and writers, strives to make sense of the tumultuous journey that all people go on in search of happiness. Toni Morrison, an award-winning African American writer, and author of the novel, Beloved, provides her own commentary regarding humanity’s struggle for happiness. This science-fiction novel, set in the time period following the American Civil War and published in 1987, takes advantage of her audience’s love for mystery to force people to confront the country’s resistance to discuss the trauma and oppression plaguing the African American community for centuries. Morrison composes a story that implores modern Americans to keep slavery, and the devastating consequences that trouble its victims, in the forefront of American history in order to encourage progressive social changes for African Americans in society. Beloved follows the story of a woman who escapes the clutches of slavery, moves north, and, years later, must make a horrifying decision for the sake of her family. The Fugitive Slave Clause declared that any escaped slaves must be returned to their owners regardless of the legality of slavery in state they are found in. Unfortunately for Sethe, the manager of her former plantation, “Schoolteacher,” located her in Ohio and attempted to return her