Figurative Language In Toni Morrison's Beloved

1500 Words6 Pages

Analysis of Toni Morrison's Beloved
The book Beloved by Toni Morrison is a very interesting but peculiar book. The book flashes back from the present, past, and future, so often, you really have to pay attention or you will get lost. The book overviews slave's life, but goes into detail about one slave, Sethe. Toni Morrison, of Beloved creates a magic-realistic story based on the life of Margaret Garner, who escaped slavery just like the main character. Between Sethe and Beloved, there is always a dramatic situation occurring. Sethe, a former slave, lives in house 124 in Cincinnati, Ohio along with her daughter, Denver, her two sons, Howard and Buglar, and Baby Snuggs, her mother-in-law. Many years ago Sethe gave birth to a beautiful baby girl but ended up killing her while she was just a sweet little infant to keep her from getting taken by the slave catchers and being treated horribly as a slave. After she killed her baby many people that knew Sethe, held a grudge against her including her mother-in-law. Proceeding the death of Sethe’s baby, Baby Snuggs became very ill and eventually passed away. The death of Baby Snuggs caused Howard and Buglar to …show more content…

Morrison uses figurative language in such a way you can see much more than what is presented to you in black and white. Morrison is able to create a vivid image in your mind with the way she uses figurative language. “Some things go. Pass on. Some things just stay. I used to think it was my rememory. You know. Some things you forget. Other things you never do. But it's not. Places, places are still there. If a house burns down, it's gone, but the place-- the picture of it--stays, and not just in my rememory, but out there, in the world.”(Morrison 21)
In this excerpt from the book you can see Morrison’s unique word choice, she uses the word rememory to describe a memory you revisit. Her word choice is unique and the way she uses it is what helps make the meaning of the

Open Document