Beloved: Critical Commentary

           In Peter J. Capuano’s article “Truth in Timbre: Morrison’s Extension of Slave Narrative Song in Beloved,” he claims Morrison uses songs in order to show readers the humanity of her characters. I believe Capuano’s interpretation is clearly seen in the novel. Capuano stated, “Beloved’s victims use song to reclaim and affirm their personhood in an aggressively inhumane world” (98). This goes to show that the only way for the slaves in Beloved to truly express themselves is through song. Their actions and spoken words couldn’t be their own but that of their slave owners and oppressors. However, the combination of song and singing belonged to the slave and those oppressed, and became their own form of acceptance, communication and identity to express themselves as group of people in a world of hate. For example, Capuano brings up the neighborhood women singing for Sethe. He goes on to say that, “the ‘singing women’ in this section confirm Sethe’s re-instatement into the neighborhood, into motherhood, and most importantly, into humanity” (102). Furthermore, goes to show that through the act of singing those who were slaves and those currently oppressed used it to ground themselves and others.

            Capuano’s interpretation of the text adds to the understanding of the novel by establishing the importance of a custom that many readers may have overlooked in Beloved. While the general public usually associates slaves with narrative songs, the significance between the two is often lost. However, Morrison manages to subtly bring to light the connection song has on the humanity of her characters. 

Works Cited

Dobbs, Cynthia. “Toni Morrison's Beloved: Bodies Returned, Modernism Revisited.” African American Review, vol. 32, no. 4, 1998, pp. 563–578., www.jstor.org/stable/2901237.

Morrison, Toni. Beloved. London: Vintage, 2010. Print.