Beloved: Literary Analysis

Undoubtedly, slavery is one of the most immoral practices known to man. In Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin and Toni Morrison’s Beloved, slavery is one of the main themes of their stories. However, because slavery had many associations throughout each novel, I decided to focus on the evil of slavery. While Stowe and Morrison don’t directly state that slavery creates an outcome of evilness, they do provide many situations where it can be subtly acknowledged.

            Throughout both novels, many relationships between slaves and their owners are portrayed. Some of them better than others, as is the case between Eliza Harris and Mrs. Shelby, St. Clare and Tom, Miss Ophelia and Topsy, etc. Relationships between Sethe and Mrs. Garner, and Paul D and Mr. Garner can be among those generally better as well. On the other hand, there are even more cases where relationships are much worse, as is the case with many of Stowe’s characters including: Marie St. Clare and all the slaves on the property, Mr. Shelby and Tom, Legree and Tom, etc., along with the majority of Morrisons characters such as Sethe and Schoolteacher, Mr. Garner and the Sweet Home boys, and Sixo and Schoolteacher. Through the latter listed character relationships, the evil slavery creates can be seen through stages in each novel.

            The evil of slavery is introduced early on in both of novels through their respective characters. In Uncle Tom’s Cabin, readers are drawn into the theme through Mr. Shelby, Mr. Haley, Eliza, and Harry. Upon seeing young Harry, Mr. Haley, the slave trader, tells Mr. Shelby, “Fling in that chap and I’ll settle the business- I will” (4). This interact displays the evilness of slavery by so easily talking about buying and selling a child. In this scene, the boy isn’t even seen as a boy, but a thing- an object. On top of all this, there is no regard given towards his family- their feelings, thoughts, or reactions. None whatsoever. Altogether, Mr. Haley and Mr. Shelby’s discussion comes across as because it casually takes about removing a child from his home and family without any thought given towards Harry’s well-being. A similar situation occurs in Beloved between Sethe and Schoolteacher’s boys while Sethe recalls a time during her pregnancy at Sweet Home. She goes on to reveal that “[Schoolteacher’s] boys came in. . . And took my milk. That’s what they came in there for. Held me down and took it” (19). Here it becomes evident that the evil of slavery is illustrated by denying a mother from her biological and social right to care for her child. Even though she was beat while pregnant, the fact that they took her breast milk was the bigger of the two evils committed against her− she too was seen as an object rather than a person just like young Harry. Between both novels, the authors illustrate the wickedness of slavery through showing their characters as simple objects amongst slave owners.

            The evil of slavery continues to progress to more dramatic levels as the story goes on. It reaches news levels when Marie St. Clare is introduced. The first few words Marie says are “it’s we mistresses that are the slaves, down here” (153) and “[the slaves are] selfish-dreadfully selfish; it’s the fault of the whole race” (153). Her words come across as ignorant and blinded from reality. Marie, herself, is the exact opposite of a slave. She lives to be doted upon every minute of her life. For her to compare herself to a slave shows how slavery has evolved people (slave owners) morals and ethics so horribly. Likewise, a group of farmers tell Mr. Garner, “Ain’t no nigger men” (12). Their statement, like Marie’s, comes across as very ignorant and blinded from reality. Clearly, people who were slaves at the time where human beings. However, their denial shows how slavery dehumanized the entire being of slaves. As their stories continue, Stowe and Morrison manage to present the evil of slavery in more shocking ways.

            Death can be seen as the most heinous connection to slavery. Towards the end novel, Tom is brought by Mr. Legree, a vicious slave owner, who has no hesitancy in violently disciplining his slaves. Tom, in particular, becomes the target of this anger when “. . . the spirit of evil came back, with seven-fold vehemence; and Legree, foaming with rage, smote his victim to the ground” (374). This moment leads to Tom’s inevitable death. However, the evil of slavery can be seen through the death of Tom and other slave because they’re good people. Tom didn’t deserve to die; he died protecting his friends and values. In comparison, Sethe’s history reveals that she as “a pretty little slavegirl had recognized a hat, and split to the woodshed to kill her children” (186). Ultimately, she only managed to kill her youngest child, Beloved. Yet her actions go to show that even the most innocent of people are not protected against slavery. An innocent slave’s demise, like Tom’s and Beloved’s, represents the utmost evil of slavery.

            Throughout Uncle Tom’s Cabin and Beloved, Stowe and Morrison use the theme of slavery to illustrate how it creates evilness. When the relationships between the slave owners and the slaves themselves are looked at both at the surface and underneath, the evil that lingers from the practice of slavery can be found. With each interaction, from small to large, the evil of slavery can be seen increasingly. Overall, its significance rests in the fact that slavery manages to manipulate and sway people away from true morals and ethics. 

Works Cited

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

Stowe, Harriet Beecher., and Elizabeth Ammons. Uncle Tom's cabin: Authoritative Text Backgrounds and Contexts Criticism. New York: Norton, 2010. Print.