A Mothers Love

Term Paper Title	A Mothers Love
# of Words	739
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	2.96

A Mothers Love

A Mothers Love The idea of a ghost story or horror story has long since been
introduced into the world of American literature starting in the late 18th
century. These works played with the idea of life after death and its effects on
the present. The term gothic or gothic horror has been used to describe this
form of literature. The literary meaning of the gothic style of is hard to
define, but to give it a simple meaning the gothic is when the supernatural
encounters the natural. In the novel Beloved by Toni Morrison this form of the
gothic is used. The story involves Sethe, an ex-slave, whom the ghost of her
dead daughter haunts. The ghost of this novel is a two year old who is young in
age, yet strong in power. The character Sethe, is based on the real life story
of the slave Margaret Garner. On Jan. 28, 1856, Garner killed her two-year-old
daughter rather than have her sent back to slavery due to the fugitive slave
law. Garner was later found guilty and sent back to the plantation she fled in
Mississippi. The story of Beloved delves into the most painful part of the
African American heritage, slavery. The memory of this horrifying time is
presented in what Morrison calls �rememory�-- actively making the past real
in the present. The novel is set during the Reconstruction(1870-1890) which
follows the Civil War and emancipation. Much of the characters� pain occurs as
they themselves try to �reconstruct� their families, communities and their
own sense of identity. While this novel has been compared many times to that of
a slave narrative, Morrison chooses to use the gothic to tell her story. Yes
this novel does use slave narrative form, but it explores a greater range with
the gothic. Morrison chooses to use the gothic because it allows her to explore
the true effects of her characters and their effects on each other. The novel is
broken into three major parts. As part one opens Morrison introduces the house
with, �124 was spiteful. Full of baby�s venom. The woman knew it and so did
the children� (Morrison 3). Immediately the reader is thrown into this house
with a ghost that is spiteful. The only surviving members of the family are
Denver, the child Sethe was carrying in her escape to freedom, and Sethe...

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