The Image Of Mother In Toni Morrison's Beloved

Beloved by Toni Morrison is undoubtedly one of the important texts of modern African American literature, and it has got great concern of readers interested in it. With themes ranging from slavery to feminism and mothering, it offers critical commentary on the past as well as the place of the African American within modern society.Issues of motherhood in literature are recognized as an important discourse. Morrison exposes the illogical demands made on black women in her Beloved. The thesis highlights the constructedness of the contemporary motherhood. The thesis employs Fuss's and Glenn's social constructionism approach, especially in discussing women and mothers who tend to be marginalized in society. This thesis examines the social construction of mothering, both for mothers that chose motherhood, and for those upon whom motherhood was imposed; the dismantling of mothering stereotypes; and the way racial tragedies, culture, and survival define a mother's role. Is a mother born or made? The thesis would argue that a mother, although influenced by essential aspects of her separate self, is made. Social constructionism, is at the center of this thesis due to the African-American mothers addressed within their specific environments.This thesis consists of five parts: Introduction, Chapter One, Chapter Two, Chapter Three and Conclusion. In Introduction a background to the author and novel is presented, and the main course of the research is set.Chapter One explores the social construction of slavery motherhood. It begins with presentation of the theoretical background on social constructionism and essentialism in relation to Beloved. The applications of theoretical concepts to the mothering aspects of Morrison's novel are presented here. Chapter One also looks at mothering under pressure and threat. The essential aspect of mothering, the desire to protect the offspring, to preserve life in a positive framework, is what truly unites the behaviors of all mothers. The thesis argues then that their actions under pressure are what destereotype them.Chapter Two mainly examines Sethe's mothering experience. Here, the thesis, especially in terms of Sethe, distinguishes how mothers' reactions to situations, though seemingly "animalistic" are, in fact, logically thought out, using human reasoning. If, according to society, the essential aspects of mothering are to be loving, caring, and nurturing, then it is through circumstances that a mother must determine how she can best be all these things, doing what is "best" for her child or children. The thesis argues that the essentialism of motherhood changes the minute we are born because we are instantly influenced by our environment. Yet our own mothers play an important role even in those adaptations.Chapter Three addresses the destereotyping function of the novel. The focus of the thesis here is on the breakdown of the stereotype of mother as a result of racial and cultural oppressions in the most extreme circumstances, or after these extreme circumstances, illustrating that the cultures themselves are not always supportive of mothers and their inherent roles in society. The character of Baby Suggs has also been analyzed.Conclusion holds that the socially constructed mother who embraces motherhood rejects essentialism, rejects the essential aspects of motherhood in order to do what she feels is "right," rather than what is expected by society as a human mother. Mothers are undoubtedly constructed by the society in which they act as caregivers, nurturers. Thus, one must treat with respect to these culturally diverse mothers whether the essential aspects of being a mother transcend the socially constructed aspects of motherhood or not. Their desire and ultimate goal is still keeping their children and themselves alive.