Desire For Life And Thirst For Death

Beloved is one of Morrison's masterpieces, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1988. The novel not only explores the physical, mental, and cultural devastation wrought by slavery, but also reflects the sin of slavery which leads to Sethe's maternal distortion and black conflicts. What's more, it also tells us that the cruelty of slavery still creeps in the hearts of those characters who are former slaves even after they have achieved freedom, which makes it difficult for them to get rid of the shadow of the past. Where slavery and reminders exist, there is a loss of humanity and compassion. Beloved lays its emphasis on the inner part of self o reveal that born as slaves and fettered by the brutal slavery for so long a time, the blacks feel at a loss with no definite self-identity and self-consciousness. As is known that Morrison's Beloved concentrates on its characters's psychological impact caused by slavery, it is natural to use psychoanalysis approach to find out the novel's theme. This thesis is the result of the detailed study of the novel and numerous related references. It aims to let people learn about the history and legacy of slavery from Sethe's experience and points out the way for the future.The paper consists of seven parts:Chapter1:Introduction to the writer, the novel and psychoanalysis theory.Chapter2:Memory of motherChapter3:Memory of "Sweet Home"Chapter4:Memory of BelovedChapter5:Rememory or "disrememory"Chapter6:Release from "rememory"Conclusion:In the paper, the writer tries to explain that there is no help in deliberate forgetting for the protagonist and further identify that the struggle out of the dilemma of memory or "disremory" should go through a new way named as "rememory", an only access to recovery from the past and reconstructing the future.