The Ethical Literary Interpretation Of Beloved By Toni Morrison

From the angle of ethical literary criticism, Toni Morrison’s Beloved is interpreted by thisthesis. It analyzes the ethical factors in Beloved from three different layers of relationships:human-society relationship, human-other relationship, human-self relationship, and at lastcome to the conclusion of the pursuit of truth, good and sublimation by the author.This thesis consists of five chapters including introduction and conclusion.Corresponding definitions are given at the beginning of each chapter and then detailedanalysis of this novel supports them and ends up with a brief conclusion.A brief presentation of Toni Morrison and her works is given in the introduction, whichalso includs the literature review at home and abroad and theoretical sources of the thesis, atthe same time, the reasons why the present author chooses it as the research object and thesignificance of the thesis are also unfolded.Chapter one makes analysis on the human-society relationship by narrowing down itsconnotation to three different kinds of relationships: the relationships between Sweet Homeand its members, the black community and the black people, the black people and themainstream society. In this part, a universal truth is brought forth by Toni Morrison that therelationship between black people and black community (society in a small scope) should beharmonious for each party’s sake; thus this text demonstrates efforts of her unwearied pursuitof truth in terms of human-society relationship, thus a conclusion is reached.Morrison’s pursuit of good in terms of human-other relationship in Beloved is exploredin detail in chapter two. At the very beginning, motherhood is an embodiment of goodpursued by Morrison. Then, as the development of the novel, independence, equality, love,and friendship take the other shapes of good. The readers’ hearts is filled with hope by Amy’s assistance for Sethe and the Bodwins’ warmness and kindness toward the black people in theneighborhood certainly. Through Beloved, a lesson is imparted us by Toni Morrison that theequality, independence, respect and mutual love represent ideal human-other relationshipamong black people.The third chapter tackles the most intrinsic and hard-to-probe relationship—human-selfrelationship (the relationship between a human being and his inner self). This thesis probesinto the life stories of Sethe and Paul D to dig out Morrison’s moral pursuit in terms ofhuman-self relationship. In the text, before Sethe overcomes her misery past and starts acompletely brand new life, she experiences a rough time and suffering process and finallyPaul D finds his once lost self and becomes a true man. Therefore, it is safe to conclude thatself-reflection, repentance, self-control and the desire of being a better and nobler person arethe concrete forms of Morrison pursuit of sublimation.The last chapter is the conclusion of the paper. In Beloved, Morrison goes on dealingwith her constant motif of black community and relationships between human beings but in adifferent background and a brand-new era. Such moral notions as truth, harmony,independence, equality, self-control, self-reflection, repentance, and mutual love are keyelements of Morrison’s philosophical and ethical belief. Her intense confidence and faith inlove of all kinds reveal to us that love is Morrison’s cure and the only cure for all problems.