Race and the American Novel Project Part 4 of 4

Reader Response:

I started with Barnes and Nobel reviews of the novel Beloved. Responses rate from "A masterwork" to "Shattering emotional power and impact." Readers of the novel find this to be a very powerful and beautifully-written novel that will last forever. I can't say that I was emotionally impacted by this novel, however there were some moments that struck me as powerful. One response states "I can't imagine American literature without it". I'm not so sure I agree, coming from a student that hasn't read a lot of American Lit. books. I don't get emotionally attached to books. Some may pull on my heart strings but it's not excessive. This novel has obviously struck many readers of American Lit. as one of the greatest novels ever published, and I don't disagree. This novel is very powerful and is a great read. It's not something younger generations would read, however. That's just my opinion. 

Next I took a look at Goodreads. The reviews were similar to the Barnes and Nobel ones, from "One of the best books I have ever read in the course in my short life" to "Sorry Stephen King: evil clowns and alcoholic would-be writers are pretty creepy, but they just got nothing on the terrifying specter of American slavery!" However, I read more hate-responses on this one than the last. One review response absolutely hated this novel. He stated "I found Beloved incomprehensible to the point of absurdity." Well it is true that the book can be a little incomprehensible and confusing, but that's how Toni Morrison writes and you have to respect that. I guess it's not for everyone. To each his own. 

Lastly, I looked at Amazon. Many of the reviews comment on the confusing narrative of the novel and the chronological order of the noevel, but they also comment on how powerful it is. An English teacher writes that teaching it is difficult an to " Expect to be disoriented at the beginning, but the plot clears up as you go and then you can go back and re-read the opening chapters." I don't doubt that this novel is difficult to teach. Students need to be able to fully understand what the author's intentions were and that the novel is supposed to be complex. Being able to talk about the confusing parts as well as the more in-depth parts of the novel are really helpful when reading it. Whereas reading it for pleasure for the first time rather in a classroom might take more time to understand. Like I stated before, the book isn't for everyone. I like the supernatural genre as much as the next person but this kind of supernatural didn't spark interest. I do agree that this is a very powerful, complex, and intriguing read. 

Race and the American Novel Project: Part 3 of 4

Synthesis: 

One major theme I've chosen to represent Beloved and Uncle Tom's Cabin is FAMILY. I chose this theme because family is a valuable asset in both novels. The characters in both novels are willing to do anything to protect their families, even if that means kill one of their own, such as Sethe in Beloved. Family creates power and there is power in numbers. Sethe choosing to kill one of her children gave her power over the slave owners. In Uncle Tom's Cabin, mothers also killed their children. Family differed in the novel, though. One family was willing to help the slaves, one would have turned in the slaves, and another had a neutral feeling towards the slaves. In this sense, family also gave the characters power - power over the slaves. Complete opposites when comparing the novels together. The characters also find family in others. They are willing to fight for one another. 

However, family is also torn apart. For example, in Beloved Sethe, Paul D., and Denver cannot stay together for some reason. It seems as though Beloved tore the family apart. In Uncle Tom's Cabin, families are also torn apart. The slaves' families are separated from beginning to end. Children are taken away from their mothers, wives taken from husbands...and even when they escape, some don't make it, and some have to learn to survive for themselves. The killing of children because of slavery happens in both novels. It's horrible to think of ever killing someone you love. I don't think I could do it. 

Race and the American Novel Project: Part 2 of 4

Contemporary Connections:

I chose to use the Ferguson, Missouri riots after the shooting of Michael Brown as an example of racial issues that exist in America in 2015 (even though it was in 2014, it's pretty relevant). 

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-30190224

In connection to Beloved, I see the history of slavery/racism between white Americans and African-Americans impacting the reactions of events like the shooting of an African-American by a white police officer. But in this case, and similar cases, African-Americans fight back. Whereas, in the time of Beloved, African-Americans couldn't or didn't choose to fight back. 

Currently in 2015, racism still exists. And it's too excessive nowadays. Everyone is blaming actions of others on race. Like the Ferguson shooting, no one can tell the story of what really happened, and one isn't going to believe the other because of the race issue. Nobody really takes the time to think that the police officer did what he had to do because it's part of his job. It's not racist, it's the fact that someone was hostile and the instinct was to shoot. I'm in no way defending the killing of someone, nor am I saying the kid deserved to die. It could've ended differently on both sides of the argument. Racism is taken to the extremes nowadays, whereas in the times of Beloved, racism was...not accepted but it was normal. People were used to it. The people in 2015 should be used to it as well. But the race-card is played too many times. 

Race and the American Novel Project: Part 1 of 4

Critical Commentary:

Using the UW-Manitowoc library database "JSTOR", I came across an article titled "Remodeling the Model Home in Uncle Tom's Cabin and Beloved" written by Lori Askeland. The article compares both Uncle Tom's Cabin and Beloved in terms of setting and the structural aspects of the homes in both novels. It states that "Beloved is set in part in the same place and during the same period as Uncle Tom's Cabin" (Askeland 787), it's near Cincinnati in 1873, and that both novelists "use and remodel traces of slave history to create narratives that will also remodel the ideologies that dominate the country's power structure. Yet both novels remain haunted by the figures that represent power" (787-788). The author of this article suggests that the remodeling of the houses in both novels symbolize power. 

In response to this article, I was amazed at what Lori Askeland had written. She states that both houses are "ultimately owned and haunted by a patriarchal figure who cannot be easily overcome" (791). It makes a lot of sense. Beloved is the figure that cannot be easily overcome. She ultimately holds all of the power over every character in the novel. I would've thought that slave history and masculinity held the power, given what we know about slavery...but instead it's a figure. 


Askeland, Lori. "Remodeling the Model Home in Uncle Tom's Cabin and Beloved." N.p., n.d. Web. 14 May 2015.