Beloved人物分析塞丝跟黑尔

Sethe

Toni Morrison had been a senior editor at Random House before she became famous. One of these clippings recorded a woman named Margaret Ghana in 1851 , she took the children fled from Kentucky to Cincinnati. When she was caught by the slave owner, she said: "I can not let my kids live a life like me again", so she killed her children with an axe. This story left an indelible memory to the author ,which inspired her strong desire to create a novel. The artistic image of Sethe was created based on Margaret Ghana.

According to four key points of escape- trek- infanticide - redemption, expressed personality and character of Sethe.

(1)Escape

Sethe lived in the southern slave owner garden,where was not the “sweet house” but the abyss. The ”school teacher” drove her as cattle and destroyed her body even her sprit.In this environment, she chosen to escape which showing her courage and a strong desire to survive.

(2)Trek

Sethe was pregnant and fled alone.Unfortunately, she had to give birth to her baby in her escaping trip.The experience of trek expressed her perseverance, indomitable will.

(3)Infanticide

Sethe finally came to Cincinnati Blue Stone Road home, reuniting with her families merely for 28 days, she encountered slave owner’s hunting again. In that critical moment, Sethe had no choice but to kill her baby. From the point of the Caucasian it was killing ,but from the Blacks it was love, was to resist.

(4)Redemption

Sethe suffered from endless mental anguish after she killed her baby. In order to seek spiritual comfort, she asked a stonemason to erect a stele for Beloved at the cost of her flesh. After 18 years Beloved revived to Sethe, which providing her a chance of self-redemption. Sethe not only took care of Beloved carefully, but also endured from her maternal torment, to achieve the purpose of self-redemption.

We strongly feel that Sethe was a unique typical black women who had a traditional ideological character of Blacks. Distinguished from other black women, Sethe had rebellious spirit and courage to fight to slaveholders. Meanwhile she was a great mother willing to sacrifice everything for her children.

Hare

Sethe’s husband Hare and her lover Paul D represented the black men before cancellation of slavery and after cancellation of slavery, respectively.

(1)As a son

In his mother’s mind, Hare was a “great man”,because he redeemed his mother's freedom at the expense of his own rest days up to five years. By shaping a male character with cherishing family affection, the author expressed mutual respect and love of blacks among their family members. On the other hand, the author showed that the blacks had to pay a heavy price to protect himself, and to maintain freedom or happiness of the family members.

(2)As a husband

As a husband, he was completely out of responsibility. When he got married with Sethe, he was unable to meet Sethe’s desire to have a wedding season. Later on, he witnessed the cruel scene------”milk incident”, and he had no choice but to suffer and keep silence. Faced the vigorous Abolition movement in the north, Sethe firmly taken the children to freedom place, but this time Hale had disappeared.

Hale represented the black slaves who were unable to change their own destiny in slavery, which was determined by the prevailing historical conditions. The slave was the private property of slave owners, and slave owners had the freedom to handle their own property. As a slave Hale had no human rights, let alone as her husband's dignity. However, the weak side of his nature are exposed.

(3)As a father

Hale was a filial son, helpless husband, and he was incompetent father. Most slaves’ children had no family values and they even didn’t know who their parents are.They were bought and sold as labor.Thus most of them did not take the responsibility when his wife and children fell into trouble. Hale’s weakness directly affected his two sons. Later in the NO.124 house, his two sons left his mother and ran away.

Throughout Hare’s life, he is the epitome of miserable life of thousands of slaves during slavery . Morrison pointed out that the blacks’ real life was more worse than her novel’s description. In such a society system, Hale had been regarded as the fate of his blessing that could be filial to his mother, marry his wife and give birth to four children . It was also historical necessity that Hare was unable to protect his wife and children.