Infanticide and Mother- Daughter Relationship in Toni Morison’s Beloved

Infanticide and Mother- Daughter Relationship in Toni Morisons near * Dr. (Mrs) Monika Gupta Reader, Dept. of English H. N. B. Garhwal University, Srinagar (Garhwal) Uttarakhand, 246174-India e-mail- emailprotected com earnest (1987) is Morrisons most sensitive romance till date. It deals with the forgotten era of sla veryly(prenominal) and the pathos of mordant slaves. The most striking element is the heart wrenching story of a threatening female slave, Sethe, who kills her profess girlfri can to protect her from the horror of slavery.Morrison has always excel lead in creating her female char turners. Her novels show a deep sentiency of bonding between the female characters. In costly, the female bonding and the multiple layer of meaning in their relationship makes the story emotion all(a) in ally appealing and it is the story that, penetrates perhaps much deeply than any historic or psychological study could, the unconscious emotional and psychic consequences of slaver y (Schapiro 194). The story touches the social, psychological, philosophical and wizard(prenominal) element of human vivification. Sethe is the heroine of the story.She is a black slave who lost her mystify at a very early age. She was brought to the Sweet Home Plantation as a slave where she marries Halle Suggs and bears four youngsterren from him. She suffers the most pitiless treatment at the plantation by the unobjectionable masters. She is whipped uncivilizedly and take outed like a cow. The whites, sucked her lactating breasts (Peach 109). This mishap traumatizes Sethe to an extent that she decides to run away from the plantation. She gathers all her courage and escapes to take refuge in the house of her take-in-law at 124 Bluestone Road.She is soon traced and finding no hopes for freedom takes the most horrific step of cleansing her let daughter to show resistance towards slavery. She is imprisoned for seven years for her annoyance and later secluded by the pa rticipation and decl argond an come outcast. Her own family deserts her. Her cardinal sons escape the situation, Baby Suggs eventually dies and her daughter capital of Colorado withdraws herself from her mother. 2 The story of Sethe is a true story of Margaret Garner, a slave who in January 1856 escaped from her owner of Kentucky, cross the Ohio River and attempted to find refuge in Cincinnati. moreover when caught by the owners she looses all hopes of freedom, and kills one of her daughters with the hardlychers knife. But Morrison has beautifully developed this true story with the stage setting of slavery. The slave women lay down always suffered a masses at the hand of both black and white men. They were robbed of every possession even their motherhood. Mothering and motherhood were denied, as black women were regarded as breeding stock hardly. Since the rights offered to the black women were negligible therefore she did not stand at the position of a closing maker.Seth e was not supposed to savor her baby birdren. That is why Sethes act of destroying her own creation becomes the subject of controversies. Whether a mother has a right to stop the heartbeats of her electric razor or is it a crime to throw up an innocent life to end? Such questions resonate in the entire story. American public considered Margaret Garner and other slave mothers who killed their children, criminal. There watch been numerous examples in the American accounting where mothers nourish killed their infants to remove the extra burden on them.For instance, Mary Montgomery escaped the plantation with her child but when she found it difficult to escape with a baby in tow, she left over(p)field, her sucking infant stub to die (Drew 49). Infanticide was a punishable offence and Sethe and her real life counterpart had to face harsh consequences of the crime. economicalal reasons more than any others had led to the killing of infants in the slavery era and kick in conti nued to manage an unfortunate influence even down to our own day. The African American setup is the example where economic factors led to the sorrowful phase of the Black union.Infanticide, shown in the novel is of many forms. It is not just a pip in literal sense but also murdering an infant mentally or psychologically by curbing the desires and rights. pricey is a documentation of all such infanticides, the most pathetic, being the murder of erotic love by her mother by cutting her throat. Apart from these instances it is shown that Sethes mother also move infanticide when she threw her children at bring forth, without names (Morrison 78). Another instance of infanticide is when Ella, another black slave admits that she too killed the children born from her white masters.The author has given different views on infanticide 3 through the mouth of the characters. Sethe asserts that she, couldnt let all that go back to where it was, and I couldnt let her nor any of em live infra schoolteacher. That was out (200). Baby Suggs could not frame any judgment and silenced her views to such an extent that it eventually led to her dying. capital of Minnesota D initially accuses Sethe for her rough choice but later accepts the situation considering her circumstances. Infanticide has always been the background of the slave age. It sometimes showed resistance and sometimes mercy killing.But child abuse and especially girl child faced the most terrible consequences of slavery. In the words of Linda Brent, Slavery is terrible for men, but it is far more terrible for women (405). capital of Colorado is also a victim of child abuse. The initial years of her childhood are played out in prison on with her mother. She is mocked by the society for the crime committed by her mother. Her mother neer reveals her bygone to Denver which makes Denver loose faith on Sethe. The rest of her childhood is spent in fear of being killed by her mother. She is a psychologically sca red child.Denver speaks for herself, I spent all of my outside self loving Maam so she wouldnt kill me (255). She waited for a miracle to happen, so, she could be away from Sethe. Sethe is declared culprit by law and even by the society. But what compels her to take such cruel action is the fear of slavery and exploitation for her daughter. The owners of the Plantations, schoolteachers and his nephews violate her motherhood by stealing her milk from her bosom. All these incidents constitute Sethes past and they are reconstructed in the novel through the discourses of Sethe and capital of Minnesota D, co-victim of slavery.Memory forms a most important part in Morrisons novels. For memory exists as a communal property of friends, of family, of a people (Middleton 159). Though Paul D realizes Sethes pown(prenominal) as a mother he knows that she was not a normal woman (50). Sethes story is debatable on two grounds. On one side it is the maternal loss (Matus 109) where the plight of the helpless mother under slavery is revealed. On the other hand it crosses the limits of maternal violence. Infanticide committed by Sethe is canvass under these two terms. The narrative enacts a circling or repetition around the 4 traumatic events (Matus 112). Infanticide in Beloved is analyzed with close reference to Sethe and her daughters as it is the most affected relationship. Slavery has done a psychological detriment to a mother-child relationship. Morrison has shown many burthens of mother-daughter relationship in the novel. The first relation is that of Sethe and Beloved. It is the most unique relationship. Here a mother is the killer of her own blood. Sethe had enough reasons to prove that her act was just not crime but a mercy killing.She was perplexed with the horrific side of slavery and could not bear her daughter in a similar condition as hers. Therefore, she decides to free her from the impious birth of being black. I took and put my babies where theyd be safe (20 1). Though the act of infanticide is the most monstrous act for a mother to even think of but Sethe was too reluctant to turn towards slavery again with her children. As a mother Sethes act can never be justified. She attempted the most unnatural thing. killing was not the only alternative. She could have killed the slave owner, or even herself.The supernatural existence of Beloved proves that Sethes act was shamed of the murder and was to be condemned. Therefore, Sethe becomes the monstrous women in the novel with a streak of frenzy in her reputation. Beloved, is the mirror which reveals the past of the character that comes in contact with her. She comes back to possess Sethe. She tells Denver almost her plans that, She is the one I need. You can go but she is the one I have to have (93). This arrested development for her mother makes Beloveds identity mysterious. Her appearance and disappearance add an element of supernaturalism to the horrible story of Sethe.She appears mys teriously from water. She had new skin, lineless and smooth, including the knuckles of her hands (63). The reappearance of Beloved from water is symbolic in the sense that it depicts the entire process of child birth. It is like emergence of new born baby from the still of the mothers womb. Sethe takes Beloved as a living being and not as a phantasma. It is Morrison who presents Beloved, gothically monstrous (Matus 119) so that Sethe feels calm after relieving herself from the burden of the past. Beloved is in true sense the ghost of past which is trying to find its place in the present.Just as her appearance was sudden, her 5 disappearance left a lot of unanswered questions. In the end she appears as a naked pregnant madam which according to the community ladies, exploded in air. Sethe shares a similar relation with her other daughter Denver. She is the tenderness witness of the bloodshed of her sister. She also drank her mother milk mixed with Beloveds blood. She is the only l ong-lived member of 124 Bluestone apart from Sethe. Both of them share an unspoken relationship. Denver blames her mother for killing her sister. She isolates herself from the community and from her mother.Her hallucination leads to her attachment with Beloved when she takes her for her dead sister. Her act of drinking the milk of her mother mixed with the blood of Beloved symbolizes that Sethe and her family made the death of Beloved their life and her blood their nourishment. Beloved is my sister. I swallowed her blood right along with my mothers milk(252). Beloved is determined to wage a war against her mother. Denver on the other hand keeps the grudges in her heart. But her love for her mother gradually grows when she sees her mother suffering under the tantrums of Beloved.Denver comes to rescue her mother. She is a link between Sethe and the community. Sethe understood Denvers solitude but never disclosed the past to her. She only reveals the half truth. As for Denver, the job Sethe had of keeping her from the past that was still wait for her was all that mattered(53). This silence in the mother daughter relationship widened the gulf and made Denver tight(121). She lived in the secret company of Beloved until she actually appeared in flesh. Beloved and Denver have an intensely possessive nature. Beloved makes Sethe her important part.She wants complete attention of Sethe. She fixes her eyes on Sethe. At this part of the novel Sethe and Beloved are viewed as one soul. A similar possession is seen in the nature of Denver but towards, her ghost sibling (Matus 118). The growing intimacy of Beloved and Sethe gives threat to the security of Denver and she feels marginalized ( Matus 118) in their company. In Beloved, both the daughters appear to be aggressive but the maternal violence of Sethe overshadows their aggression. In the end there is also a role reversal seen in the character of Denver. She hates her mother in the beginning.She seeks the company of Beloved and wants to protect her sister from her 6 mother. But later she becomes sympathetic towards Sethe and wishes to protect her from the ghost of Beloved. This is the addition in the character of Denver where she is able to frame her own opinions about life. Guilt is the most inbuilt part of the healing process. It follows crime. Guilt may be internal or exposed but crime is always accompanied by the musical note of guilt. This guilt is what Beloved stands for as for as Sethe is concerned. Sethes heedless act of killing her daughter gave a huge blow to the psychological submit of Sethe.She never valued to speak of her past but arrival of Paul D and then Beloved confirms her belief that Beloved was her own daughter whom she killed. This guilty self makes Sethe surrender fully to the demands of Beloved. She feels intensely insecure in the carriage of Beloved and offers her the best at the cost of her job, house and health. Sethes guilt, frames Beloved as the dead infant. S he keeps on justifying the infanticide to Beloved. The ultimate note of Morrison seems that, Guilt and the past must not be avoided. They must be taken up and possessed (Carmean 91). The slave women were never designated for being mothers.They were considered only as the breeder. Their infant children could be exchange away from them like calves from cows (Davis 7). Sethes mother-in-law does not even recall the faces of her eight children. Similarly, Sethe was never treat by her mother. But Sethes attempt to be a good mother hinted at the heartbreaking consequences of mother love. Even Paul D recognizes that mother-love for a slave is too risky. To quote Risky, thought Paul D, very risky. For a used-to-be slave woman to love anything that much was dangerous, especially if it was her children. She had settled on to love (56).When Paul D accuses Sethe of having thick love(202) she replies that, Love is or it aint. Thin love aint love at all(202). This means that Sethe has a very d esperate and obsessive kind of nature. It cannot be called the unselfish motherly instinct. Sethes relation with her daughter Beloved is selfish. She used Beloved as a scapegoat to show resistance to the institution of slavery. This fear of getting revealed haunts her psychologically. Beloved appears as a girl in flesh from the water to avenge her death, Sethe was trying to make up for the handsaw Beloved was making her pay for it (308). Sethe and Beloved share an intense relationship which breaks the bond of time, space, culture, community etc. She believes that death is nothing but continuations of life in another form. Both share a popular feeling of being haunted. Sethe commits an evil and Beloved becomes evil. And their union creates the mystery that is most horrific in the story. Infanticide puts Sethes motherhood at stake but a closer evaluation of the real life situation of black slaves in general and females in particular, leave no other option other than death or suicide . Most of the females had this suicidal tendency to escape from brutality. Slaves were treated no discover than animals.Morrisons female characters have a shade of grey in their personality. For example Sethes attempt to kill makes her a merciless lady. Paul D remarks that, you got two feet, Sethe, not four (202). Similarly the eccentric character of Beloved shows that she is the condition of evil. Beloved tries to seduce Paul D. She tries to strangle Sethe and makes Denver a mere puppet in her hand. Beloved is an extremist in the sense that on one hand she nearly chokes Sethe to death and at the very next moment she soothes Sethes bruised neck with her soft fingers. Beloveds highly dominating and demanding nature causes enough pain to Sethe.She gives up everything she had, to please Beloved so that her crime is forgiven. A similar wildness is also seen in the character of Denver. She blames her mother for the infanticide and mentally proves to be a torture to Sethe. Denvers alie nation from her family increases Sethes isolation and Denver plans this deliberately so that her mother realizes the pain of being killed. However, Denver proves to be a great help to Sethe in the end when she realizes that Beloved has totally possessed her mother. The psychic trauma of infantile abandonment is also seen in Sethe.Slavery broke the bonds of Sethe with her mother before she could even speak. This self-abnegation of parental claim exaggerates Sethes role as a mother and she consider her sole state towards the well being of her child. Her act of infanticide also reveals her attempt to reconstruct her own past where her mother was hanged and she was left all by herself. She confesses, My plan was to take us all to the other side where my own maam Sethes mother is, (250). Sethes own experiences of life and the cultural preaching of the blacks made her believe that life as a female slave was worse that death. For the blacks, death was anything but forgetfulness (4). This hatred for the present birth and hope of a better life in the new birth makes Sethe confident on her decision of infanticide. Sethes crime, if considered morally, is highly condemnable. It is unapproved by any religion or community to commit infanticide. Even Sethe realizes this when the community rejects her. Baby Suggs, who is the moral preacher, could not react to the incident and succumbed to death. Sethe knew that she was to be blamed for the death of Baby Suggs.At the social level Sethe is declared an outcast who tries to be a rebel by breaking the set of norms of the society. This develops a communication barrier between the community on one side and Sethes household on another. Denver is also the victim of the feeling of alienation. But Sethe needs the support of the community to overcome her guilt. In Beloved life is hell, but togetherness, shared experiences and brotherly/ sisterly love helps the characters to survive, if not to forge better lives for themselves (Mbalia 91 ). In the end of the story the entire community joins to drive Beloved away of the Bluestone Road.Morrison proposes solidarity as the only viable solution to the problems of the black community. Infanticide is also criticized politically when Sethe is sentenced to seven years imprisonment for the act. Supernaturalism is the prominent element of Beloved. The first line of the novel draws the attention towards the mysterious world. It says, 124 was spiteful. Full of babys maliciousness (3). Morrisons prime concern is to develop the unique culture of Africa so that the ghost stories introduced appear real and alluring. The hostile environment of America and the white community adds to the haunted environment of the novel.The ghost tales are common to the blacks as death for them is no longer the issue of fear. Baby Suggs admits that her own dead children must be, lamentable somebodys house into evil (6). Therefore the character of Beloved and even her presence as a ghost in Sethes h ouse appears justified to the modern readers. Morrisons clan is a complex of values and mythologies (Holloway 160). Morrison has also projected supernaturalism as the consequence of disturbed psychic state of a person. Frustration and suppression often leads to the formation of an imaginary world and imaginary characters. This is another angle of justifying the element of supernaturalism. Morrison connects the two worlds of living and dead through Sethe and Beloved. The black community is also well provide with the methods of separating the physical and the supernatural world. This is how the community is able to drive Beloved to her right place. Sethe seems to be out of focus. Without the steerage of a mother, she has missed out on the actual mother-daughter relationships. Circumstances of sexual exploitation seem to have marred her psychologically and the base animal like nature of a human being seems to have overtaken her personality.Sethe seems to be ridden with a problem of t he mind. No mother however cruel can resort to killing her own child. Even if she feared that her daughter would be a future victim of abuse, she could have given her child away to someone she knew. Sethe stopped thinking beyond a point and terror and fear have made her act in such a manner. Though she feels she has done the right thing she is guilty of doing injustice by killing her child. Morrison does not aim at giving the judgment on the act of Sethe. It is left to the readers to analyses her decision.Infanticide was condemned by the society but Sethe is forgiven in the end by the same the society. Since solidarity is the proposed solution to the humiliations suffered by the blacks, therefore, the crime of Sethe cannot be viewed as an isolated decision. The community is also directly and indirectly involved in the execution of the infanticide. That is why the community also shares the burden of guilt along with Sethe. But it is not forgetting of the past that the author propagat es it is actually living the past to overcome it.Works cited Brent, Linda. Incidents in the life of a Slave misfire. The Classic Slave Narratives. Henry Louis Gates. ed. current York American Library, 1987. Carmean, Karen. Toni Morrisons World of Fiction. New York Whitestone Publishing Company,1993. 10 Davis, Angela. Women, Race and Class. New York Random House, 1981. Drew, Benjamin. The Refugee A North-side View of Slavery. Four Fugitive Slave Narrative. ( translation MA Addison Wesley, 1969). Holloway, Karla and Stephanie D. New Dimensions of Spirituality A Biracial and Bicultural Reading of the Novels of Toni Morrison. New York Greenwood Press, 1987. Matus, Jill. Toni Morrison Contemporary World Writers. New York Manchester University Press, 1998. Middleton, David. Toni Morrisons Fiction Contemporary Criticism. New York Garland Publishing, 2000. Mabalia, Doreatha Drummond. Toni Morrison Developing Class Consciousness. Selinsgrove Susquehanna University Press, 1993. Morrison, Toni. Beloved. New York Signet, 1987. (All the subsequent references are quoted in the parenthesis of the text) Peach, Linden. ed. Toni Morrison. Macmillan Press London, 2000. Schapira, Barbara. The Bonds of Love and the Boundaries of Self in Toni Morrisons Beloved. Contemporary belles-lettres 32 2, 1991.