Beloved: Sethe and the Will to Kill

       As we all now know, Beloved is an incredible insight into the lives of the first generation of black people out of slavery. While this is an accomplishment in American history there is still a lot of struggle that is looked over in this situation. Beloved does an incredible job providing some perspective into this side of history. Morrison provides the perspective of the black people instead of most encounters with this time which come from the perspective of the white people. But, what she actually does which is quite ingenious is that she tells much of the story from the perspective of the black people, gives them all agency, and then switches to the white people. This is so captivating because it forces the reader to see how ridiculous white people were, and how they had these notions that black people weren't even people.
      For me the most meaningful portion of the book that exemplifies this is when Sethe killed her own child, Beloved. (pg.174-177) The entire scene is told from the perspective of the white people coming on to the scene. This is so interesting because they look at the characters the reader has been following for so long in such a demeaning manner. The white people objectify the black people as property and for use rather than as people. This scene in the story is so important for the plot as well as an example of how racism in America was at the time.