Motherhood under Slavery in Toni Morrison's Beloved

Abstract

Slave narratives are the genre of literature that came into being through the success of some literate African Americans in escaping from slavery to freedom.

   Motherhood was a difficult challenge to African American women specifically under the slave system. The situation did not allow slave mothers the opportunity and freedom to take care of their children or carry out their biological role as caregivers. Instead, it results a mother killing her own child which is an act that threatens the natural order of the world.

   Toni Morrison's Beloved is discussed not as a presentation of slavery, but rather of motherhood. Slavery and motherhood are considered convertible terms that shows how Morrison's narrative functions as a critique to feminist readings of the ties between mother and children.