Beloved

Beloved Toni Morrison, in her novel, Beloved, uses plant life, such as trees, to represent sources of healing, comfort and life, in a world where it is hard to find hope. These images of trees are an escape from the brutal world of slavery that the characters of Sethe, Paul D and Baby Suggs faced in Beloved. For these characters, trees brought hope against the white men who brought only fear and sadness. For Sethe, trees are associated with her escaping toward freedom. They also are used to mask the realities of her former slave life. Paul D uses trees as a place of comfort, while Baby Suggs uses trees as a way to make a difference. But the ability of trees to function as centers of solace and peace is complicated by the way white men have perverted their natural function. Trees are naturally supposed to provide joy and bring peace, yet in Beloved, they are also used as sites for lynches and burnings. Just as white men destroyed the lives of slaves, white men have distorted the function of trees as gatherers of happiness and hope for the future. beloved, trees, white, sethe, baby, men, tree, suggs, paul, sethe’s, sixo, life, sweet, memories, home, scars, place, morrison, slave, freedom, escape, clearing, slavery, same, meaning, flowers, brought, back, amy, saying, paid, mother, hope, brother, been