The Guardian Angel and the Guiding Spirit against Patriarchy and Slavery in Toni Morrison’s Beloved

Abstract

Toni Morrison’s Beloved portrayed the black people’s suffering during the slavery period after the Civil War. African Americans were struggling to manifest their stability and culture during the time of slavery and they were ill treated in the society. Women are triply oppressed under the burden of patriarchy and slavery. They are trying to manifest the subjective consciousness by struggling hard to cope with their free and individual self. Issues of family, identity and possession are explored by Morrison in a world where slavery is obvious.The characters struggle to “rememory” or “disremember” the wounds caused by slavery and they try to find healing in their own way. The character Beloved stands as a guiding spirit and guardian angel against the burden of patriarchy and slavery and recollect their subjective consciousness and rise above the circumstances to truly exhibit their awakening through their self-realization. The psychological implications of trauma, hysteria and the spiritual healing through love and self-consciousness leading to self-revelation in the characters through the power of supernatural elements through Beloved. The spiritual guidance of Beloved has become the healing power for other characters to identify their role in society and it acts as an aid to collective struggle of the black community in times of slavery.