Mythical Analysis - Beloved essays

Mythical Analysis - Beloved essays The focus of this paper is to examine the mythical aspects of Beloved (Morrison, 1987), with the center point of the book focusing on the fact this is an excellent example of a good myth where as it provides evidence to the reader that one who focuses on the past cannot live in the present. Morrison uses the brutal slaying of an innocent child and a woman who is haunted by her past as a slave and as a murderer to point this good myth theory out to the reading audience. This essay will make specific examples and prove the good myth analysis in reference to Beloved. This novel begins in the middle of the story with the statement 124 was spiteful (Morrison, 1987, p. 3). This declaration prepares the reader for a long road ahead with a woman, Sethe, who is unwilling to move ahead in her life. . Throughout the novel, the author takes the reader back and then forward throughout the central characters history and present, almost as if she were attempting to prevent the reader from staying in the present, maybe forcing the reader to live in Sethes past with her. The mythical aspect of this novel is a good one. This novel makes a clear and concise case that when one lives in the past; it makes it difficult to thrive in the present, and virtually impossible to have a future at all. Sethe arrived at Sweet Home, the plantation where she was enslaved, when she was thirteen years old, the only girl amongst five male slaves. After a year on the plantation Sethe chose her mate. Halle, Sethes husband, was one of five brothers known as the Sweet Home men: Paul D Garner, Paul F Garner, Paul A Garner, Halle Suggs, and Sixo, the wild man (Morrison, 1987, p. 11). Pregnant every year including the year she sat by the fire telling him she was going to run (Morrison, 1987, p. 9). She had four chil ...