Analysis of The Protagonist of Toni Morrison's 'Beloved'.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................... i
ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................... ii
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study ..........................................................................
Statement of the Problem .........................................................................
Purpose of the Study ................................................................................
Method of Research .................................................................................
Organization of the Thesis .......................................................................
1
2
2
2
3
CHAPTER TWO: ANALYSIS OF THE PROTAGONIST OF TONI
MORRISON’S BELOVED ................................................................... 4
CHAPTER THREE: CONCLUSION .............................................................. 16
BIBLIOGRAPHY .............................................................................................. 19
APPENDICES:
Synopsis of Beloved ................................................................................ 21
Biography of the Author ......................................................................... 22
i
Maranatha Christian University
ABSTRACT
Beloved adalah sebuah novel karya terbaik Toni Morrison. Novel ini
ditulis untuk mengenang Margaret Garner, seorang budak wanita dan seorang ibu
yang membunuh anak perempuannya agar tidak menjadi budak seperti dirinya.
Tokoh utama dalam novel ini adalah Sethe yang membunuh anak perempuan
pertamanya supaya majikannya tidak bisa menjadikan anaknya seorang budak.
Dalam novelnya Morrison menekankan tentang dampak buruk perbudakan
pada orang kulit hitam, terutama budak wanita. Novel ini menarik untuk
didiskusikan karena menceritakan tentang perjuangan Sethe dan usahanya untuk
menghilangkan traumanya di masa lalu selama perbudakan, dan juga tentang figur
seorang ibu yang ingin memiliki anaknya secara utuh dan melindungi mereka.
Sethe digambarkan sebagai seseorang yang ingin memiliki sesuatu atau
seseorang hanya untuk dirinya sendiri, seorang ibu yang terlalu melindungi anakanaknya, yang mempunyai keberanian dalam menghadapi situasi yang sulit, dan
mempunyai sikap menghargai orang lain. Penggambaran tokoh utama ini sangat
menunjang tujuan pengarang.
Tujuan Morrison menciptakan Sethe sebagai tokoh utama dalam novelnya,
adalah ia ingin menunjukkan bahwa kehidupan masa lalu dan masa sekarang
ii
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memiliki kaitan erat dalam membentuk karakteristik seseorang. Morrison juga
ingin menunjukkan sisi manusiawi Sethe, yaitu karakteristiknya yang baik dan
buruk.
3
Maranatha Christian University
APPENDICES
SYNOPSIS OF BELOVED
In 1848, Sethe, who is a woman slave, lives in Mr. Garner’s Sweet Home
plantation. One year later Sethe marries Halle, a man slave. They have two sons
and a daughter. When Mr. Garner dies, his wife asks a schoolteacher, who is her
brother-in-law, to manage Sweet Home. Seeing that the schoolteacher abuses the
slaves, Sethe, who is pregnant of her fourth children, plans to run away from the
plantation with her children. Twenty-eight days later, the schoolteacher finds them
in 124, which is Sethe’s mother in-law’s house. Sethe kills her first daughter
because she does not want her daughter to return to slavery. Then, she is sent to
jail.
When she is freed from jail, she comes back to 124 and makes a tombstone
for her killed-baby, named Beloved. In 1873, two people arrive at 124. The first is
Paul D, an ex-slave. The second is a strange girl named Beloved. One day, Paul D
leaves 124 after he reads the clipping of Sethe’s murdering her first daughter.
Then, considering Beloved to be her reincarnated daughter, Sethe thinks that she
gets a second chance to take care of Beloved.
Later, Beloved dominates Sethe with her anger because of Sethe’s
abandoning her in the past. Wanting to help Sethe, Denver asks for help from Mr.
21
Maranatha Christian University
Bodwin, the landlord of 124. However, Sethe thinks that Mr. Bodwin is the
schoolteacher, so she wants to kill him. And Beloved, thinking that the landlord is
the white man who comes to recapture her, runs away from 124. Knowing about
Sethe’s problem, Paul D returns to 124. When Beloved disappears, Sethe, Denver,
and Paul D leave 124 and start a new life in another place.
BIOGRAPHY OF TONI MORRISON
Toni Morrison was born as Chloe Anthony Wofford in Lorain, Ohio, on
February 18, 1931. Her family moved to the Midwest because her parents (George
and Ramah Wills Wofford) hoped that their children can grow up in a more
friendly environment which will keep them away from racial discrimination.
Morrison graduated from Howard University in 1953 and got master’s
degree in English from Cornell University in 1955. Then, she worked as an
English instructor at Texas Southern. In 1957, she returned to Howard University
to teach English. She is the first Afro-American female writer to hold a named
chair at a university in the Ivy League.
Morrison’s first work, The Bluest Eye (1969), is about the life of Pecola, a
black girl who loses her mind. Her next work, Sula (1973), tells about a
relationship of two black women, Nel and Sula. Song of Solomon (1977) deals
with black male characters, and she won the National Book Critics Circle Award
1997 for it. This was followed by Tar Baby (1981), a story of a love affair
between a black woman and a black man, Jadine and Son. In 1987 she published
Beloved, which is based on Margaret Garner’s life, and it became her masterpiece.
22
Maranatha Christian University
The next year she won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Another work is Jazz (1992),
the setting of which takes place in Harlem, in 1920s.
Source: “Beloved (Author Biography)”
23
Maranatha Christian University
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Toni Morrison is a twentieth century American black writer who gives a
big contribution to the literary world because she “… has often been regarded as
the premier promoter of African American Literature” (Dan). In her essay entitled
“Toni Morrison” Holly Hedge says, “With seven extraordinary novels and four
major literary awards, including the 1988 Pulitzer Prize and the 1993 Nobel Prize
under her belt, Toni Morrison is in the midst of a more than fulfilling career as a
master novelist” (Hedge).
Beloved, which was published in 1987, is “… considered Morrison's
masterpiece” (“Toni Morrison Biography”) and “[i]n 1988 it won the Pulitzer
Prize for fiction” (Bois). In Beloved, Morrison “… writes about the cruelty of
slavery and the strong will her characters must possess in order to escape from it”
(Shay). The novel mainly tells about dehumanization, such as sexual abuse and
violence towards black people and the effect of the slavery, which influences
slaves’ life although they become free. The novel itself is “[i]nspired by the story
of Margaret Garner” (“Toni Morrison Criticism and Essays”). Garner is “… a
1
Maranatha Christian University
fugitive slave from Kentucky, [who] killed one of her children rather than permit
her to be returned to slavery” (Coffin).
Knowing that the focus of the novel, Beloved, is on the effect of slavery, I
will analyse the protagonist, Sethe, who is a slave character in the novel.
Protagonist is “[t]he main character in a drama or other literary work”
(“Protagonist”). In spite of the title of the novel that refers to another character in
the novel, Beloved, I am of the opinion that the story itself centres around the
mother figure of Sethe, her past, her struggle, and eventually her effort to cope
with her traumatic past. The protagonist will be analysed by using formalism.
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
The problems are stated as follows:
1. How does Toni Morrison portray the protagonist of Beloved?
2. What is the author’s purpose of creating such a protagonist?
PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
Based on the statements of the problem above, this study is done:
1. To show how Toni Morrison portrays the protagonist of Beloved.
2. To show the author’s purpose of creating such a protagonist.
METHOD OF RESEARCH
The method of research used for this thesis is library research. I start by
reading Toni Morrison’s Beloved as the primary text. Then, I analyse the
2
Maranatha Christian University
protagonist of Beloved, Sethe. I also read some texts taken from the Internet. The
texts are compiled to relate to the analysis of the protagonist.
ORGANIZATION OF THE THESIS
This thesis consists of three chapters, preceded by the Abstract. Chapter
One is the Introduction, which consists of the Background of the Study, the
Statement of the Problem, the Purpose of the Study, the Method of Research, and
the Organization of the Thesis. Chapter Two is the Analysis of the Protagonist of
Toni Morrison’s Beloved. The last chapter, Chapter Three, is the Conclusion. The
thesis ends with the Bibliography and the Appendices, which contain the synopsis
of the novel, Beloved, and the biography of the author, Toni Morrison.
3
Maranatha Christian University
CHAPTER THREE
CONCLUSION
Having analysed the protagonist of Toni Morrison’s Beloved in the
previous chapter, I come to some conclusions. Sethe, the protagonist, has four
characteristics: she is characterized as a possessive woman, an over-protective
mother, a courageous woman, and also a woman who respects others. Two of
them, which are a possessive woman and an over-protective mother, are the
prominent characteristics of her; accordingly, the characteristics are particularly
discussed. The rest of them are the supporting characteristics of her.
According to her conversation with Paul D and her reaction to others,
Sethe’s characteristics are obvious to understand. Besides, Paul D is an ex-slave
man who is also a man slave in Sweet Home, where she lives, Beloved is a girl
who reminds her of her killed daughter, and Denver reminds her of her struggle to
escape from Sweet Home. The three of them represent her past life in slavery.
Consequently, she always remembers her past and she has to struggle hard to
forget it. She is obsessed by her past life very much.
Morrison portrays Sethe as a lifelike character. In slavery, she is
considered a thing by her master; on the other hand, I consider her a human who
16
Maranatha Christian University
can survive for her life to be a free woman. As a lifelike character, Sethe has two
kinds of characteristics, negative and positive characteristics, because Morrison
wants to show Sethe’s being humane. Accordingly, I can conclude that Sethe is
still a human being wherever she is.
In portraying the protagonist in her novel, Morrison is inspired by
Margaret Garner, a mother who prefers killing her daughter to returning her to
slavery. No wonder she succeeds in portraying the protagonist clearly for Sethe
represents a black mother who wants to protect her children from slavery. I can
conclude that Morrison writes the issue in her novel so that people can realize of
the effect of slavery and the struggle of a woman who lives in slavery.
From analysing this novel, I can learn that slavery gives bad impact to
black people because they become traumatic of it. Furthermore, the blacks do not
want to speak up about the issue of slavery, and the whites do not want to be
blamed for it; consequently, it becomes a long-lasting unfinished issue for white
and black people in the USA.
I also learn that slavery makes women slaves suffer more. I get the
impression that the women slaves are badly treated by not only white people but
also black men. On the other hand, black men are only badly treated by white
people. Thus, Morrison uses a woman as the protagonist as she wants to show that
women always become victims of dehumanization, such as sexual abuse and
violence. Dehumanization itself still happens in the world nowadays, it is not only
between the whites and the blacks but also among all people of different or similar
ethnic, otherwise nationality in the world.
17
Maranatha Christian University
I do agree with Toni Morrison that black people are also human beings
who have equal rights with white people as we all believe that all men are created
equal. They have their rights to have freedom, to be fairly treated, and have equal
right to vote and in friendship.
From the discussion, I am of the opinion that the novel, Beloved, is worth
reading and analysing.
18
Maranatha Christian University
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Primary Text:
Morrison, Toni. Beloved. New York: Penguin Group, 1987
Internet Sources:
”Beloved (Author Biography)”. WikiAnswers Q&A community. 2006. Answers
Corporation. 20 February 2008
Bois, Danuta. “Toni Morrison”. 1996. Distinguished Women of Past and Present.
18 February 2008
Coffin, Levi. “Margaret Garner”. aalbc.com. 2007. AALBC.com, LLC. 5 March
2008
Dan, Rashel. “An Introduction to the African American Writer Toni Morrison”.
16 Mar 2007. Ambiguity. 2008. Content, Inc. 23 February 2008
“Protagonist”. Dictionary.com. 2008. Lexico Publishing Group, LLC. 25 February
2008
Hedge, Holly. “Toni Morrison”. Empire: ZINE, EZ. 2008. Spyder’s Empire. 23
February 2008
19
Maranatha Christian University
Shay, Courtney. “Analysis of the works of Toni Morrison and Sembene
Ousmane”. Helium. 2008. Helium, Inc. 18 February 2008
“Toni Morrison Biography”. Notable Biographies. 2007. Advameg Inc. 23
February 2008.
“Toni Morrison Criticism and Essays”. e.note.com. 2008. eNotes.com, Inc. 23
February 2008
20
Maranatha Christian University
TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................... i
ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................... ii
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study ..........................................................................
Statement of the Problem .........................................................................
Purpose of the Study ................................................................................
Method of Research .................................................................................
Organization of the Thesis .......................................................................
1
2
2
2
3
CHAPTER TWO: ANALYSIS OF THE PROTAGONIST OF TONI
MORRISON’S BELOVED ................................................................... 4
CHAPTER THREE: CONCLUSION .............................................................. 16
BIBLIOGRAPHY .............................................................................................. 19
APPENDICES:
Synopsis of Beloved ................................................................................ 21
Biography of the Author ......................................................................... 22
i
Maranatha Christian University
ABSTRACT
Beloved adalah sebuah novel karya terbaik Toni Morrison. Novel ini
ditulis untuk mengenang Margaret Garner, seorang budak wanita dan seorang ibu
yang membunuh anak perempuannya agar tidak menjadi budak seperti dirinya.
Tokoh utama dalam novel ini adalah Sethe yang membunuh anak perempuan
pertamanya supaya majikannya tidak bisa menjadikan anaknya seorang budak.
Dalam novelnya Morrison menekankan tentang dampak buruk perbudakan
pada orang kulit hitam, terutama budak wanita. Novel ini menarik untuk
didiskusikan karena menceritakan tentang perjuangan Sethe dan usahanya untuk
menghilangkan traumanya di masa lalu selama perbudakan, dan juga tentang figur
seorang ibu yang ingin memiliki anaknya secara utuh dan melindungi mereka.
Sethe digambarkan sebagai seseorang yang ingin memiliki sesuatu atau
seseorang hanya untuk dirinya sendiri, seorang ibu yang terlalu melindungi anakanaknya, yang mempunyai keberanian dalam menghadapi situasi yang sulit, dan
mempunyai sikap menghargai orang lain. Penggambaran tokoh utama ini sangat
menunjang tujuan pengarang.
Tujuan Morrison menciptakan Sethe sebagai tokoh utama dalam novelnya,
adalah ia ingin menunjukkan bahwa kehidupan masa lalu dan masa sekarang
ii
Maranatha Christian University
memiliki kaitan erat dalam membentuk karakteristik seseorang. Morrison juga
ingin menunjukkan sisi manusiawi Sethe, yaitu karakteristiknya yang baik dan
buruk.
3
Maranatha Christian University
APPENDICES
SYNOPSIS OF BELOVED
In 1848, Sethe, who is a woman slave, lives in Mr. Garner’s Sweet Home
plantation. One year later Sethe marries Halle, a man slave. They have two sons
and a daughter. When Mr. Garner dies, his wife asks a schoolteacher, who is her
brother-in-law, to manage Sweet Home. Seeing that the schoolteacher abuses the
slaves, Sethe, who is pregnant of her fourth children, plans to run away from the
plantation with her children. Twenty-eight days later, the schoolteacher finds them
in 124, which is Sethe’s mother in-law’s house. Sethe kills her first daughter
because she does not want her daughter to return to slavery. Then, she is sent to
jail.
When she is freed from jail, she comes back to 124 and makes a tombstone
for her killed-baby, named Beloved. In 1873, two people arrive at 124. The first is
Paul D, an ex-slave. The second is a strange girl named Beloved. One day, Paul D
leaves 124 after he reads the clipping of Sethe’s murdering her first daughter.
Then, considering Beloved to be her reincarnated daughter, Sethe thinks that she
gets a second chance to take care of Beloved.
Later, Beloved dominates Sethe with her anger because of Sethe’s
abandoning her in the past. Wanting to help Sethe, Denver asks for help from Mr.
21
Maranatha Christian University
Bodwin, the landlord of 124. However, Sethe thinks that Mr. Bodwin is the
schoolteacher, so she wants to kill him. And Beloved, thinking that the landlord is
the white man who comes to recapture her, runs away from 124. Knowing about
Sethe’s problem, Paul D returns to 124. When Beloved disappears, Sethe, Denver,
and Paul D leave 124 and start a new life in another place.
BIOGRAPHY OF TONI MORRISON
Toni Morrison was born as Chloe Anthony Wofford in Lorain, Ohio, on
February 18, 1931. Her family moved to the Midwest because her parents (George
and Ramah Wills Wofford) hoped that their children can grow up in a more
friendly environment which will keep them away from racial discrimination.
Morrison graduated from Howard University in 1953 and got master’s
degree in English from Cornell University in 1955. Then, she worked as an
English instructor at Texas Southern. In 1957, she returned to Howard University
to teach English. She is the first Afro-American female writer to hold a named
chair at a university in the Ivy League.
Morrison’s first work, The Bluest Eye (1969), is about the life of Pecola, a
black girl who loses her mind. Her next work, Sula (1973), tells about a
relationship of two black women, Nel and Sula. Song of Solomon (1977) deals
with black male characters, and she won the National Book Critics Circle Award
1997 for it. This was followed by Tar Baby (1981), a story of a love affair
between a black woman and a black man, Jadine and Son. In 1987 she published
Beloved, which is based on Margaret Garner’s life, and it became her masterpiece.
22
Maranatha Christian University
The next year she won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Another work is Jazz (1992),
the setting of which takes place in Harlem, in 1920s.
Source: “Beloved (Author Biography)”
23
Maranatha Christian University
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Toni Morrison is a twentieth century American black writer who gives a
big contribution to the literary world because she “… has often been regarded as
the premier promoter of African American Literature” (Dan). In her essay entitled
“Toni Morrison” Holly Hedge says, “With seven extraordinary novels and four
major literary awards, including the 1988 Pulitzer Prize and the 1993 Nobel Prize
under her belt, Toni Morrison is in the midst of a more than fulfilling career as a
master novelist” (Hedge).
Beloved, which was published in 1987, is “… considered Morrison's
masterpiece” (“Toni Morrison Biography”) and “[i]n 1988 it won the Pulitzer
Prize for fiction” (Bois). In Beloved, Morrison “… writes about the cruelty of
slavery and the strong will her characters must possess in order to escape from it”
(Shay). The novel mainly tells about dehumanization, such as sexual abuse and
violence towards black people and the effect of the slavery, which influences
slaves’ life although they become free. The novel itself is “[i]nspired by the story
of Margaret Garner” (“Toni Morrison Criticism and Essays”). Garner is “… a
1
Maranatha Christian University
fugitive slave from Kentucky, [who] killed one of her children rather than permit
her to be returned to slavery” (Coffin).
Knowing that the focus of the novel, Beloved, is on the effect of slavery, I
will analyse the protagonist, Sethe, who is a slave character in the novel.
Protagonist is “[t]he main character in a drama or other literary work”
(“Protagonist”). In spite of the title of the novel that refers to another character in
the novel, Beloved, I am of the opinion that the story itself centres around the
mother figure of Sethe, her past, her struggle, and eventually her effort to cope
with her traumatic past. The protagonist will be analysed by using formalism.
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
The problems are stated as follows:
1. How does Toni Morrison portray the protagonist of Beloved?
2. What is the author’s purpose of creating such a protagonist?
PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
Based on the statements of the problem above, this study is done:
1. To show how Toni Morrison portrays the protagonist of Beloved.
2. To show the author’s purpose of creating such a protagonist.
METHOD OF RESEARCH
The method of research used for this thesis is library research. I start by
reading Toni Morrison’s Beloved as the primary text. Then, I analyse the
2
Maranatha Christian University
protagonist of Beloved, Sethe. I also read some texts taken from the Internet. The
texts are compiled to relate to the analysis of the protagonist.
ORGANIZATION OF THE THESIS
This thesis consists of three chapters, preceded by the Abstract. Chapter
One is the Introduction, which consists of the Background of the Study, the
Statement of the Problem, the Purpose of the Study, the Method of Research, and
the Organization of the Thesis. Chapter Two is the Analysis of the Protagonist of
Toni Morrison’s Beloved. The last chapter, Chapter Three, is the Conclusion. The
thesis ends with the Bibliography and the Appendices, which contain the synopsis
of the novel, Beloved, and the biography of the author, Toni Morrison.
3
Maranatha Christian University
CHAPTER THREE
CONCLUSION
Having analysed the protagonist of Toni Morrison’s Beloved in the
previous chapter, I come to some conclusions. Sethe, the protagonist, has four
characteristics: she is characterized as a possessive woman, an over-protective
mother, a courageous woman, and also a woman who respects others. Two of
them, which are a possessive woman and an over-protective mother, are the
prominent characteristics of her; accordingly, the characteristics are particularly
discussed. The rest of them are the supporting characteristics of her.
According to her conversation with Paul D and her reaction to others,
Sethe’s characteristics are obvious to understand. Besides, Paul D is an ex-slave
man who is also a man slave in Sweet Home, where she lives, Beloved is a girl
who reminds her of her killed daughter, and Denver reminds her of her struggle to
escape from Sweet Home. The three of them represent her past life in slavery.
Consequently, she always remembers her past and she has to struggle hard to
forget it. She is obsessed by her past life very much.
Morrison portrays Sethe as a lifelike character. In slavery, she is
considered a thing by her master; on the other hand, I consider her a human who
16
Maranatha Christian University
can survive for her life to be a free woman. As a lifelike character, Sethe has two
kinds of characteristics, negative and positive characteristics, because Morrison
wants to show Sethe’s being humane. Accordingly, I can conclude that Sethe is
still a human being wherever she is.
In portraying the protagonist in her novel, Morrison is inspired by
Margaret Garner, a mother who prefers killing her daughter to returning her to
slavery. No wonder she succeeds in portraying the protagonist clearly for Sethe
represents a black mother who wants to protect her children from slavery. I can
conclude that Morrison writes the issue in her novel so that people can realize of
the effect of slavery and the struggle of a woman who lives in slavery.
From analysing this novel, I can learn that slavery gives bad impact to
black people because they become traumatic of it. Furthermore, the blacks do not
want to speak up about the issue of slavery, and the whites do not want to be
blamed for it; consequently, it becomes a long-lasting unfinished issue for white
and black people in the USA.
I also learn that slavery makes women slaves suffer more. I get the
impression that the women slaves are badly treated by not only white people but
also black men. On the other hand, black men are only badly treated by white
people. Thus, Morrison uses a woman as the protagonist as she wants to show that
women always become victims of dehumanization, such as sexual abuse and
violence. Dehumanization itself still happens in the world nowadays, it is not only
between the whites and the blacks but also among all people of different or similar
ethnic, otherwise nationality in the world.
17
Maranatha Christian University
I do agree with Toni Morrison that black people are also human beings
who have equal rights with white people as we all believe that all men are created
equal. They have their rights to have freedom, to be fairly treated, and have equal
right to vote and in friendship.
From the discussion, I am of the opinion that the novel, Beloved, is worth
reading and analysing.
18
Maranatha Christian University
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Primary Text:
Morrison, Toni. Beloved. New York: Penguin Group, 1987
Internet Sources:
”Beloved (Author Biography)”. WikiAnswers Q&A community. 2006. Answers
Corporation. 20 February 2008
Bois, Danuta. “Toni Morrison”. 1996. Distinguished Women of Past and Present.
18 February 2008
Coffin, Levi. “Margaret Garner”. aalbc.com. 2007. AALBC.com, LLC. 5 March
2008
Dan, Rashel. “An Introduction to the African American Writer Toni Morrison”.
16 Mar 2007. Ambiguity. 2008. Content, Inc. 23 February 2008
“Protagonist”. Dictionary.com. 2008. Lexico Publishing Group, LLC. 25 February
2008
Hedge, Holly. “Toni Morrison”. Empire: ZINE, EZ. 2008. Spyder’s Empire. 23
February 2008
19
Maranatha Christian University
Shay, Courtney. “Analysis of the works of Toni Morrison and Sembene
Ousmane”. Helium. 2008. Helium, Inc. 18 February 2008
“Toni Morrison Biography”. Notable Biographies. 2007. Advameg Inc. 23
February 2008.
“Toni Morrison Criticism and Essays”. e.note.com. 2008. eNotes.com, Inc. 23
February 2008
20
Maranatha Christian University