I Do Not Love Beloved

The title pretty much says it all: I do not love Beloved.  If we're going to get really technical about it, I don't love Beloved or Beloved.  I actually don't love Beloved more than I don't love Beloved, if that makes any sense.

Anyway, most people in class right now (at least B3) tend to either absolutely love the book or absolutely hate it.  But when someone asked me whether I like it the other day, my reaction was "Eh, it's okay." I'm not exactly sure why because I was told by many that it was a terrible read and would put me to sleep.  Another English teacher even shuddered when I told them that I was going read this novel in my English class (not mentioning any names, I might get in trouble).

There are moments when I like this book and moments where I hate it.  I think that Toni Morrison does a phenomenal job of using flashback and imagery to display the struggles that slavery and its traumas can bring on such as loneliness, isolation, self-loathing, etc.  For example, take the following passage:

"The last of her children, whom she barely glanced at when he was born because it wasn’t worth the trouble to try to learn features you would never see change into adulthood anyway.  Seven times she had done that: held a little foot; examined the fat fingertips with her own – fingers she never saw become the male or female hands a mother would recognize anywhere.  She didn’t know to this day what their permanent teeth looked like; or how they held their heads when they walked.  Did Patty lose her lisp?  What color did Famous’ skin finally take?  Was that a cleft in Johnny’s chin or just a dimple that would disappear soon’s his jawbone changed?  Four girls, and the last time she saw them there was no hair under their arms.  Does Ardelia still love the burned bottom of bread?  All seven were gone or dead.  What would be the point of looking too hard at that youngest one?  But for some reason they let her keep him.  He was with her – everywhere."  (163-164)


I used this passage for my reading journal, and it really spoke to me because I realized how much we take for granted.  I think we can all agree that no matter how much we love or hate the novel, this passage really has a profound effect on its reader.

There are other moments when I either zone out or want to throw something. (Not at Toni Morrison, just throw something). I just can't wrap my head around some of the concepts of this book.  Sometimes I feel like everything would be easier if Beloved were either just a ghost or just a human being, but the I guess we wouldn't really have a book the, would we?

So if someone were to ask me if I like the book, my response would still be "Eh, it's okay." I might grow to love or hate the book, but seeing as we're at the halfway point, I don't really think that's going to change.  Those are just a few of my thoughts on Beloved and Beloved.