Toni Morrison’s novel Beloved is a story of hardship, regret, evil, and motherhood that is compelling and reveals the issues caused by slavery. Morrison’s message is based on the evils of slavery and its effect on society as well as the individuals who are victim to it. In order to uncover the deeper meaning behind Beloved, I unveil the issues behind slavery itself, its origins, and the meaning behind it in Beloved. In a published analytical article trying to uncover the same issue, Heather Duerre Humann analyzes Beloved and the issues of racism within the novel. In the article, “Bigotry, Breast Milk, Bric-a-Brac, a Baby, and a Bit in Beloved: Toni Morrison’s Portrayal of Racism and Hegemony.” Humann analyzes Beloved through a perspective similar to that of the Marxist lens. The article discusses, and focuses on, the issues of cultural and societal hegemony that originate from racism. Through both of these texts, the overarching concept is revealed that racism defines social structure and that power is fed to those who hold higher social status.
Humman discusses these issues of racism and social power through her analysis of Toni Morrisons novel and discusses how racism contributes to societal hegemony. Societal hegemony is the belief in a society where one type of people, in the book being race, being “superior” to another and is the dominant race in society. Humann focuses her work on her analysis of the novel on this concept as she states that racism was the main cause for societal hegemony during the time of slavery. This notion is echoed throughout her article to a close to repetitive point in order to convey to the reader how strongly this concept was present in the book. When Humann began to analyze Morrison’s text, Humann states, when discussing a the novel’s use of the word “them” as a descriptor, she states, “She could mean "white people" as the "them," but she could also (or alternatively) mean racists. Although various white people have markedly different interactions with Sethe and although they further individualized agendas, all contribute to the foundation of a cultural hegemony.” When Humann analyzes the word “them” (while describing Sethe’s experiences with white characters), she enforces the notion that the theme is, in fact, that slavery and racism play an instrumental role in determining cultural hegemonies in the novel. Morrison reveals the presence of societal power in multiple instances, most of which are stated clearly for the reader to interpret. In the novel, the dominance of the white race is clearly seen in the memories of Sethe’s Sweet Home, which was a plantation. In one instance, Mr. Garner, a white slave owner, states that "Y'all got boys," he told them. "Young boys, old boys, picky boys, stroppin boys. Now at Sweet Home, my niggers is men every one of em. Bought em thataway, raised em thataway. Men every one.”
“Beg to differ, Garner. Ain't no nigger men" (1.14).
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| Modern day examples of cultural hegemony |
This quote from the novel reveals the true extent of society’s beliefs and deep rooted racial power in both the novel and the time period of slavery. When the other white slavers respond to Mr. Garner’s “radical” beliefs in what a slave should be called in society, a clear racial line in the society is conveyed to the reader. The word “boy” is derogatory when a man is being called one as the connotations of “boy” are negative when referring to an adult because people associate the word boy with a person who is small, feeble, and reliant on others. When Morrison reveals that, even when one person in power (that power given to Mr. Garner solely on his race) attempts to against a societal norm, society’s view of the world cannot be wavered. The idea that African Americans are below whites in society is solely based on race, showing a distinct connection between race and power in society. When Humann talks about similar instances of racism as this quote, she describes the power given to the whites as a result of white dominance due to “societal hegemony.” The notion that power is given to one race in this novel is well-founded, as the response to Mr. Garner by the other white slavers is both a response from the other slavers, but represents a response from society. When closely reading the novel, almost all parts of society in the novel are dictated and run by whites. This is important when looking at society’s view of slavery because whites are proponents for slavery and white control over African Americans due to the fact that race strictly dictates power in the society. Simply stated, the world in which Morrison described is, indeed, run on societal hegemony as Humann described but more specifically, is run on the fact that racism defines social structure and that power is fed to those who hold higher social status. In this case, Morrison describes the higher social class as whites, so the entire social structure is built on the idea of racism and power in society is fed to whites.
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| Slaves being kept down in the bowels of the ship while the whites stand above them |
Humann focused on the idea that racism defines societal power in her own article, which cites an analytical professor of Beloved, Bouson, who states “that Morrison examines the white supremacist ideology.” Through this citation from a different article within Humann’s article, Humann returns to the parts of the theme which persists throughout the entirety of the article as she interprets Morrison’s writing in Beloved as focused on racial profilings in society as well as Morrison’s apparent views on African-Americans in society both in the time period of slavery and in the modern-day. Humann uncovers the fact that Beloved was not only written as a message to its readers about the cultural hegemonies behind slavery and racism, but also about how those beliefs transfers into the modern day. In an interview with Morrison, stated in Humann’s article, Morrison proclaims that, “We've had to distinguish among [whites] because our lives depended on it. I'm always annoyed about why black people have to bear the brunt of everybody else's contempt. If we are not totally understanding and smiling, suddenly we're demons.” Humann articulates that Morrison is frustrated with the lack of knowledge on both “sides” of society. Humann continually analysis Morrison’s views as having a strict and pronounced “them and us” when Morrison discusses the issue of racism and slavery. This is abundantly apparent both in Morrison’s interview and in her works such as Beloved. Morrison aggressively writes about slavery with a strong social hegemony associated with it. She writes about Sethe’s struggle and abuse by white people and about the various owners of the Sweet Home, all of which contribute to the ever-evolving theme about cultural and societal hegemony, that whites are dominant and higher than blacks in terms of social class as a result of racism.
Through both the article and Beloved itself, the theme clearly revealed. The main point that Toni Morrison attempts to convey to the reader is that racism defines societal power and who is in control of society, creating a world in which people are discriminated and fearful. A society that contains social structure to the point of cultural and societal hegemony leads to only negatives for the class who is not dominant. Both Humann and Morrison state this in a similar way. Morrison uses Sethe as a prime example of a person who is part of a society in which racist ideology and racial power is present and proves that racial power is part of the dominant group in the society. Through Sethe, Morrison reveals the tragedies of a society containing cultural hegemony as well as describing the evils of slavery, which is a society in which cultural hegemony is present. Humann reveals a similar theme in her article by using Morrison as her messenger instead of a character like Sethe. By using Morrison as her example, Humann concludes that cultural hegemonies are often a result of racism by analyzing Beloved and Morrison’s own views and beliefs on slavery. I came to the conclusion that racism is, in fact, a major cause for social development as well as social power and that Beloved’s main message to the reader is that racism defines social structure and that power is fed to those who hold higher social status, forming a world in which the reader may describe as “evil.” There is a constant reference to evil in the novel, all of which are tied back to slavery. Slavery, however, is not the core cause. The core cause for this evil, behind the issue of slavery, is racial power and cultural hegemonies. I believe that this was the message that Morrison wished to convey to the reader and is the message referenced in Humann’s analysis of the text.
Video describing modern day Influences of racist power and “white washing”:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYM1o8QIk6c
