Amanda Bunker

History 102
Professor Gary Kroll
Saturday, October 25, 2008

Toni Morrison: The Social and Cultural Forces Which Brought About the Writing of Beloved

The late 1970`s and the early 1980`s were a time period of struggle for many African
Americans, including, author of Beloved, Toni Morrison. Not only Beloved, but many of Toni
Morrison`s other novels expressed the true feelings of African Americans who have been treated
unjustly by whites. Blacks were exposed to many injustices and were threatened by the dominant
white race. African Americans who were living during the times of slavery and Reconstruction
couldn`t bring themselves to face their painful pasts and tell them to the public. This, in turn, left
the truth behind their stories untold. In writing Beloved, Toni Morrison hoped to give some
insight as to what life was really like for African Americans, from an African American`s
perspective.
The 1980 Presidential Election, which was taking place during the time in which Beloved
was being written, brought about the rise of conservatism. Religion was one of Morrison`s key
themes within Beloved. Morrison depicts faith as the core in African American communities.
Religion had instilled a sense of hope within slaves, a hope for change. Religion influenced them
in a positive way shaping who they were as individuals, both politically and morally. The action
that was taken and the changes that were promised during the Reagan Administration proved to
be two different topics altogether, angering blacks and failing to attract their support. Over time,
America has become more of a political empire, where the voices of the black population
weren`t heard (Lacewell 222).
The book Beloved`s main character, Sethe, was based off the story of Margaret Garner, a
former slave. While working as an editor at Random House, Toni Morrison came across the
story of Margaret Garner, who had murdered her child to save it from slavery. Morrison was
working at Random House in the mid-1960`s. When she first discovered the story of Margaret
Garner, it was over one hundred years since it happened. Toni Morrison wondered why the story
of Margaret Garner had not been brought to the public`s attention.
A common theme throughout Beloved was parenting and motherhood. Slavery and the
Margaret Garner story made black women seem like bad mothers. Beloved had a way of
revealing the truth behind the story of Margaret Garner and black mothers in general. They did
not want the reason of why she killed her child being exposed to the public for fear that it would
taint their minds and interrupt their white superior society.
Toni Morrison`s, Beloved was a highly controversial book that raised many questions.
Another book which did this was, William Styron`s, The Confessions of Nat Turner. William
Styron, who was a white man, and tried to tell a story about what life was like for slaves.
Styron`s book was an impersonal account of the lives of slaves. Although Styron may have
described as best he knew how to document the life of Nat Turner, which he did fairly well, it
does not even begin to compare with some of the scenes in Beloved. Growing up, as black
children, mothers and fathers weren`t afraid to expose their children to the horrors of how
Americans treated black people. Those horrors which those children were exposed to are what
made them stronger as people. In Beloved, Sethe is attacked by a group of white men and milked
for her breast milk, like a cow. Comparing that scene to the scene where Styron compares slaves
to flies referring to them as black shit-eating people [who] were surely like flies, God`s
brainless, supreme outcasts (Styron 26-27). Styron`s depiction is less than accurate after being
compared with that which was in Beloved. What Toni Morrison did with Beloved was make it a
public issue that black people weren`t seen as important. What Styron did report accurately on
was that black mothers, former slaves, and black people in general were still being treated
unjustly and were trapped, beneath the largest rock, also known as white America.
The main controversy behind William Styron`s novel The Confessions of Nat Turner was
that he was stereotyping African Americans. The way he described Nat Turner was from reading
other slave narratives and writing from a slave`s point of view. What Styron ended up doing was
making something that really happened and that was a serious issue seem unreal. The way in
which Styron portrayed Nat Turner and his life as a slave was distorted by his lack of detail in
the historical sense. (Rushdy 58) What Styron did with his novel The Confessions of Nat Turner,
he wrote a historical story, with a white man`s interpretation. What Morrison did with Beloved
was reveal the real lives of slaves and how it affected African Americans as individuals and in
African American communities. The post-slavery African Americans thought it wrong to believe
that a white man could accurately describe the lives of African Americans and recreate their
struggles in writing.
The time in which Morrison wrote Beloved ties in to how the government, under the
Reagan Administration handled welfare. Going back to the idea of how the government made
black women seem like bad mothers because of the Margaret Garner story, but also women who
were on welfare were made to seem like bad mothers who couldn`t provide for their families.
Under the Reagan Administration, Republicans planned to cut welfare for people such as Renee
Natter their whole life depended on the welfare system. The government assigned social workers
to help families such as Renee Natter`s but then, the social workers stopped coming (Natter).
Just as the people who were on welfare were in the hands of the white people and the Reagan
Administration. Most of the feelings which were expressed by African Americas were also felt
by families forced to live on welfare. Women and mother`s who rely on the welfare system have
many limitations on their freedom and their families freedom as the slaves did. For instance,
when Renee needed a doctor for her son twice a week, many of them refused to him on as a
patient simply because his mother was on welfare, and it would not pay the asking price for his
medical services. Renee Natter states, I hide my real feelings. If they could hear my thoughts
and feel my fears and know how senseless this welfare battle is, they would be just as empty
inside as I am (Natter). Natter goes on to say how that living off of welfare has stripped her of
her dignity and turned her into a woman who can longer find the ability within her to laugh,
smile, or even love. These women who are subjected to living on welfare were not bad mothers
simply because they are on welfare; the government needs to recognize for their lack of success
and social mobility in life. Slavery destroyed people`s lives and families. Welfare, which is
meant to help families out of their current economic situations, really halts their progress at
making a better life for themselves.
When Reagan was running for office once again in the 1984 election campaign, he
claimed to be an avid advocate of conservative ideas He recognized their support, they hoped
that Reagan followed their ideals of traditional family values. After his re-election, very little
was done to meet the requirements of the conservatives. At one point, Geraldine Ferraro, Walter
Mondale`s running mate in the 1984 election spoke out against Reagan saying, The President
walks around calling himself a good Christian, but I don`t for one minute believe it because [his]
policies are so terribly unfair. They are discriminatory and they hurt a lot of people (Pierard
105). Ferraro rebelled against the President because she felt as though she was having
restrictions placed on her right to freedom of religion. Just as many African American`s felt a
strong connection to church, so did Ferraro, who was angered by the way Reagan was handling
the current administration. Mondale agreed with Ferraro in the fact that the idea of working with
politics and religion in close relation would corrupt our faith and divide our nation (Pierard
106). Reagan was commented on by Dr. T.J. Jemison, a black man, who openly admitted that his
thoughts on Reagan were that he felt that his administration did not take the concerns of the
black people into consideration, and would not lead blacks into the mainstream of American
life. Jemison agreed with Melissa V. Harris-Lacewell, on the fact that black people don`t
matter (Lacewell 222). People generally do not say things without good reason, and yet, once
Jemison met with President Reagan privately, he quickly decided that he feels that Reagan does
care about black and that media was simply distorting the information. (Lacewell 106). Black
people were seen as insignificant, and their real feelings always had a way of getting hidden,
partially to protect the integrity of the white race.
Religion offered people an opportunity to believe in a hope for change and a way to
believe what they truly feel. Religion and churches consisted of a group of people with common
interests for change to be brought about. Fredrick C. Harris stated that, historians documented
that religion aided Africans and slaves in their struggle for survival, while at the same time,
promoted the idea of rebellion and protest. (Harris 45). Church instilled in African Americans an
idea of change and beliefs on how to make those ideas become reality. Moreover, the church
helped the African Americans to develop their faith which entitles them to their own beliefs. One
way they knew how to get their voices heard was through protest, but in their own way, not
always through violence. Africans Americans wanted their morals and beliefs included in
shaping society. Fredrick C. Harris also mentioned that there had been data collected to display a
negative relationship between religion and civil rights, and that religion served as an opiate on
furthering civil rights rather than a stimulant. (Harris 45). Clearly, Harris` previous idea about
slave`s and African`s history of protest and Johnny E. Williams` ideas together, they collectively
proved that religion, indeed, did have an effect on politics and the defining of society. Church
was a way for African Americans to not hide who they really were. In the past, many of African
Americans had to hide who they were because they feared the white people. Church inspired
them and gave them new ideas on how to communicate to the dominantly white society in
healthy ways, just as Toni Morrison did through Beloved.
Toni Morrison exposed the lives of slaves and the repressed feelings of African
Americans in writing Beloved. In an interview with Marsha Darling, Toni Morrison discusses
how there is a necessity for remembering the horror, but there is a necessity for remembering
what really happened in a healthy manner (Morrison 5). She goes on to say how the people who
lived through the experienced mentioned in Beloved or even The Confessions of Nat Turner,
they have no desire to remember how Americans treated them. James Baldwin was in agreement
with Toni Morrison that, it`s very hard for people to overcome or face their real past, (Baldwin
85) and commonly, they don`t want to talk about what they have endured or remember their
experiences because they are afraid, (Morrison 5) which they always have been. Toni Morrison
wanted to show African Americans that it is alright to be afraid but once the truth is out in the
open, you won`t be alone anymore and it will be less of a burden that one will have to bear.

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