Race and Culture in Beloved

From “Beloved” by Toni Morrison

“‘Those white things have taken all I had or dreamed,’ she said, ‘and broke my heartstrings too. There is no bad luck in the world but the whitefolks.’”(104-105).

Reading a book through a race/cultural lens you can see how different races are perceived throughout the book and determines the author’s attitude towards race.

In “Beloved” Baby Suggs, a former slave, is at 124 with Denver and Sethe. Soon a mysterious woman comes along named Beloved. Beloved looks like the baby that died that Sethe later named Beloved. Baby Suggs is talking to Denver and Sethe when she makes a reference to the past when she says, “‘Those white things have taken all I had or dreamed,’”. Author Toni Morrison uses diction and characterization to show how different races are portrayed.

In this book the two races are perceived very differently. Since the book is taken place after slavery there is a lot of references to the past and about slavery. One thing that Baby Suggs makes a allusion to the past when she says, “‘Those white things have taken all I had or dreamed’”. This type of language show anger and hatred to whites. One word that she used in her saying was “thing”. She describes white people as things rather than people. When referring to people as things it is showing that you don’t respect them. Also when she uses the word “taken” she is referring to her freedom. Baby Suggs is referring to the past when she uses the word "taken". She is talking about how her freedom was taken away from her by the white people. Baby Suggs thought that her freedom and her dreams were taken away from her because of the white people and slaver.

Through the characterization of Baby Suggs, Morrison is highlighting the anger and hatred within Baby Suggs about slavery. When Baby Suggs say “‘and broke my heartstrings too.’” shows that she still has anger within her about white people. She has overcome so much but still has that anger and hatred towards whites. This especially evident when Baby Suggs says “‘no bad luck in the world but the whitefolks.”. This is showing that she thinks the white people are a mistake. Thus, showing her anger toward the white people. Toni uses race to show the characterization of anger for Baby Suggs by showing how the whites took something from her and is still angry about the past because her freedom was taken. She portrays  white people as bad and have taken everything from black people. The white people are portrayed as bad people in the book.

Some other words that Baby Suggs used was “bad luck”. These two words have a connotation of something that is not good. This means that Baby Suggs is referring to the white people as bad to the world. She uses "bad luck" and in the same sentence as the word “white folks”. This means that for Sethe and other black people at the time they really disliked white people. They didn’t think they were good and were bad to America. The white people are portrayed as bad in this quote and not good to blacks. The white people are kind of seen as bullies in the world and controlled the black people for a long time.


Cormac Keegan