Introduction

After publishing four novels, Toni Morrison had already established herself as one of the most popular and successful black female writers of her time. With […]

Toni Morrison

Toni Morrison was born Chloe Anthony Wofford on February 18, 1931, in Lorain, Ohio. Growing up during the Depression, Morrison witnessed the struggle of her […]

Plot Summary

A Part I In Beloved, Toni Morrison chronicles the hardships Sethe and her family endure before, during, and after the American Civil War. The novel […]

Characters

A Stamp Paid Stamp Paid was originally named Joshua, but he renamed himself after he “handed over his wife to his master’s son” and gave […]

Themes

A Human Condition A1 Race and Racism “You got two feet, not four,” Paul D tells Sethe when she reveals her secret to him, and […]

Construction

Narration/Point of View For the most part, Beloved uses a third-person narrator-one who tells the story by describing the action of other people (“he said” […]

Questions

The Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 changed the way free states were required to deal with fugitive slaves, leading to Sethe’s terrible response to her […]