Krishna
This is also about the African American people in the US and their struggles against oppression and discrimination. However, this is different from the Song of Solomon or Paradise, reviewed earlier in this blog, in two ways.
There is an element of surrealist or supernatural tilt to the story, around the title character Beloved. She arrives at the family central to the story with devastating consequences. The other difference is that this is set clearly in the sixties and directly deals with the effects of slavery and discrimination in the South. Yes, I know that all her works deal with the theme but in the other two works, it is treated as a background to the story, always there to be sensed, but not directly discussed; here it is direct and central to the narrative itself.
The story deals with Baby Suggs, a slave with disability, trying to do her bit in a family and her children. Her son, Halle, falls in love with and marries Sethe. There are other slaves in the family, including Paul A, Paul D, Sixo and others. The story of how little they have, and how little time Sethe and Halle get to spend with each other, are poignantly told. When the kindly master of the household dies, and the wife brings in a relative, a tyrannical school teacher, things go beyond tolerance of these slaves. He tries to ‘teach them their place’ and tries to undo the ‘mistakes’ of the previous owner, by showing them ‘how things will be in the future’. When some of them try to run away, they are taught an unforgettable lesson and dragged back.
When the atrocities threaten to touch their children, Sethe loses control and does the unthinkable – and pays for it with the skin on her back.
Baby Suggs is bought off by Halle and shipped to the North, where there is freedom and she establishes a community. Some of Sethe’s children are also sent over. When Sethe, pregnant with Denver, manages to escape and reunite with Baby Suggs, it seems that only Halle’s arrival is needed to make their happiness complete.
The house is then possessed by a sacrificed baby of Sethe.
The story goes on to talk about the death of Baby Suggs, the gradual reclusive state of Sethe and Denver, the arrival of Paul D with news about their old home called Sweet Home, and follows their lives, describing the arrival and final departure of Beloved, who appears seemingly from nowhere and is intent on taking over all their lives and change it beyond recognition.
It is an amazingly told story; even after being used to her style in the other two books mentioned, the scenes of casual cruelty shown to slaves are shockingly stark; the outlook of these former slaves, their amazement in knowing that not only people expect them to be free to lead their own lives but are actually willing to pay money – real money – for their work, is touching.
The surreal aspects of it are jarring – the story depends on them and yet the story of Beloved, her effect on Paul D, Sethe and Denver, the gradual destruction of the family etc, though interesting, suffer from the weakness of the premise.
In all, a good story, but I would say a 6/10
— Krishna