Beloved, a Christ Figure?
Faith is often described as a feeling one cannot describe nor explain. Faith is intuition and a belief that something or someone exist without any evidentiary proof. This form of indescribable faith is present in the novel, Beloved, by Toni Morrison. The novel takes place in the post civil war south of United States surrounding the lives of Suggs family who were all former slaves. The plot of the story heightens when Beloved, the deceased child, of Sethe is somehow resurrected and exists as if she was never dead. Toni Morrison uses the sense of faith and mystic to develop the character, Beloved, and how she is brought to life. Because of this mystic and altered reality, it is sometimes difficult to accurately characterize Beloved as a real person within the novel or as a symbol for something much grander. In her novel, Toni Morrison uses many biblical references and illusions and relates them to the personal story of her fictional character to successfully develop their character and personality. Through this use, Morrison is also able to continue the theme of the novel by further developing the spiritually and religiousness of the former slaves.
Originating from the highly spiritual land of Africa, the black slaves of colonial American often turn to their faith during times of need and hardship. Being forced to suffer many horrible and cruel ordeals, the slaves accepted the Christian faith that was being presented them. Nevertheless the slaves knew that the Christian faith was of the white man; therefore, it was necessary for them to incorporate their cultural indigenous beliefs in it. Baby Suggs is the oldest in the Suggs family. She has eight children who all except one were taken away from her before adolescent. She is the voice of wisdom and knowledge within her community. People often looked to her for spiritually support and revival. Although she was very religious, her views on life are includes, but different from the Christian faith. While Baby Suggs is at the Clearing, preaching, Toni Morrison develops her character by saying, “She did not tell them to clean up their lives or to go and sin no more. She did not tell them they were the blessed of the earth, its inheriting meek and or its glorybound pure,” (88). In this statement, Morrison uses a biblical reference of the beatitudes in Matthew 5:5, “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” It is evident in these two statements that although Baby Suggs is very religious, her views on life includes, but are different from the Christian faith. Baby Suggs stresses the need of living your fullest in the present life rather than depend on your afterlife. She also makes clearly that one should always love themselves as she preaches, “More that your life-holding womb and you life-giving private parts, hear me now, love your heart. For this is the prize,” (89). Baby Suggs knows that in a slaves’ life, no one has loved them or cared for them, so she lets them know that it is necessary that they love themselves. Through these two references, Toni Morrison is able to successfully in creating Baby Suggs’ character.
