This novel, set in a real history which tells about a nigger, Sethe, who fled from the Sweet Home to the Cincinnati farmhouse in order to get freedom。 She fled and sent her children, two boys and a baby girl to her mother-in-law, Baby Suggs’s house which was named 124 Bluestone。 In the courses of her escape, she delivered a little girl Denver。 Sethe was put in prison after killing her baby girl Beloved so that the kid wouldn’t suffer from the slavery when chased by her slave owner。 Then the girl’s ghost began to haunt the house, which drove the two boys out of the house and indirectly caused the death of Baby Suggs。 However, Sethe and Denver still lived in that house, lonely and helpless。 Paul D, the last man of the Sweet Home, whose arrival altered the situation。 He violently drove the ghost away out of the house。 However, the arrival of an unknown girl called herself Beloved destroyed Sethe’s comfortable life。 She assumed that Beloved was the resurgence of the dead child and bore extreme pains。 Paul D left her when he knew the fact。 Sethe did her best to love Beloved and became increasingly weak。 In fear of her mother being tortured and dying, Denver asked the black women in the community for help and Paul D returned to Sethe after forgiving her and would like to spend his rest life with her。
2。Literature Review
2。1 Domestic research on Beloved
Since 1993, plenty of studies has been done in China, which arises a wide range of concern to Toni Morrison and her work Beloved。 Chinese researchers mainly study from maternal love, techniques of writing and the angel of female。
First of all, Tang Hongmei held the opinion that it is her extreme maternal love that caused Sethe to killed her child。 (Tang 45）Suffering from the tortures of slavery, she thinks the only method to make her children escape from the pain is to be dead, which subverts the traditional concept and the image of traditional mother in our heart falls down。
Secondly, Constructivism and Magic Realism has done a research on the writing techniques of Beloved。 Wu Xinyun made comments that the author used symbolism to express her idea。 For instance, the image of tree on Sethe’s back and water image the author adopted to awake black people that they should go ahead instead of fleeing from the affliction of the past。 (Wang&Wu 56) Moreover, Wang Xiaolan and Zhong Ming investigated the connection between the narrative strategies and themes and discovered that Morrison’s skills makes her work more aesthetic。 (Wang&Zhong 50-55) In addition, in Xiao Zhihong's MA's thesis, he draws a conclusion from the perspective of magic realism that magic realistic elements in Beloved help us better understand the artistic skills and themes of the novel。
Finally, many researchers explore this work from women’s perspective and based on the heroine who is a black woman。 Just take Shi Lihua’s M。A。 Essay as an example, “An Ecofeminist Analysis of Tony Morrison’s Beloved”, she focuses on ecofeminism, analyzing that nature and women are the two important factors to interpret the novel and using ecofeminism theory to study the relationships between nature and women。
2。2 Foreign research on Beloved
The foreign study of Beloved includes three aspects: mother’s love, the crime of enslavement and the self construction of black women。
First of all, Kimberly Chabot Davis discovered that black women’s infanticide showed her extreme love to the child。 Secondly, many scholars focus on the crime of the slavery in To Be loved and Cry Shame: A Psychological Reading of Toni Morrison’s Beloved, the author Koolish Lynda held the view that it is a pity that black people suffer from the torture of slavery and can’t be free。 J。 Brooks Bouson held that men and the society should respect the rights of black women。 Black women has suffered great pains due to the racial and sexual discrimination and injustice from the society。 But they attempted to dig out their self value and looked for their self identity。 Also Morrison’s narration made us know about sufferings and self construction of the black women, which will force people to pay attention to racism and sexual discrimination。 对托尼·莫里森《宠儿》的生态女性主义解读(2):http://www.youerw.com/yingyu/lunwen_199990.html