African American Neo-Slave Narrative Analysis

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Osaki, Lillian. “Redefining Motherhood in African American Neo-Slave Narratives: ‘Beloved’, Dessa ‘Rose’, and ‘Corregidora.’” Ahfad Journal, vol. 31, no. 2, Dec. 2014, pp. 21–36. EBSCO.
This journal article utilizes the writings of three black women, Toni Morrison, Sherley Anne Williams, and Gayle Jones, to consider the representation of motherhood within their narratives. However, the information that will be gained from this article comes to us from the Beloved section. Beloved, according to Osaki, is a novel that places emphasis on motherhood. First, Osaki discusses the incidents of motherhood that prohibit the relationship between slave mother and her child. Then, it talks about how Sethe was not just a captive female body, but a captive
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The five stages of grief were first delineated, as mentioned by Pass, in the Elisabeth Kubler-Ross’s book, On Death and Dying, as a healing process that the terminally ill and the grieving endure. Claiming that the traits of this process are exhibited throughout the novel, Pass demonstrates, in this article, their dominion over Sethe. This article, also, displays these stages’ powerful influence on other members of the household, such as Paul D and Denver. Pass asserts that, at the end of Beloved, Sethe reaches the final stage of …show more content…
Rather than this article explicitly discussing motherhood or racism in the novel, Beloved, it discusses the pain and process of grief for Sethe. When discussing Sethe and motherhood many scholars, as well as their audiences, focus on the baby ghost, the infanticide, or, even, Denver; many of the peer-reviewed articles found in this bibliography follow suit. While, this focus is valid and necessary, examining the extreme grief and grief processing that Sethe experiences provides insight into the depth of Sethe’s devotion to her children. Furthermore, it accompanies the idea that Sethe committed infanticide out of intense motherly love. This is different than most of the other articles, because the other articles seem to view Sethe’s murderous actions as her struggle to reclaim her life, not as an act of devotion or

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