The Role Of Love In Toni Morrison's Beloved

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As humans, we’re almost all hardwired to search for love. Love is something that is said to be one of the most sought-after things in life. Love comes in the form of lovers, family, friends, and even self-love. To some, love is the saving grace by which people can find redemption. To others, love is a prison, something that creates weaknesses in people. Love is a critical theme in Toni Morrison’s Beloved. When we take a close look at the motivations behind the characters inside the text, we can see that love is central to what guides each person’s actions. When we analyze the motivations and the inspiration behind the different ways in which the characters express their love, we can see that Sethe’s love runs the deepest and the thickest.
In Morrison’s Beloved, we see love in each relationship held by the central characters. We see the maternal love between a mother and her children, romantic love between a man and a woman, and even platonic love between two women. This love manifests itself in various, and sometimes bizarre, ways throughout the course of the novel.
The most loving character of them all is Sethe. Sethe has love for each of the characters involved in the story: for her children, for Paul
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Love is expressed in ways that seem backwards and twisted. Love is shown by never leaving each other when the going gets rough. Love is supporting and caring for one another. While the topic of love is almost too broad to begin to talk about, the effect that love has on the relationships of the characters of Beloved is a good place to start. Love is the motivation behind almost all of these people: behind the act of Sethe murdering her child, behind Paul D, and behind Denver. Love is almost impossible to define. However, Morrison’s characters in Beloved do an amazing job at showcasing all of the aspects of love, as well as the consequences and benefits of such

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