As the semester closes, Bowie’s AP Literature and Composition classes wrap up their annual reading of a curriculum classic, Beloved. Written by Toni Morrison, the book focuses on the haunting effect slavery has on generations by following one family throughout the novel and switches perspectives throughout. Published in 1897, Beloved remains a staple in Bowie’s curriculum and is even guaranteed by the school’s English department to be a novel that will most likely work with any literary argument prompt given on AP test day.
The story begins in 1873, set in Cincinnati, Ohio, following former slave Sethe. Sethe lives with her youngest daughter, Denver, at 124 Bluestone Road. One day Paul D, a former slave from Sweet Home arrives at 124 and forces out the evil spirit that had been haunting their home. The home is then visited by a strange young woman named Beloved. Sethe eventually realizes that Beloved is the reincarnation of her deceased daughter.
Beloved consumes Sethe’s life as she demands that Sethe devote all of her time and resources to Beloved. This allows Beloved to become more controlling and powerful over Sethe, causing Sethe to physically and emotionally shrink to meet Beloved’s needs. Denver, who has never stepped outside of 124 Bluestone Road, decides that she needs to take action to save her mother and ventures outside of her safe home into the outside world. She seeks help from the community to help her mother support Beloved by attempting to get a job. Denver gets a job from a family friend, but also gets the community’s involvement in an exorcism to remove Beloved from the home.
The novel shifts from the past and present to explore how psychological scars from slavery impact the present. Sethe is consumed by grief and guilt, causing her to struggle for true freedom and be blinded by her maternal instincts.
This book explores complex themes of trauma and devastation caused by slavery compellingly. As stated in the dedication at the beginning of the novel, this book is for the 60 million or more who died as a result of the transatlantic slave trade, making this novel bigger than just the family it focuses on. The alternating perspectives further create several viewpoints that represent all those who could not tell their story of suffering, in a way that prevents premature judgment, since many of those enslaved had to make extremely difficult decisions just to survive.
I had never read the book before so I was engrossed throughout reading this book. This book does a fantastic job of telling the stories of those impacted by slavery, not just from firsthand experience but also impacted by generational trauma. Beloved also frames the novel with a light of hope that those impacted can heal and live a life not haunted by the past. Despite this novel being put on and off the banned books list for its violent scenes, it still is a very impactful story. The violent scenes are intentional and help further the story’s meaning and is a very powerful story to be read in a classroom.
Both AP Lit teachers break down the novel in great detail by helping students understand the meaning of the sensitive moments, rather than shying away from it. The way Beloved is taught allows students to engage with complex topics in a safe learning environment and exposes students to story lines that are often silenced in other contexts, therefore this book should still be taught in English classes. With this being the first book we read in this class, the English department at Bowie has set the bar high for the literature being taught this year; however, I truly don’t believe that any other book that we will read this year will be as impactful and captivating as Beloved was.
