Abstract

Beloved is the most astonishing and mature masterpiece written by the famous black American writer Toni Morrison. In this novel, we could review the history of slavery in the United States of America and are moved by protagonist’s experiences. Beloved is well-known for its meticulous psychological description of characters, special narration skills and magic realism. Beloved becomes not only a classic work in contemporary American literature but also the one of most popular works in the history of American literature. Since its publication, Beloved has received numerous interpretations and evaluation from different kinds of aspects.

Beloved shows the hardships of a black mother's life. As a black woman in the slave society under serious oppression, the story of her life not only shows the historical background of slavery society, but also reveals writer Toni Morrison’s emotion and hope to African-American.

The thesis will focus on the protagonist Sethe’s female image. Chapter One will introduce the germination and development of black feminist, Chapter Two explores Morrison’s understanding and acknowledge of black feminist and it’s reflection in Beloved. Chapter Three shifts to analyze Sethe’s slave image with a fighting spirit. This part will be developed by the order of time, from Sethe living as a slave in Sweet Home, her spiritual awakening after the event of “milk stolen”, her struggle for freedom, infanticide and the progress of walking out of miserable past. Chapter Four is about Sethe’s different roles in her family, especially as a mother, her love is called “too thick” and even a little sick. Chapter Five will focus on Sethe’s two-side character. On the one hand, she is a tough woman, but on the other side, she always keeps herself in the old time and is affected seriously by the ghost in her mind. The last part is Conclusion, which includes the significance of the image of Sethe and my understanding of Morrison’s intentions in writing the novel.

Key words: black feminist, Toni Morrison, slavery, Sethe, fighting spirit.