Author/Authors :
GÖNCÜOĞLU, M. Önder Muğla Sıtkı Koçman Üniversitesi - Edebiyat Fakültesi - İngiliz Dili ve Edebiyatı Bölümü, Turkey
Abstract :
In the preface of Frantz Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth (1963, 18), Sartre describes how oppressed peoples, who have no other chance, vent their frustration and anger on each other: “If this suppressed fury fails to find an outlet, it turns in a vacuum and devastates the oppressed creatures themselves”. What is implied here may be likened to a snake struggling to swallow its own tail out of despair. Toni Morrison’s well-known work Beloved (1987) in this respect represents such an anger against the oppressor concluding in her infanticide. In fact, the act of murder, in itself, is evil. However, it shouldn’t be ignored that in her situation tragedy stems from her “thick” love for her children. It is a love strong enough to kill her child but within a mood of mercy, than to watch her live a life of abuse and slavery. Therefore, in Sethe’s case her hatred against the oppressor turns into a paradox when she kills her most beloved one. There is no doubt that taking a human life is murder, but how the concept of murder is to be understood within this context is the primary goal of this article.
NaturalLanguageKeyword :
Slavery , infanticide , memory , oppression , paradoxical , love
