Why I Chose the New Historical Lens By Lindsey Bogott

For as long as I can remember, history has always fascinated me. There is something about learning how the past builds up to create the present and how the present will one day be considered the past that makes me think about the world in a more abstract way. I tend to always find myself thinking: How have my past actions shaped the present? What am I doing now that will affect the future? What I love about these questions is that the answer is not always there. There is a sense of oblivion, which sparks curiosity. So when it came down to picking a critical lens to analyze Beloved by Toni Morrison with, it almost seemed as a no brainer to pick the new historical lens. However it was difficult to pick between feminist and new historical, mainly because I love the feminist lens and find myself always reading books, articles, movies, music, and so on through that lens. Yet I wanted to challenge myself and realized that my notorious feminist lens can be broadened through the new historical lens by using the two lenses at the same time to gain a deeper understanding of the critically acclaimed novel by learning how historical events across all spectrums have shaped Morrison and her characters. Using what I have learned in past history classes and in my free time of googling random historical events will be to my benefit as I embark on this journey of reading Beloved through the new historical lens.