Mother Enslaved to Daughter - An Abstract Definition of Slavery By Lindsey Bogott

Beloved by Toni Morrison is a rich novel, full of many different interpretations that a multitude of academic scholars have analyzed and simplified to make the plot more relatable. One such scholar was Terry Paul Caesar who dove into Beloved by finding and understanding the correlation between slavery and motherhood. After defining mothers, daughters, and slavery, he came to the conclusion that slavery can be found with a mother having control over her daughter but can also happen when a daughter has such a powerful influence over her mother that can be interpreted as a relationship between master and slave.  

His conclusion fascinated me because when one thinks about slavery, they think of physical chains, abuse, and property; however he brought upon the abstract definition of slavery between mother and daughter which reveals that Sethe was never free from slavery, but was held by her faults of committing infanticide. Her crime created bondage, invisible chains, linked to her master, Beloved. Beloved, being the haunting remembrance of the past, had control over Sethe that only Sethe could break, yet she kept on obeying her master, frightened of what would happen if she upset her daughter once again. Even though masters tend to be classified as white and male, Beloved is no different from a white man even though she is black. This is because the white schoolteacher is the reason why Beloved controls Sethe, since she was sacrificed in the schoolteacher’s presence. As a result this makes Sethe still under control of the white superiority, even though she is technically a free black woman.

Terry Paul Caesar goes on to explain the symbolism of being a mother, stating that because the daughter comes from the womb of the mother, the daughter is in fact an extension of the mother’s life and wellbeing. As a result this can create tension since the mother wants the daughter to obey and love her, and wants the daughter to fulfill all of the objectives the mother was unable to achieve. Yet because of this, the daughter wants to break away and tell the mother how she wants to be treated instead. This is what happened to Sethe since she felt guilty for sacrificing Beloved, feeling the need to pay her daughter back by obeying and loving her. Sethe does this so much that she ends up losing control over Beloved and ends up becoming Beloved’s “daughter”. This power struggle is seen throughout the whole novel until the end when Beloved finally leaves her, yet leaves Sethe too weak to build her life again, very similar to how slaves felt when they finally escaped from their master after years of imprisonment.   

In conclusion Caesar’s interpretation of slavery and motherhood sheds light on how family bonds can be defined deeper and in some cases be paralleled to slavery. Morrison’s novel is not merely historical or racial, but is meant to be reveal how relationships can control us in remembrance of our past and can confine us in nonliteral terms.