The primary work I thought would be
the best to draw parallels to Toni Morrison's Beloved is the
film 12 Years A Slave. Both works deal with the theme of
dehumanization and illustrate how and why slavery changes both the slave and the
slaver involved.
The first parallels that can be
drawn from the two works are the 'virtuous' characteristics of the slave
owners, namely Master Ford (12 Years a Slave) and Mr. Garner (Beloved).
In the novel, Garner and his wife are seen as the benign whites who treat their
slaves as “men, everyone of ‘em” while the slaves are on the plantation, giving
them enough liberty for them to feel that they are independent, employed
workers. While it is never understood to what extent Mr. Garner is a ‘good
person’, Paul D eventually begins to question what the definition of good is
when it comes to a person who has bought human beings as property. Master Ford,
however, is visibly convicted emotionally and spiritually all throughout the
film on where he stands as a slave owner. Though he personally does not punish
the slaves and saves Platt's (the film’s protagonist) life from a violent
overseer, Ford's morals are frequently overridden by his own fear of
persecution. The two characters represent the issue of morality in slave owners
and push the question of what ‘good’ means in regards to treating slaves like
well-trained or well-loved animals or treating slaves like human beings. In his
article (12 Years a Slave, http://www.memphisflyer.com/memphis/12-years-a-slave/Content?oid=3537369)
for the Memphis Flyer, Greg Akers argues that "the
Southern aristocracy runs from the benign, "good" master Ford to the
sadistic Epps to the ... oh, wait, they're not diverse at all. They were
all slave owners who perpetuated the inhumane system and became wealthy because
of it." This quote reinforces the idea that however kind a slave owner
appears to be, the ethics involved in the ownership of slaves trumps their
counteracts that kindness.
The
next parallel is drawn between Sethe (Beloved’s protagonist) and Eliza’s
(a slave woman in 12 Years) relationship with their children. Both
women see their children as entities of themselves which makes their bond to
their children and their will to do whatever they need to do to protect their
children very strong. In Eliza’s instance, she has allowed herself to be the
enslaved mistress of her master. While Eliza understands that she has only been
her life of privilege through her sexual relationship with her master, she
continues to do “dishonorable things” to “survive”. Sethe, though she has
brutally murdered her oldest daughter without hesitation, she only sees her
near animalistic behavior as a way to protect her children from the life of a
slave. Both of these women transcend the meaning of maternal love and
allow audiences to reevaluate their theories of emotional love and see that
love in its actuality is raw and immediate and takes courage. “The status of
these people [African Americans] as ‘non-human’ was so ingrained in the
American psyche that even the rape of an enslaved woman could only be brought
to court if it was considered to be a “trespass” on someone else’s property...
It was this very aspect of enslavement that led former enslaved woman Harriet
Jacobs' lament:
“Slavery
is terrible for men; but it is far more terrible for women.”
