Beloved

Beloved

The use of symbolic imagery in Beloved is a critical aspect, allowing its readers to delve into the characters. They are used to enable its Readers to reflect and capture the author’s mind. Understanding these symbols is very crucial because they are used throughout the book by the author; therefore, they are a vital aspect when it comes to connecting with the author’s mind. Through an analysis of Beloved by Toni Morrison, this essay captures the significance of Tree, water, and color symbols consistently used by the author in the novel to enlighten its readers.

Naturally, trees grow green leaves, a symbol of health and life. Later on, the trees shed them, eventually leading to their loss, and giving way to the growth of new leaves. The shedding of leaves in the Trees of Beloved is a reflection of deaths and killings. Through the character of Sethe, the book reveals her thoughts justifying killing her daughter, because failure to do so would have would not have prevented her death anyway, ‘If I hadn’t killed her, she would have died’ (Morrison and Plasa, p. 236). In my opinion, the Tree Imagery played a significant role by showing death in Beloved during very tragic times of slavery.

Trees are an integral part of nature, whereas nature is beautiful. Trees play a huge role in making life appealing and attractive by protecting the environment from harmful effects such as adverse weather conditions. The character Sethe is fascinated by the beautiful trees instead of the actual deaths that occurred on the trees during slavery through hanging, ‘boys hanging from the most beautiful sycamores in the world‘ (Morrison and Plasa, p.7). The character diverts from the reality when she decides to avoid the haunting memories of the dead bodies hanging on trees. Instead, she uses the beauty oozing from the trees to cover horror.

Water is a fluid flowing in whatever direction; a particular shape does not characterize it; it is free. However, other times its flow is out of control and comes bearing disaster, given that it chooses to take any direction of choice while flowing. The imagery of water in Beloved tends to capture the train of thoughts and memories by its characters; some too painful, ‘But her brain was not interested in the future. Loaded with the past and hungry for more, it left her no room to imagine, let alone plan for the next day’ (Morrison and Plasa, pg79). Sethe is preoccupied with memories from her past. They keep recurring just like the flow of water, and her past holds darkness and painful experiences.

Two things characterize the flow of the river, increased and turbulent flows, and calm and rational flows; hence water from the river was used as a mirror of hope. Denver’s birth meant new beginnings and taking control of the situation. It sparked hope and joy and happiness upon Sethe, ‘she walked away downriver and then stood gazing the glimmering water’ (Morrison and Plasa, p. 90). The river flowing is a symbol of cleansing the past and new beginnings and life; it opens new doors and gives second chances; she gives in to the idea of becoming a mother again.

In recent times different colors define certain moments and events in life; for instance, blood is an affiliate of the color red, desire, or violence. In the Beloved, there are instances where the color red was used by the author to describe the trauma brought about in slavery. Paul D’s red heart reappears upon his encounter with the Beloved,‘ softly and then so loud it woke Denver, then Paul D himself. ‘Red heart. Red heart. Red heart’ (Morrisson and Plasa, p.138). Paul D replaced the Red heart with the tin of tobacco box, which was a symbol of burying his feelings. He was no longer in possession of the red heart, and he lost it together with his manhood after falling victim to slavery (Yin, p.257). The color red shows how slavery violated his rights to living and deprived him of his courage, along with his feelings.

The author used other colors like Yellow as a symbol of tranquillity and hope; however, it also signified illness. The Beloved brought its readers close to Baby Snuggs’ death wish when she talked about the color blue and yellow. These two colors are the only things that spark joy in her while dying, ‘Blue. That don’t hurt nobody—Yellow neither’ (Morrison, and Plasa, p.237). Sethe fulfills baby Snuggs’ wish, which obscured her from the pain of slavery and her death. Unlike the color red, which was a symbol of pain and torture, Yellow meant calm amid a storm.

The imagery of Tree in the Beloved was an important tool used to describe the whole cycle of life and death from the killing of the Beloved to the birth of Denver. The trees also hid a lot of pain from slavery, and their beautiful sycamores diverted the painful memories of the lives lost during slavery. Water describes the unconscious state of the mind of different characters and how it brought hope for new beginnings. Finally, colors were such as red symbolized the violence that came with slavery, and Yellow came out as a tiny place of happiness during the days of horror.