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Prior to this assignment, I had never written a business letter before. However, I had seen their format. My parents and siblings wrote them quite often, so I had been familiar with how they look. After the assignment, I learned how to correctly write one. The formatting of the addresses and where they must be placed was the first thing that struck me when I starting reading business letters from a packet Mr. Franek gave us. Also, every letter opened with the author introducing him/herself and stating why they are writing the letter. I also learned how to format the paragraphs and manage the indentations. I never knew that a colon must be inserted after the greeting; I had thought before that a comma what should be used. Probably the most important thing I learned was the concession paragraph that’s used towards the end of the letter (the paragraph that “concedes” a point to the recipient and where the author agrees with whomever he is writing to). I think I will most likely write my first business letter for an assignment, maybe later on in high school or maybe in college, but I know it will be for an assignment.

After reading Beloved, I saw slavery from an entirely different perspective. I never realized what slaves had to endure once they were free. I had always assumed that once the Emancipation Proclamation was enacted, slaves were free to leave their imprisonments and seek new lives. However, I failed to see that they must deal forever deal with the horrors and everything they went through while they were slaves. The story of how Beloved was killed is truly one that is unforgettable. For a mother to go through what Sethe went through leaves me speechless. I could never imagine what she must have felt when she chose to liberate her daughter from what she went through by taking her life; it is something that I will never be able to fathom.

Dear Ms. Sherbine:

My name is Lindi Rruka, I am a junior at the William Penn Charter School in Philadelphia and am writing in response to your book review of Toni Morrison’s novel Beloved. Your review of her novel, entitled A Mildly Entertaining Ghost Story, was a very shallow view of the novel and something many might view as down right disrespectful. After reading your review, it seems that you strongly believe the focus of the story is to provide the reader with an entirely fictionalized series of events that have only one purpose; to entertain us. This novel was not
written in the same facet as other fiction novels. Its purpose was to reveal the cruelties and mistreatments African-Americans endured during and after slavery.

Toni Morrison’s novel is a fact-based story intended to reveal the cruelties of slavery and the suffrage many endured in 19th century America. Therefore, Beloved is not an entirely fictionalized novel. When you refer to it as such in your second paragraph and claim that it did not meet the criteria for “good” fiction, you are mistakenly categorizing the novel: “Remember the day when reading fiction was all about escapism and enjoying a read about someplace/someone doing something far more interesting than you?” This novel was not intended to introduce the reader to characters than have more interesting or fascinating lives than themselves. In my AP U.S. History course, we are using the textbook Give Me Liberty, by Eric Foner. In it, Foner refers to slavery being an obstacle of freedom throughout the book. He specifically cites Beloved in chapter 13 under the topic of The Fugitive Slave Issue:

Later in the decade, Margaret Garner, a Kentucky slave who had escaped with her family to Ohio, killed her own young daughter rather than see her returned to slavery by federal marshals. (At the end of the twentieth century, this incident would become the basis for Toni Morrison’s celebrated novel Beloved.) (Foner 474).

This quote provides evidence that the novel does have factual support and that it is indeed a true story.

In my mind, the 1993 Nobel Prize for Literature went to a worthy person. Morrison’s depiction of slavery and the inescapable horrors victims went through both during and after slavery existed are truly captivating. It might be true that it is “impossible to engage with” because none of us have gone through the experiences the characters in this novel go through (which was based on the experiences of real people). I am not quite sure what you were trying to say when you stated the novel is written in arrogance, since the definition of the word does not tie in with the tone the novel was written in.

Morrison’s political message in this novel is one that conveyed what 60 million plus human beings went through as slaves. The slaves were shipped across the Atlantic like goods and brought to this country with no freedom or liberties. Many actually died on the way to America because of the horrible conditions on the ships and the diseases that were easily contracted in the space they were congested in. Also, you refer to the flashbacks given by the characters as something that wasn’t necessary for the novel. You wearily stated: “Morrison was boring me with asides from the characters’ past that were really quite irrelevant, and could have been left out without detriment to the story.” I strongly disagree with this statement. The flashbacks into the characters’ past are there to shed light on why things were they way they were and why Beloved was murdered in the first place. Morrison is doing this to attract attention to the horrors of slavery and the stories many of us haven’t heard. Stories such as this are seldom learned in your typical history class. Ex-slaves weren’t “home-free” when the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect. In fact, in took the average slave many years to adapt to the new lifestyle and realize that there were greater things they could accomplish. Even though they may have moved on, the experiences of slavery haunted many ex-slaves:

It’s so hard for me to believe in it. Some things go. Pass on. Some things just stay. I used to think it was my rememory. But it’s not. Places, places are still there. If a house burns down, it’s gone, but the place-the picture of it-stays, and not just in my rememory, but out there, in the world. (Morrison 36).

This quote reiterates the fact that the slavery may have ended, but for those who were victimized by it, it was very difficult for them to forget what they had been through. Many slaves knew someone who had been killed as a slave, and more often than not this was someone very close to them. Beloved is a novel trying to convey this message.

Morrison’s political message is one that refers to a people that were transported across an ocean in chains and sold as if they were property in “the land of the free.” You refer to this as the point where “things begin to get convoluted.” How could the story function as a ghost tale if the reader knows nothing about why it is a ghost tale? Beloved was killed by her mother so that she wouldn’t have to live her life in imprisonment. In this case, death is considered to be freedom. Also, you do find out why Beloved came back, and Morrison’s views on slavery and stories from the characters’ pasts did nothing to overshadow this fact. Beloved came back because she wanted the undivided attention of her mother. She was unhappy when Paul D came into the picture because he represented someone who would stand in the way of her goal:

She had been so close, then closer. And it was so much better than the anger that ruled when Sethe did or thought anything that excluded herself. She could bear the hours–nine or ten of them each day but one — when Sethe was gone. Bear even the nights when she was close but out of sight, behind walls and doors lying next to him. But now, even the daylight time that Beloved had counted on, disciplined herself to be content with, was being reduced, divided by Sethe’s willingness to pay attention to other things. Him mostly. (Morrison 100).

Beloved is simply trying to find the love she never had. Her life on earth was brief and therefore she was not given the opportunity to live and find happiness. Sethe’s reasoning for murdering her daughter was to prevent her from living the life she dreaded. This is something Beloved fails to realize throughout the novel.

Also, you seem to contradict yourself when you state in the beginning of your fourth paragraph that Morrison only complicates the story by adding her input and political message with regards to slavery, and then towards the end of the paragraph state that you understand the main point of the novel is indeed to focus on slavery. If you understood that fact, why did you state that “Morrison complicates what possibly could have been an interesting ghost tale by adding a political message?” The entire book was about slavery. Starting from the preface, which states Sixty million and more (referring to the number of Africans transported across the Middle Passage), to the very last page. Again, it is not simply a ghost tale, it is about a people dealing with the aftermath of slavery.

How could you possibly state that Morrison’s main problem is her arrogance? It was her people that went through centuries of mistreatment. Although she was not a part of it, “her people, her family, her tribe” were. Like Denver stated, nothing ever completely goes away: “If it’s still there, waiting, that must mean that nothing ever dies (Morrison 36).” This novel wasn’t written so people would feel bad about Morrison, it was written so people would not forget what happened during the 18th and 19th centuries here in America. When you state that she puts herself on par with those who were slaves, you are mistaken. This book is based on real events, real atrocities real people went through. If Morrison was in fact trying to receive sympathy, the book would have been titled Beloved: The Story of Toni Morrison. Morrison’s great-grandfathers and great-grand mothers were the real victims. Those people were indeed part of her family, so when she says she wrote it for them she isn’t lying. Has it not occurred to you that Morrison was trying to simply write a book about something her family endured and about stories that were past on from generation to generation? Her story is just as credible as someone’s who was directly affected by slavery. These stories are not only past down orally from earlier generations, but they are documented. I do not understand why you would classify Morrison as a non-credible source. If my family members went through the same atrocities that hers went through, I would be honored to write a book outlining their lives, no matter how many years before me they lived. In actuality, it is quite sad that you believe she wrote this novel in arrogance.

The language of the novel is intended to make the reader feel as if he/she is in the story. It is intended to make the experience that much more authentic. Morrison did not make up words that she thought would sound good in her story. She made it different from what we usually read and was trying to make it sound as it would if we were still in 19th century America. However, I do agree with you that this part could be classified as a little arrogant on her part. I say that because she herself did not live during that time and could not know for sure how people sounded during that time. But, I strongly oppose your opinion when you state that it was intended to exclude white readers. If she did write this story as it would have sounded if it was 150 years ago, how could anyone in this day and age understand the language? It is not intended to exclude any race or culture; it is intended to appeal to the reader’s senses. (Isn’t the goal of any good novel to appeal to the reader as much as possible?)

Morrison is also trying to convey the obstacles each character had to overcome. It isn’t just about Beloved’s journey and her thoughts, but also those who were indirectly involved in the aftermath of Beloved’s death:

All the time, I’m afraid the thing that happened that made it all right for my mother to kill my sister could happen again. I don’t know what it is, I don’t know who it is, but maybe there is something else terrible enough to make her do it again. I need to know what that thing might be, but I don’t want to. Whatever it is, it comes from outside this house, outside the yard, and it can come right on in the yard if it wants to. So I never leave this house and I watch over the yard, so it can’t happen again and my mother won’t have to kill me too. (Morrison 205).

As Sethe’s other daughter, Denver faces many issues that often go unnoticed at 124. Throughout her childhood, she was raised in desolation and did not bother to seek out help for her problems. This quote elaborates on the thoughts that went through Denver’s mind and the problems she faced herself that were not the main concern of Sethe or anyone else in the novel. This is an example of how Morrison ties together the murder of Beloved with all those who it affected. It is not an example of her trying to “do too much in one novel.” She highlights the problems every character in the novel went through and does it in a manner that traces every problem to the problem of slavery.

I was quite taken by surprise when I read the twist of the plot; the murder of Beloved. However, only after I read that did the pages I had read before begin to make sense. It took me a while to realize that Sethe was indeed sane and only did it so that her daughter could escape the horrors of slavery and she wouldn’t have to turn her over as a slave. What I could not understand from your review, though, is why this twist angered you? To me, it makes sense that a mother went to extremes and did something no mother should ever have to think about to ensure that her daughter be free. That shows an indeterminable amount of love for Beloved.

I am Beloved and she is mine. I see her take flowers away from leaves she puts them in a round basket the leaves are not for her she fills the basket she opens the grass I would help her but the clouds are in the way how can I say things that are pictures I am not separate from her there is no place where I stop her face is my own and I want to be there in the place where her face is and to be looking at it too a hot thing. (Morrison 210)

I must admit, after reading your review of Beloved, I actually came to appreciate it even more. Your review opened my eyes to issues of the novel I hadn’t even thought about before. This novel was written with one purpose: that we can all realize how horrible slavery was and that those who were victims of it spent their entire lives as slaves, even though some of them were released as “free men” by law. The aftermath of these crimes is what Morrison focuses on in her story, and is what we as readers must pick up on and understand. This book can be regarded as a simple fiction novel, but is much more than that. Hopefully, one day you too can realize that the true purpose of this story is not to entertain the reader with a fictionalized ghost tale, but to make us understand that abominations such as this live on forever.