Reclaiming Identity through the Community: A Study of Toni Morrison’s Beloved and a Mercy

Abstract

In her works, Beloved and A Mercy, Toni Morrison considers both pre-slavery and post-slavery African-American community in which people suffer physically and psychologically from the dominant culture; especially women, who learn to heal themselves with sharing stories of their traumatic life. Female solidarity also empowers the female protagonists to establish their own identity. Wrath and violence are steady motifs throughout the novels, and Morrison exposes the dangers of manhood that relies on violence and oppression. Slavery, class and gender inequity, betrayal, and brutality are described through the lives of the novel’s characters.