张玉婷 《宠儿》中塞丝悲惨命运的分析

The Analysis of the T ragic Fate of Sethe in BelovedAbstract: Toni Morrison is the one who wins the Nobel Prize for literature in 1993 and also the only black woman who achieves it. Her novels are renowned by vivid images and profound thoughts. Her works are tragedies always representing the black women’s life. The theme is always the tragic life of the black people and the conflict between the white culture and the black culture.Beloved has reached a high-degree excellence and been the eternal classic among the contemporary. It tells a story，which happened between1830s and 1840s. In that inhuman society,Sethe, the protagonist of the story who is a black female slave lack of the warmth of her family, love and friendship. Then her tragic life began to flow. On the very surface, Morrison just told tells us a tragic story，but inside Morrison bitterly attacks the phenomenon that the slave society is dog eat dog. This is a grievance of the history and the society in that period of that time.Morrison hopes people can remember this bloody lesson and prevent it form happening again.Key words: Toni Morrison; Beloved; Tragic; Sethe《宠儿》中塞丝悲惨命运的分析摘要：托尼·莫里森1993年诺贝尔文学奖的获得者，也是美国历史上获此殊荣的唯一黑人女作家。

她的小说以鲜明的人物形象和深刻的思想感情而闻名，她的作品大多是代表着黑人女性并充满了悲剧色彩。

“美国黑人命运的残酷，以及白人文化和黑人传统文化之间的冲突和对峙”这一主题总是贯穿于她的小说。

《宠儿》是托妮.莫里森最成熟的代表作，现已成为当代文学史上不朽的经典。

其讲述的是一个发生在奴隶制盛行的19世纪三、四十年代的故事，主人公塞丝是一个勤劳、忠诚、勇敢、坚强、赋有母爱而又有点狭隘的黑奴女性，在那灭绝人性的奴隶制社会里，塞丝这样一个觉醒的黑奴女性在争取自己作为人的权利时与奴隶制产生了一系列的冲突并导致了她的亲情、爱情和友情悲剧，即人生悲剧。

其中，一方面，莫里森向人们展示了一个悲剧故事；另一方面，通过,《宠儿》这个悲剧故事，莫里森向人们痛斥了奴隶制的灭绝人性，这是历史的、社会的悲哀，希望后人能铭记这段血的教训，防止类似事件的发生。

关键词：托尼·莫里森；《宠儿》；悲剧；塞丝Contents1. Introduction (1)2 The tragedy of society and history (1)2.1 The writing background of Beloved (1)2.2 The tragedy of the story (2)3. Dehumanization of slavery (3)3.1 Start of Sethe’dream (3)3.2 Sethe’s dream faced reality (4)3.3 D isillusionment of Sethe’s dream (5)4. The tragedy of Sethe’s family love, love and friendship (6)4.1 The tragedy of Sethe’s family love .................................................错误！未定义书签。

4.2 The tragedy of Sethe’s love.............................................................错误！未定义书签。

4.3 The tragedy of Sethe’s friendship....................................................错误！未定义书签。

5 Conclusion (7)References (9)Acknowledgments ....................................................................................错误！未定义书签。

The Analysis of the T ragic Fate of Sethe in Beloved1. IntroductionToni Morrison is the one who wins the Nobel Prize for literature in 1993 and also the only black women who achieves it. She is famous for those works: Sula, Song of Solomon, Beloved, Jazz and Paradise. The main theme is always the tragic life of the black people and the conflict between the white culture and the black culture.Beloved was written by Toni Morrison in 1987 and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1988. The plot of Beloved drew materials from a real event.In 1850s, Margaret Garner, a young mother, escaped from the slavery. When found by her host, she would rather kill her children and herself than be seized. Finally, she just had the chance to kill one of her children but was captured. Morrison was absorbed in the story. Hardly had she heard this story when she decided to write it down. After ten years of thinking and three years of writing, Beloved comes into being. Then, it was heatedly pursued by readers as soon as it was produced.The history and the society continually progress, which is our human beings common contribution, of course, including the blacks. In the inhuman society, the black lost their rights of being a man. “They were treated as animals. Their marriages were prevented but have babies been needed. They had children but did not have the right to raise them up. Their children were bought and sold as commodities. The black women were regard as the tool of giving birth to children.”(Sharp, 1998) The black suffered so much misery, but regardless of the sufferings，they devoted a lot to the progress of the society and the history.Their distress, misfortune and tragedy should not be forgotten. The similar tragedy should not happen again.2 The tragedy of society and historyWithout Morrison’s experience, the book Beloved would have not come into being. And without the background of that society and history, Sethe’s fate would have not been tragic.2.1 The writing background of BelovedAs a black woman, Morrison deeply knows the hardships of the Afro-American black man. Once she said “The black, just because of their different color of skin, they were treated as slaves in the past and as the symbol of poverty now. No matter what we dress and wherewe live, we are regarded as the lowest class of the society.The distinct characteristic is so profound. It is very hard to clear up the prejudice. So, things like that are not because of our black skin but of whether people can deduce who was slave in the past or who the lowest is class from the color of the skin. The racial rules are handed down.” (牛磊磊, 2010) Morrison’s mother is a leader in a choir and her father is a man who is good at telling folklore and ghost story, which made a bedding for her later writing. Morrison once worked in LD study as a editor and participated in compiling The Black that reflects the black man’s three hundred years of hard fighting for equality and freedom, which provided her the chance to collect a large number of historical materials about the black man’s life. The story of Beloved is from those historical materials, so most of all, the tragic life of Sethe is the tragedy of the history and the story.2.2 The Tragedy of the storyThe story of Beloved happened between1830s and 1840s when the black man was in the lowest station. In that society “anybody white could take the black whole self for anything coming into white’s mind. Not just work, kill, or maim the black, but dirty the black. Dirty them so bad them couldn’t like themselves anymore. Dirty them so bad them forgot who they were and couldn’t think it up.”(Morrison, 2000, p.251) The bodies and soul of the black were seriously injured.From their birth,they had not had the rights to choose their own lives. They were bought and sold as commodities, worked as animals, breeded as pigs. Then this course was repeated again and again. In this course, the black not only suffered from physical hurts, but also sustained psychological injuries. They lost their rights of being men, not to mention have their own culture, which was depraved by the evil slavery. Sethe was one of the victims. After the death of Mr. Garner, the schoolteacher took Sweet Home up and then began to harass the poor slaves. Firstly, the schoolteacher guided his two nephews to do research about slaves. Then, the two nephews stole Sethe’s milk. Sethe told i t to the ill Mrs. Garner, which led to her brutal beat by schoolteacher and his two nephews. After that, Sethe heard that the schoolteacher said: “put her human characteristics on the left; her animal ones on the right”(Morrison,2000, p.193). She was shocked and swore that she would never allow the characteristics of her children to be put on the animal’s side. So, when Hall e and Sixo’s escape plan failed, she decided to escape alone without any hesitation. After she ran away,she was not set free. The school teacher found her and forced her to kill her own child Beloved.We know as a black in the society she is tragic, what’s more she is a woman. “She was forced to be a slave of the white, a tool of giving birth to children, a mother who didn’t have the chance to rise her own children up”（Zhu, 2004）It is the evil slavery that gives the right to the slaveholder like the schoolteacher to trap on the black’s bodies and soul. So, the tragic life of Sethe is the tragedy of history and story.3. Dehumanization of slaveryHumanists believe that humans have only one life. It is their responsibility to make it a good life, and to live it flourishingly. Sethe is a humanist, to some extent.It’s known that when Mr. Garner was alive, Sethe was conscionable, loyal and hardworking, because she prospected to live well through hardworking. When the schoolteacher took up Sweet Home, she was brave, strong and full of motherly love to bring her children ran away, because of her human nature. We all know that slavery is dehumanized but Sethe was a slave with human nature, she didn’t like other slaves suffering it as it likes that from the beginning. She had feelings, worked hard and be full of motherly love, which was in conflict with slavery. Her single power wasn’t strong enough to fight against slavery, so she failed and her life became a tragedy.3.1 Start of Sethe’dreamSethe took the place of Halle’s mother, after Halle renting himself out all over the country to buy his mother away from Sweet Home.In this period, Sethe was lucky. Because her hosts Mr. Garner and Mrs. Garner treated the slaves a bit better than other slaveholders, they allowed Halle to rent him out to buy freedom for his mother, of course, this was not because of the hosts were kind enough but Halle’s mother was old and useless, and gave Sethe the right to choose her husband among the five men of Sweet Home, which was impossible to other slaveholders, the hosts didn’t beat them at will, either. So, the hosts were a little better.Sethe was conscionable, she knew when the others treated her well she should repay them and she also thought that if she worked hard there, she would have a better life. So, she worked hard in Sweet Home.Sethe was a slave with human nature and she had exceptions for her future, but “She didn’t realize that only depend on the minor kind white was not enough, the black should relay on themselves to set them free” (马丁, 1999)All because of her conscientious, hardworking and loyalty in the harsh slavery, she missed a good chance to get freedom, which was a start of her tragic life.3.2 Sethe’s dream faced realityAll the time, Sethe thought as long as she worked hard, she would have a better life, but when the schoolteacher came to Sweet Home things changed. The schoolteacher was a typical slaveholder. He deprived their rights of being men, which was a contradiction with Sethe’s human nature. Sethe was brave, firm and full of motherly love. When she was forced to the hopeless situation by the cruel slavery, she would fight desperately.That is the reason she killed her child finally.Sethe was a slave with brave personality. After the death of Mr. Garner, Mrs. Garner couldn’t keep living, so she couldn’t help to sell Paul F out. Then Mrs. Garner was seriously ill, she had to ask the schoolteacher to manage Sweet Home for her. The schoolteacher was not kindhearted as the Garner, he was so inhuman. He not only ordered the slaves to overwork, but also beat them at will. What’s more, he asked his two nephews to do much research on the slaves. The two nephews forcibly stole Sethe’s milk. Then Sethe told it to the ill Mrs. Garner, which lead her cruel beat by schoolteacher. After that, Sethe eavesdropped that the schoolteacher said: “put her human characteristics on the left; her animal ones on the right”(Morrison,2000, p.193), she was shocked and swore that she would never allow her children’s characteristics to be put on the animal’s side.So, when Halle and Sixo’s escape plan failed, she decided to escape alone without any hesitation. She was so brave that took her three children away.She was a slave with strong personality. After her children were taken away, she came back and was beaten cruelly by the schoolteacher. Nobody can image her pant “bit a piece of my tongue off when they opened my back. It was hanging by a shred. I didn’t me an to. Clamped down on it, it ca me right off. I thought, good god, I’m going to eat myse lf up.”(Morrison, 2000, p.202) She was so strong to run away with the whole body’s injury and the baby who was going to bore.She was a slave with deep motherly love. Nobody can image how hard along Sethe’s road to North. Without the belief of reuniting with her children and take good care of them, she would be died on the road. It was the motherly love that urged her survival and found her children. After 28 days of happy life with her children, the schoolteacher found her. In order to escape the life of being slaves, she decided to kill her children and herself. However, She just killed Beloved, while the others were rescued. She said: “Love is or it ain’t. Thin love ain’t love at all.” It was the de eply motherly love that made her do that.When Sethe’s dream met the cruel reality, she was brave and strong enough to run away from Sweet Home and was full of motherly love to kill her child. She was such a great black mother.It was the ruthless slavery that forced her to become the murderer who killed her own child.3.3 D isillusionment of Sethe’s dreamWhen Sethe’s dream met the inhuman slavery, it was destroyed. The slavery made her husband disappeared and she killed her own child. Then Sethe underwent a severe spiritual trauma and became the prisoner of her past experiences.On the one hand, she could not set herself free from the death of Beloved. Kill her own child was really a harsh thing. She blamed herself and had the scene of crime all her life. Then the rest of her life passed in depression and unhappiness. Sorrow was hard to avoid that thing happened, but sorrow her whole life was unnecessary.On the other hand, she could not forgive her neighbors and friends after the death of Beloved. The day before schoolteacher came to grab Sethe, Baby Suggs hold a grand banquet to treat her neighbors and friends, which aroused their envy. “The scent of their disapproval lay heavy in the air.”(Morrison, 2000, p137) So, when schoolteacher came to chase Sethe, nobody went to inform her in advance. Because of it, Sethe didn’t forgive them and didn’t contact with them for many years, which led to her isolated life.Because Sethe was small-minded to herself and neighbors, she couldn’t release herself and so addicted herself in sad memories, which made her unhappy. In other words, she was the slave of her spirit.4. The tragedy of Sethe’s family love, love and friendshipIn that slavery society, Sethe was depraved of family love, love and friendship. She was alienated, living an isolated and miserable life.4.1The trag edy of Sethe’s family loveAfter seeing the two nephews steal Sethe’s milk, Sethe’s husband Halle disappeared. Then she brought her three children away and with the whole body’s injury and the baby who was going to be born, she run away alone. After 28 days’happy life with her children, the schoolteacher found them. But she would rather die with her children than be returned as slave again. She decided to kill her children and herself. In this situation, she killed Beloved. Then Beloved’s ghost came back home, which accelerated Sethe’s mother-in-law Baby Suggs’ death, made her two sons’leaving and her the other daughter Denver become isolate herself. In this time, her home was incomplete, her family love was flawed. With husband’s disappearing, one daughter’s death, especially Beloved was killed by Sethe herself, mother-in-law’s death, two sons’leaving, the other daughter’s ill and Beloved’s ghost came back to disturb her life, Sethe’s family love became a tragedy.4.2The tragedy of Sethe’s lov eSethe had two lovers in her whole life and both of them were tragic. Her first lover was her husband Halle. When she came to Sweet Home, her host gave her the chance to choose her husband in the five male slaves. Then she chose Halle who was conscionable to buy freedom for his mother. But when her host died, the schoolteacher took Sweet Home up. The schoolteacher and his two nephews did many cruel things to the slaves. Typical one was that the two nephews stole Sethe’s milk, which was seen by Halle and then he was shocked by it and disappeared. From this, we know that is the inhuman treatment of slavery depraved Sethe’s first conscionable lover.Sethe’s second lover was Paul D. The beginning of the story was the meeting of Sethe and Paul D. They were the two unique rest slaves of Sweet Home. They knew each other and decided to live together. Paul D helped Sethe to drive the little ghost away and then they spent a piece of happy time. At that time, Beloved’s ghost appeared as a real man. Beloved continually made many troubles between Sethe and Paul D and even seduced Paul D, whichmade cracks to Sethe’s love. After that a man told the fact that decades ago Sethe killed her daughter Beloved to Paul D and Paul D could not accept the truth, so he left Sethe. At the end of the story, Paul D came back to Sethe and Beloved’s ghost was driven away, but Sethe was waiting for death. From this we know that is the inhuman spiritual trauma of slavery ruined Sethe’s second lover.One lover disappeared, the other companied her, but she was waiting for death. Sethe’s love was a doomed tragedy which was brought by the inhuman slavery.4.3The tragedy of Sethe’s friendshipWe could say there was no friend in Sethe’s whole life. The other five slaves were just the men who had the same fate as her in Sweet Home and they were just colleague. Then, on Bluestone Road, she didn’t have friend, either. When she went there, her mother-in-law Baby Suggs held a grand banquet to treat her neighbors and friends so that the neighbors and friends thought they occupied all the advantages and envied them, so when the schoolteacher came to seize Sethe, nobody went to inform Sethe in advance.In the latter decades, Sethe born grudge to the neighbors and friends. She wouldn’t rather keep contact with them, even “made pilfering better than standing in line at the window of the general store with all the other Negroes. She didn’t want to jostle them or be jostled by them. Feel their judgment or their pity.”(Morrison, 2000, p191)From this we know, Sethe’s family love, love and friendship were depraved by the inhuman slavery.5 ConclusionIn a nutshell, through Beloved, Toni Morrison told us a story about a common black woman Sethe. She was conscionable enough to use her loyalty and diligence to repay her kindhearted host, she was brave and strong enough to make her escape of slavery, full of motherly love to kill her own child, small-minded enough to blame herself, her neighbors and friends for decades. Her black skin and all of her special personality, especially the black skin (hint the inhuman slavery) made her tragic family love, love and friendship. In other words, it made her tragic life in the society.In Beloved, Morrison not only told us a tragic story but also bitterly attacked the mainsociety, especially the white. They looked down upon the black, dirtied them, beat them at will, and treated them as animals. Sethe’s fate was just a miniature of all the black women in that period. It was the evil consequence of slavery and the tragedy of the history. Toni Morrison hopes that the black, especially the black women could unite together to get ride of the racial discrimination and acquire their rights of being men. The black’s contribution to the history and society should be remembered. The latter people should engrave the blood lesson and don’t let it happen again.ReferencesFanon, Frantz. Black Skin, White Mask. New Y ork: Grove Press, 1967.Morrison, Toni. Beloved. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, 2000. Ravith, Diane. The American Reader. New Y ork: National Culture Press, 2006.Sharp, Saundra. Accidence of the Black Women. Beijing: East Press, 1998.Zhu, Rongjie. Pain and Healing: A Study of Maternal Love in Toni Morrison’s Fiction froma Cultural Perspective. Henan: Henan University Press, 2004.Zhang, Yuning. ＆Wang, Baitao.Existential Study of Beloved.美中外语, 2007, 8:132-41马丁. 觉醒新论. 北京大学出版社,1999.牛磊磊.莫里森宠儿中塞丝的悲剧性命运分析.November30, 2010,from /Read.aspx?id=231210090.托里.莫里森.宠儿. 潘岳雷格译.北京：外语教学与研究社出版，2000.王道水.漫漫解放之路—解读托尼•莫里森的宠儿.邵阳学院学报，2006.翁乐虹.以人物作为叙述策略棗评莫里森里宠儿.外国文学评论. 1999,2:67-84.AcknowledgmentsI would like to thank my supervisor Miss Chen for her invaluable guidance, enthusiasm and support throughout the course of this work. I am also very grateful to Miss Hou for her helpful comments and insightful suggestions during the research and writing of this thesis. I would also like to thank Miss Chen for taking the time to be my external examiner.Many other people have helped and contributed their time to the research of this thesis. My thanks to Miss Chen and Miss Dong for their invaluable comments and suggestions. I would also like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude toward everyone in the English Department of Yinxing College, especially Miss Yin, Miss Xu, for their valuable suggestions and help in these two years of study as well as their friendship. Thanks to all the other friends I have made at Yinxing College for making my stay at this College an enjoyable period of time.I will always be indebted to my family, especially my parents Mr. Liu and Miss Zhang. I would like to thank them for their support and confidence in me. My gratitude goes to everyone at home. This thesis would not have been possible without all their kindness and encouragement.。