Beloved Summary
Toni Morrison

Everything you need to understand or teach Beloved by Toni Morrison.

Beloved Summary & Study Guide
24 Student Essays
1 Encyclopedia Article
11 Literature Criticisms
1 Book Notes
1 Nota de Libro
...and more

30 Beloved Lessons
20 Activities
180 Multiple Choice Questions
60 Short Essay Questions
20 Essay Questions
Pre-Made Tests and Quizzes
...and more

Beloved Summary

Beloved is written by Toni Morrison; a distinguished author of several bestselling novels. Morrison received the Noble Prize in Literature in 1993. She has been the recipient of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award. The New York Review of Books calls Morrison “…a major figure in our national literature.”

In the Foreword Morrison describes the inspiration behind the story of Beloved. Relating her new- found feelings of freedom...

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Study Pack

The Beloved Study Pack contains:

Beloved Study Guide

Plot Summary

Chapter Summaries

Characters

Objects/Places

Themes

Style

Quotes

Topics for Discussion

Encyclopedia Articles (1)

Beloved

3,752 words, approx. 13 pages

Beloved by Toni Morrison Bom Chloe Anthony Wofford on February 18, 1931, in Lorain, Ohio, Toni Morrison has emerged as one of the leading voices in American literature since the publication of her ... Read more

Toni Morrison Biographies (7)

Toni Morrison

2,040 words, approx. 7 pages

Toni Morrison (born 1931) was best known for her intricately woven novels, which focused on intimate relationships, especially between men and women, set against the backdrop of African American cultu... Read more

Toni Morrison

4,312 words, approx. 15 pages

"When they say I'm a great American novelist," Toni Morrison commented to Gail Caldwell in an interview published in Conversations with Toni Morrison, "I say, 'Ha! They're trying to say I'm not black.... Read more

Toni Morrison

2,833 words, approx. 10 pages

One of the most prominent contemporary analysts of the black experience, Toni Morrison has, within a decade, established herself as a significant American novelist. As a senior editor at Random Hous... Read more

Toni Morrison

8,430 words, approx. 29 pages

When her picture appeared on the cover of Newsweek in 1981 and her fourth novel, Tar Baby, was on the year's best-seller list, Toni Morrison was an anomaly in two respects: she is a black writer who... Read more

Toni Morrison

12,322 words, approx. 42 pages

[This entry was updated by Catherine E. Lewis (University of South Carolina) from the entry by Denise Heinze (Western Carolina University) in DLB 143: American Novelists Since World War II, Third Seri... Read more

Toni Morrison

9,565 words, approx. 32 pages

Biography EssayToni Morrison is one of America's most important writers of fiction. She has received critical acclaim, most notably the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for Beloved (1987), the 1978 National Book C... Read more

Toni Morrison

6,928 words, approx. 24 pages

Toni Morrison was born and raised in Lorain, Ohio. "Only The Bluest Eye, my first book, is set in Lorain. In the others I was more interested in mood than in geography.... [However], no matter what I ... Read more

Essays & Analysis (35)

Critical Review by Walter Clemons

981 words, approx. 4 pages

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Critical Essay by Eusebio L. Rodrigues

8,862 words, approx. 30 pages

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Critical Essay by Barbara Schapiro

7,338 words, approx. 25 pages

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Critical Essay by Gail Caldwell

2,075 words, approx. 7 pages

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Critical Review by Clarence Major

748 words, approx. 3 pages

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Critical Essay by Deborah Horvitz

5,291 words, approx. 18 pages

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Critical Essay by Karen E. Fields

5,817 words, approx. 20 pages

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Susan Bowers

7,668 words, approx. 26 pages

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Critical Essay by Elizabeth B. House

5,331 words, approx. 18 pages

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Critical Essay by Karla F. C. Holloway

4,519 words, approx. 16 pages

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Critical Essay by Marilyn Judith Atlas

4,276 words, approx. 15 pages

1,534 words, approx. 6 pages

In the novel, Beloved, by Toni Morrison, several characters underwent changes in their personality as the novel progresses. One such character is Denver, who evolves from a girl to a woman. Denver tra... Read more

The Single Tool of Persistence

1,689 words, approx. 6 pages

One could simply analyze the theme of Toni Morrison's "Beloved" to be about slavery, but the reader is introduced to its many complexities through the social struggles of very different characters. ... Read more

Native & Afro American attitudes to the land

2,471 words, approx. 9 pages

"The land was not `new' to the Indian, and the Black who worked it didn't own it." Discuss the ways in which Native American and Afro American attitudes to the land, as represented in Beloved and The ... Read more

Beloved - Huck Finn comparison

683 words, approx. 3 pages

Slavery is a very significant theme that has been frequently debated ever since the book Huckleberry Finn presented itself into many schools. Fortunately, Deerfield High School has the pleasure to re... Read more

The Making of a Man: Dialogic Meaning in Beloved

1,200 words, approx. 5 pages

Ms. Sitter uses a Bakhtinian evaluation of the novel Beloved to establish the meaning of manhood. Within this novel Toni Morrison uses dialogue between the stories of Sethe and Paul D to set up diff... Read more

Why the Character of Sethe from "Beloved" Should Receive the Most Sympathy

687 words, approx. 3 pages

The book Beloved written by Toni Morrison portrays what it was like to live in a time of slavery and segregation. The story is built around an ex-slave named Sethe and her trials at sweet home where s... Read more

Beloved

302 words, approx. 2 pages

When Toni Morrison makes the statement "if you are going to hold someone down, you're going to have to hold onto the other end of the chain. You are confined by your own system of repression." In the... Read more

Confronting the Past, Living the Present, and Enjoying the Future in Toni Morrison's "Beloved"

1,812 words, approx. 7 pages

So often, the old adage, "History always repeats itself," rings true due to a failure to truly confront the past, especially when the memory of a period of time sparks profoundly negative emoti... Read more

Feminism in "Beloved"

920 words, approx. 4 pages

When hearing about Toni Morrison's novel Beloved, one thinks, " Sure, another story about a slave's life." This is, of course, exactly right. Beloved does tell the tales of many slaves. It tells of... Read more

Genesis, Oedipus, and Infanticidal Abjection in Toni Morrison's "Beloved"

8,793 words, approx. 30 pages

Atom, what cannot be cut, from the Greek a- + temnein, from the Indo-European tem-, to cut. Used of animals it means "to cut up, cut in pieces, to slaughter, sacrifice."(1) Temenos, also from ... Read more

Who or What Is "Beloved"?

1,472 words, approx. 5 pages

There are many different views over who or what Beloved is. Some think that she is Sethe's repressed memories or 'rememories' which she has to face and deal with. Others are of the opinion that Belove... Read more

Self Realization in the Novel Beloved

4,284 words, approx. 15 pages

Self Realization in the Novel Beloved Toni Morison's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Beloved centers on the powers of memory and the history behind those memories. The characters of the novel are for... Read more

Beloved: Examining the Theme of Memory

1,656 words, approx. 6 pages

In everyone's life there is a moment that is so dreadful and horrific that it is best to try to push it further and further back into your mind. When traumatized it is very natural to shut off the mem... Read more

Beloved, A Character Analysis

404 words, approx. 2 pages

In Toni Morrison's, Beloved, the character Beloved plays a huge role of significance because she is thought to be the reincarnation of Seth's baby daughter, whom she murdered, Crawling already? Girl. ... Read more

Toni Morrison's "Beloved"

1,092 words, approx. 4 pages

Toni Morrison's unique and distinctive style helps control how the reader will respond to the characters and events within the novel. Morrison uses several different devices to control how the reader ... Read more

Beloved

772 words, approx. 3 pages

The book is set in Cincinnati, Ohio; 1873 the two main characters Sethe and Denver live in Baby Suggs old house "Sweet Home" they refer to it as 124 most of the time, this is very important because mo... Read more

Ambiguous Characters in Beloved

801 words, approx. 3 pages

The character Beloved in Toni Morrison's novel, Beloved, can be seen as a morally ambiguous character. Most readers of the novel cannot tell by Beloved's behavior whether or not she is purely evil or ... Read more

An Essay on Beloved: Is Sethe Free?

397 words, approx. 2 pages

As I first began to read Beloved, it was apparent at the time that Sethe was an ex-slave presently living her life in freedom. But now that I've read further into the novel, I'm beginning to question... Read more

Memory in Beloved

605 words, approx. 3 pages

Memory is the ability to remember. No matter how great or horrible it is, it is better to move on than to sit there and live through you past. In Beloved, by Toni Morrison, memory is suggested that ... Read more

Sethe's Children

962 words, approx. 4 pages

Motherhood is an integral theme in the work of Toni Morrison. She uses the experiences and persp... Read more

Two Contrasting Views of Slavery in Literature: "Beloved" and "American Negro Slavery"

2,767 words, approx. 10 pages

In this essay, I will be examining the works of two authors on the topic of slavery in America: Ulrich B. Phillips American Negro Slavery (1918) and Toni Morrison Beloved (1987). One writes as a Sou... Read more

Murder of Beloved

1,935 words, approx. 7 pages

Edwin Arlington Robinson said, "life is a game that must be played." Sethe however, put an end to her baby's "turn" in life; just 28 days after her flee to freedom. But why? On my talk show, the tw... Read more

Love Them Is to Murder Them

691 words, approx. 3 pages

"Now, too late. The heart that pumped out love, the mouth that spoke the word, didn't count. They came in her yard anyway and she could not approve or condemn Sethe's rough choice" (180). Sethe's toug... Read more

How Does Toni Morrison's Beloved Reflect a Postcolonial Sensitivity

1,334 words, approx. 5 pages

Toni Morrison defines her writing as a kind of literary archaeology which relies on memory, history and autobiography. How does her literary practice reflect a postcolonial sensitivity? The archaeolo... Read more

Free Book Notes (1)

Beloved

18,256 words, approx. 61 pages

Beloved Book Notes is a free study guide on Beloved by Toni Morrison. Browse the summary below:   Author Biography / Context of the Work   One-Page Plot Summary   Character Descri... Read more

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