Critical Commentary for Beloved

I read “To Be Loved: Amy Denver and Human Need -- Bridges to Understanding in Toni Morrison’s Beloved” by Nicole M. Coonradt. This article title immediately grabbed my attention due to the fact that Beloved only dedicated “. . . about fifteen pages of the novel’s 275. . .” (Coonradt 169) to Amy. I thought her character provided an important perspective that we didn’t see in Uncle Tom’s Cabin and wondered why Beloved, or anyone else, didn’t explore her character more. To say the least, she was a pivotal character in the story, since without her, Sethe and Denver would never have survived. Coonradt discusses Amy Denver’s importance and significance in the novel by expressing her similarities to the slaves.

Coonradt discusses how Amy is “the often-ignored young white woman marginalized by society” (Coonradt 169). Yet, had Amy not escaped her own indentured servitude, Sethe never would have survived long enough to birth her baby. Since Amy was a white indentured slave, this “. . . introduced another subtext about slavery which had often been ignored. . . “ (Coonradt 175). Since indentured servitude was much like slavery, it comes to no surprise that Amy may have dealt with another horror that affected many enslaved women.The article touched on the fact that “. . . old slave narratives exercised a willed omission of trauma as a defensive armour against humiliating or embarrassing memories, Morrison. . . seeks to disrupt” (Coonradt 171). We saw the lack of shock value while reading Uncle Tom’s Cabin; Beloved took slavery and exposed the taboo that came along with it, especially sexual enslavement.

Sethe was not the only character in the novel that was sexually assaulted as a slave. Amy makes subtle allusions to the fact that she may have been assaulted during her time as an indentured slave even though she was white; it seems that race wasn’t a eliminating factor. “Sexual enslavement of women at the hands of sadistic masters, the most extreme subjugation of women in a white patriarchal culture that historically touched women irrespective of their ethnicity” (Coonradt 172). Morrison hints at the fact that Amy may have been sexually assaulted when she mentions her master locking her in the root cellar. It’s also implied when Amy says, “Joe Nathan said Mr. Buddy is my daddy but I don’t believe that. . . All I know is it ain’t him” (Morrison 91). This statement could mean Amy knew her mother was raped, which highlights the sexual enslavement that went on during indentured slave trading as well. Tie that into Sethe’s story about being raped at Sweet Home, and the two seem to be the same side of one coin.

Another point Coonradt brings up several times is the difference between races and love. “The fulfilment of this promise [of acceptance and healing] lies in bridging the gulf of racism that still exists between blacks and whites. Perhaps only then can all people, regardless of race, be loved and healed” (169). Although Amy was white, she still brings an important piece of information to the table when it comes to the history of slavery. “Morrison presents Amy Denver as evidence of white exploitation of white, class repression, and the marginalization of women within the white patriarchal culture” (Coonradt 182). Although Amy has very few pages, her character provides another aspect of slavery that isn’t always exposed to people; Morrison provides us with a different aspect of slavery and another story. It also represents white people who were not racist and treating African Americans as people. “Her [Amy] all too human desire to love and be loved supersedes both her concern for safety and her desire for freedom” (Coonradt 174). Instead of running off, she helps Sethe. Her warm heartedness and willingness to risk her freedom to help a stranger shows that color doesn’t define people, their hardships do.

One part of this article that seemed to tie it together for me was when Coonradt discussed the use of Morrison’s biblical references. I never quite understood the importance of Sethe’s back, and this tied the knot for me:

Interrupting her [Amy’s] own flight to help another human being in need, Amy identifies the horrible wounds on Sethe’s back as ‘a chokecherry tree’, saying, “It’s a tree. . . See, here’s the trunk. . . and this here’s the parting for the branches. You got a mighty lot of branches. Leaves, too, look like, and dern if these ain’t blossoms. . .” (Morrison 79). It seems hard to ignore the allusion to the Biblical Tree of Life that In Revelations 22:2 overshadows death, especially as Sethe herself blooms with life in the midst of the ravages of slavery as she faces her own death. (Coonradt 178)

This particular passage of Coonradt’s article made it clear to me what the chokecherry tree on the back of Sethe’s back could represent. Looking at it from a religious aspect and comparing it to the Tree of Life raised several thoughts for me, the main one being that it seems contradictory. In the Bible, the Tree of Life is a tree whose fruit bears the gift of eternal life. Amy mentions that the tree is in bloom and wonders what God has in store for her. The fact that a life symbol would be on the back of a near-dying woman seems symbolic of her strength. Since reading this article, I have a new view of the biblical symbols throughout, such as viewing Baby Suggs as a prophet. I would also include Amy as a biblical figure since she washed Sethe’s feet, which was one of the acts done by Jesus during The Last Supper in the Bible. I concur with Coonradt that Amy should be discussed more often when dealing with the novel since she’s such an integral part of the main character’s survival and her role in introducing a new subcategory of slavery and religious context.

Works Cited

Coonradt, Nicole M. "To Be Loved: Amy Denver and Human Need      -- Bridges to Understanding in Toni Morrison's Beloved.
     College Literature 32.4 (2005):168-87. JSTOR [JSTOR]. Web.
     11 May 2015.

Morrison, Toni. Beloved: A Novel. New York: Knopf, 1987. Print.

(Biblical facts due to 14 years in Catholic school)