Beloved is mine, Beloved is my daughter.

Text: Beloved by Toni Morrison

Critical Lens: Feminist Lens

“BELOVED, she my daughter. She mine. See. She come back to me of her own free will and I don’t have to explain a thing. I didn’t have the time to explain before because it had to be done quick. Quick. She had to be safe and I put her where she would be. But my love was tough and she back now… I’ll tend her as no mother ever tended a child, a daughter. Nobody will ever get my milk no more except my own children...I’ll tell Beloved about that; she’ll understand. She my daughter” (236).

In this quote, Sethe realizes that the girl who she has welcomed into her family is actually her dead daughter Beloved. The excerpt from the novel is a monologue that shows how Sethe is excited but obsessive with the thought that her daughter is now back in the arms of her mother. Sethe did not want her children to experience the same pain that she and other slaves were going through at that time. Sethe decided that by ending the life of her children, she would be saving her children from the torture of enslavement. Unfortunately, Beloved was the first and only daughter that was killed. Baby Suggs quickly took her children away from Sethe before committing another violent crime.

Now that Beloved has returned as an older girl, Sethe now feels that it is her responsibility to make it up to Beloved and embrace what motherhood truly is about. Sethe is convinced that Beloved understands where the action of killing her daughter came from. Sethe believes that it came from the heart in order for Beloved “to be safe” (236). Her true intentions were good, not bad. She continuously says “she my daughter...she mine” (236). Many new mothers feel overjoyed yet shocked because they cannot believe their baby is now theirs. Sethe reacts in the same way and feels like a first time mom because now that she has her daughter Beloved, she can start a new chapter in her life as a better mother.

The tone of the passage makes Sethe seem like she is going insane. The language she uses to claim her daughter by repeatedly saying “She mine. See” shows how child like she is, excited to have her daughter back with her. For all the harm that Sethe has done to her loving daughter, she now feels culpable and wants to “tend her as no mother ever tended a child, a daughter” (236). It is up to Sethe to protect and nurture her children from all the bad in the world by giving them all the love they need. Specially, Beloved. She says, ““because you are mine...I have to show you these things, and teach you what a mother should” (237). Sethe’s mother might have not given her the attention she needed, but the lack of affection she experienced has taught Sethe how to become a better mother. Sethe seems to be filled with life and motivation. She is absolutely inspired to be a better individual and also embrace how special motherhood is. Sethe was never able to experience this at Sweet Home. She was worried about protecting her children from the white men.