Circular Metaphors: Expert Lens Blog #5

Text: Circularity in Toni Morrison's Beloved by Philip Page

 Critical Lens: Psychoanalytic Lens

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The "Circularity in Toni Morrison's Beloved" by Philip Page raises many interesting ideas about what went through Toni Morrison's head as she wrote this novel. Page compares Morrison's writings to each other and he finds that she writes in sort of a circular pattern. He explains it as circles and more circles that allow the reader to see the repetition that happens in many of Morrison's books. In Beloved there are different circles of sorrow, love, and pain. Which is why Page belies that "repetition and therefore circularity is a major theme of the novel". This is a very general theme to the novel, but from what I understand it opens up the knowledge of different and smaller themes in the book like the different types of relationships, the meaning of water, and the importance of motherhood. These smaller themes are related to repetition in the book because there are circles of different relationships, because they repeat. Most relationships in Beloved have a pattern where they are together and then they separate and get together again, it is a circular pattern which we can see throughout Beloved.

One thing Page also explains is that "a circle can either be destructive or constructive, confining or fulfilling", which we can see throughout the novel in the different relationships between the characters. For example we could see the confining relationship between Beloved, Sethe, Denver, and Paul D when Beloved held at least one of their attention at every point of the day and stopped them from truly being a happy family. Denver was also confined at home by Sethe, because of the fears Sethe has of the outside world and the need for protecting her only alive daughter. We can also see the destructive relationship between Paul D and Beloved. From the start Paul D knew there was something wrong about Beloved, but he still couldn't resist her supernatural charm. And her charm is what ruined Paul D's relationship with Sethe because Beloved was able to distance them from each other so she can have a close relationship with Sethe. An example of a fulfilling relationship is when Sethe is finally content with having her girls there with her in her home, with no fear of them being taken from her. Sethe's dreams were also fulfilled when she discovered that Beloved is truly her daughter who has came back from the dead, when she hears her hum the song she made just for her children. So as we can see there are many different types of relationships just between those four people alone. Not only that, but these relationships repeat constantly throughout the book which does support Page's theme.

Philip Page's writing has informed me of the repetition that Toni Morrison manages to constantly incorporate in Beloved. The knowledge of this theme has opened up my mind to realize different themes in the book, like the ones I have been touching on throughout this blog post.

Thanks for reading!

-Halemah Shuman