Critical Expert Blog #6: The Heartbreak of Motherhood in Slavery

Text: Motherhood in Toni Morrison’s Beloved: A Psychological Reading
Critical Lens: Psychoanalytic

In Sandra Mayfield's essay she defines Beloved as a novel that mainly focuses on motherhood, but also slave women as mothers. Mayfield delves into how motherhood has affected Sethe since she was a slave. Sethe was long affected by the horrors of slavery and she did not want her children to endure the same tortures she did as a slave. To further her analysis Mayfield uses opinions from other authors to provide insight and information on how motherhood can psychologically impact Sethe.

In the start of the article Mayfield manages to use the writings of Sarah Moore Grimke as evidence to support the horrors that slave women endured from their owners. In her Letters on the Equality of the Sexes and the Condition of Woman, Addressed to Mary S. Parker, President of the Female Anti-Slavery Society Grimke says "the virtue of female slaves is wholly at the mercy of irresponsible tyrants, and women are bought and sold in our slave markets, to gratify the brutal lust of those who bear the name of Christians”. Her statement displays how slaves were not regarded as humans who have rights and emotions, and the women slaves were not only forced into manual labor but they also had to endure the lust of their slave owners. This and the things Sethe endured in Beloved is the reason why she did not want to bring children into the world. She did not want to grant herself the happiness of bringing a child into the world, because she knew that there will eventually be pain and sorrow for the both of them.
Sethe herself lost her mother to the horrors of slavery and she knew that if she were to not escape her children might have to deal with the same grief. But it is well known that there is an unbreakable bond between a mother and her child. So when Sethe does have her children she doesn't want to give them up, but in a way she did lose all but one child to the fears of her past as a slave. But she knew for Beloved that in a way death for her child is much better than the horrors of slavery.
In Mayfield's article she uses evidence from psychoanalytic experts, and one quote from a literary critic named Jacques Lacan caught my attention said " the child‟s wish to be “totally captivating, to be everything for the (m)other”. This reminded me that motherhood is not only for the mother, but it also displays the relationship between her and her children. And this quote shows the relationship that Beloved had for sometime with Sethe. This can be seen in chapter 23 when we get a chance in Beloveds mind and she claims Sethe as hers, she repeats "You are mine You are mine You are mine". Which displays to us that Beloved truly wanted to be everything her mother wanted and more. But of course Sethe's past as a slave did not make it possible that she could have that relationship with her daughters, mainly because she can not move from the horrors of her past and the fear that her children would have to endure the same.

So Mayfield's article truly did allow me to relate to most of her claims about motherhood and slave mothers. Her integration of other sources made it possible for me to tie in the possible thoughts and feelings of Sethe as a slave mother through a psychoanalytic lens.