Reflecting on the the Past and Present

Beloved, in my opinion is a book largely about slavery and the effects of it on society. A large portion of the novel is focused towards the life and equality these ex-slaves have in their communities after they leave the plantations in hopes for a better life. In a very real description of the Black community, the book hopes to address that a colored man is just like any other and not property or livestock. However a larger portion of the book is about slavery and the dehumanizing and unthinkable tactics used to make the slaves’ life like hell. In the eyes of many, like Schoolteacher, these humans are worthless and as good as animals. In Paul D’s situation, he had an iron bit stuck to in his mouth, preventing him to communicate with his friends and fellow slaves. This form or torture reduces down to something that would be done to an animal. Another character that faces unethical treatment is Sethe. Schoolteacher ask her nephews to steal Sethe’s breastmilk, something that would be done to a cow.

Reading beloved through the psychoanalytic lens has brought me realize what the hardship was for these people a mere 200 years ago. Through this book is fiction, it would not surprise me if these events did not take place in real life. This book seems very real in the descriptions and details it provides. It gives a very close view on the lives that these characters led, and how they survived in such a hard time. Even with freedom on paper, that didn’t change the mindset of the human beings who treated them like animals. This is still evident now. Even with freedom on paper, the black community is still frowned upon and sadly no one can do anything about it. The hatred is so ingrained in our society today that people cannot “forgive and forget” to what happened in the past. Take for example, the shooting in Ferguson. The cop, was not even tried for taking the life of another black man. Now, what if it was a black cop who fired at a white man. The situation would be a lot different. The treatment to the black cop would be unthinkable compared to what would happen to a white cop. Reading the novel through the psychoanalytic lens has really given me and insight to the hardships these people faced and how we are now facing the consequences of those hardships.