“They Took My Milk”: A Psychoanalytic Study of Toni Morrison’s Beloved

Abstract

Although slavery has ended, the African-American people remained the object of oppression, violence, and racism in the white countries, particularly America, which is the setting of the novel. Beloved, which was written in 1987 by Toni Morison, depicts the multiple sorts of oppression that black people have experienced in America by their white oppressors. On the other hand, Fanon argues that black people in white societies are reduced to mere objects and exploited endlessly, therefore, they develop identity crises and wear white masks to win the approval or equal rights and recognition of the white people. However, regardless of their efforts and endeavors, the black people cannot change white man’s perception about them and remain an alien to them. This paper aims at representing the adversities black people encounter in white societies by applying Fanon’s ideas of psychoanalysis to Toni Morrison’s novel, Beloved. The paper is a psychoanalytic study, where the reasons behind the actions of the characters are explained and analyzed. Sethe, the main character in the novel, is exploited and treated like an animal, therefore she turns into a murderer and kills her own daughter.