There is No Typical American Slave Experience essays

There is No Typical American Slave Experience essays There is no typical American slave experience. Each and every occurrence that has be relayed to this day and age tells an entirely different story and provides a new prospective on the complete slave experience. Beloved produces an entirely new spin on the whole idea of the slave experience because it requires the reader to realize the human and emotional aspect of slaves. Toni Morrisons Beloved narrates the typical slave experience from one specific account, but allows the reader to see that the slave experience goes much deeper than the physical abuse and torment. In history today, there is one simple image that is spoon fed to pupils since the beginning of their academic career. It is not a glorified or skewed image, but nonetheless, it is not accurate either. The image that has been processed consists mainly on just the negative physical aspects of slavery. The whippings, the beatings, even the lynching; none has been censored. Beloved does include this in its text, however, the book focuses on the deeper pain. The emotional aspect of not receiving recognition as a human, the mental anguish of being owned, this is the pain Beloved feels should be recognized more so than the beatings. The reader is immediately introduced to Sethe and the scars on her back that form the tree. The next aspect of pain in Sethes life describes her mock wedding, which is described in much more detail than the tree on Sethes possibly because more pain was felt at her wedding than her infamous whipping. Sethe asks when she will get a wedding, Mrs. Garner put down her cooking spoon. Laughing a little, she touched Sethe on the head, saying You are one sweet child. And then no more. (28) It was painful enough for Sethe to not receive a wedding, but she is treated like it is a joke and entirely out of the question. It is abuse like this that was in fact typical in slave years, bu...