critical lens #2

In Revisions, Rememories and Exorcisms: Toni Morrison and the Slave Narrative by Cynthia S. Hamilton talks about the style of storytelling Beloved uses in order to explain the life as a slave in the 1800's. Hamilton also compares Toni Morrison's writing style compared to traditional slave stories of the past. She describes how the story is told from the point of view of multiple characters, and how they define themselves through there individual experiences throughout the course of the book. Hamilton describes how this form of storytelling also hinders the individual characters chance to grow. She then compares this to Beloved, how having multiple characters explain there pasts helps the reader understand the story in the present. She also describes how Toni Morrison writes her slave story without following "generic formulation of the classic slave narrative". She goes into detail about how the traditional way of writing slave stories focused on the "dominant middle class sensitivities and sensibilities of the period". This means that past slave stories could were restricted by what was considered politically correct and appropriate for the time, which is not the case for Morrison's Beloved. I agree and understand Hamilton's claims and views towards Beloved and how it was written. The fact that Beloved is told from multiple perspectives is both a positive and a negative. It shows the life of a slave from different viewpoints, instead of simply having one perspective. In most previous slave stories, the main character is that of an escaped slave. However, having multiple viewpoints does make the story itself complicated and difficult to follow. I also agree that Toni Morrison's writing was not limited by what is or was politically correct. This allowed her to tell the story of slavery more freely without being restricted by what society considers appropriate.