the problematics of motherhood in twentieth century women's fiction

emergence eighteen years after her death, Beloved identifies
herself primarily with her mother.
I am Beloved and she 1s mrne ... I am not separate
from her there is no place where I stop her face
is my own and I want to be there in the place
where her face is . . (B 259).
She also says. "I want to be the two of us I want to jolnv
Thls fluld boundary of ldentltles merge when Beloved finally
remarks "You are my face, you are me / you are mine" (B
2661. Even during pregnancy Sethe experrences simultaneous
merglng and separation
splitting and extensron of self
to Beloved. "You asleep on my back.
For her, pregnancy is both a
She explarns her feelings
Denver sleep In my
stomach Felt llke I was spllt in two" (B 249) At the
same tlme, the experience 1s far her a d~ssolutlon of
noundaries, a merger, an embrace of mltipllclty
Thzs
merging of boundaries, seen throughout Morrison's works, is
most pronounced In Beloved
3.3.5.2. The apparent oneness in the mother-daughter trrad
that is seen In the hand-holdlng shadows of Sethe, Beloved
and Denver, 1s marred by tenslons and hostlllYy dlscernlble
beneath the surface
It is Sethe's crime that causes thls
estrangement, creating a wedge and wldening the flssure In
their superficial bond.
the most traglc result of Sethe's helnous crlme 1s
the damage that ~t does to the single most
important community of women to her the community