Perspective Shifts Everything

            While there seems to be an omniscient third person narration in the first and third sections of Beloved, the series of chapters within the second section of the novel shows the postmodern nature of Beloved. The three main female characters of the novel, Sethe, Denver and Beloved, narrate the chapters.

            This post-modern technique is one that suggests the fragmentation of the self—the multiple perspectives show different aspects of the character.  Since the perspectives of these chapters are those of the mother of Beloved, the sister, and Beloved herself, we see the many roles of such a complex, mysterious character. Sethe’s narration gives an account of the motives behind killing her child. Morrison writes, “she had to be safe and I put her where she would be” (236) which illuminates Beloved’s complicated anger since she was killed, but the motive behind it was motherly. I am not sure if that makes it any better necessarily, but it definitely complicates the relationship they have.

            But in addition to the character development of Beloved, through each of the chapters we learn about the narrators themselves. Take, for example, the chapter that begins “Beloved is my sister” (242). We know from this sentence that the narrator is Denver.  She then mentions, “the first thing I heard after not hearing anything was the sound of her crawling up the stairs” (242) which suggests that Beloved has always been a part of Denver’s life and moreover, that Denver has been haunted by Beloved from within.

            However nothing tells more than the chapters that were written by Beloved herself. The first narration is very simple, only fragmented words with no punctuation. It is written in a stream of consciousness nature, the way that a young child (say two years old), would speak.  However the following chapter is a rehashing of the first, however with more complicated sentences and a more mature voice. This shows a development—or an aging if you will.           

            But I wonder why it is that these few chapters are isolated in their nature. As I mentioned before, the rest of the novel is written in the third person omniscient voice. So why is it that these happen in the middle of the novel but no where else?