ABSTRACT
Beloved is written by Toni Morrison who won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1994 as the first American black woman. It mainly depicts the miserable psychic world of the black women under slavery. This paper first analyzes the protagonist—Sethe’s relationship with her children, husband and slave owners. Through Sethe’s experience and her trauma, it explores how black women are affected and distorted by slavery. Sethe is a woman who has a tragic life but never gives up her faith. As a black woman, she stays at the bottom of the society; as a black mother, she is deprived of her children; as a black wife, she can’t have her beloved. The first part mainly analyzes Sethe’s tragedy, that is her tragedy of status, motherhood and love; the second part analyzes the social, personal and family factors of Sethe’s tragedy. This paper concentrates on these two aspects especially the reasons of the tragedy to explore the physical and mental trauma that American black women endured and to help readers have a better understanding of American black women’s status and tragedy under slavery.
Key words：black women; status; tragedy; reasons
Contents
1．Introduction 1
2. The tragic life of Sethe 2
2.1 Sethe’s tragedy of status 2
2.2 Sethe’s tragedy of motherhood 4
2.3 Sethe’s tragedy of love 6
3. Reasons for Sethe’s tragedy 7
3.1 Social factors 7
3.1.1 Class oppression 7
3.1.2 Gender discrimination 9
3.1.3 The influence of community 9
3.2 Personal factor 10
3.3 Family factor 11
4．Conclusion 12
Acknowledgements 13
References 14
