Beloved Rhetorical Analysis Two

In Toni Morrison's novel Beloved, after a lost and unknown black girl, Beloved, comes to stay with Sethe and her family, she develops an almost unnerving devotion to Sethe. Morrison tempers Beloved’s sweet adoration of the older woman with darker imagery in order to suggest a more ominous air to the unknown girl. When describing the way Beloved watched Sethe, Morrison writes, “Sethe was licked, tasted, eaten by Beloved’s eyes” (68). Though “tasted” gives the connotation of wanting to familiarize oneself with an essence or flavor, in this case that of Sethe’s spirit, Morrison also includes the word “eaten,” suggesting Beloved may consume Sethe entirely, a much more negative implication. In addition, Morrison’s use of asyndeton in this sentence implies that Beloved’s appetite for Sethe would only grow, suggesting this devotion may turn more sinister and destructive. Morrison also describes Beloved as being “[l]ike a familiar, she hovered” (68). By linking Beloved to the supernatural with both the simile of her familiar-like qualities and the metaphor of her hovering, Morrison paints Beloved’s actions as particularly otherworldly. Though Sethe looks upon Beloved fondly, Morrison repetitively includes slightly more ominous undertones in her descriptions of this girl. Finally, Morrison describes “their two shadows [clashing] and [crossing] on the ceiling like black swords” (68). Though the two women’s shadows are linked by their crossing and interactions, Morrison decisively uses this metaphor to depict violence. In doing so, the author suggests that the unearthly or ethereal parts of these characters, namely their shadows, are at odds. By creating an ominous undertone, occasionally suggesting violence, when describing Beloved and Sethe’s interactions, Morrison foreshadows a darker or unstable relationship between the two in later chapters and contrasts this air with the apparently sweet girl’s attentiveness to Sethe.