Sword and Shield: Defending from the Effects of Slavery

 In Toni Morrison’s Beloved, Sethe learns that her husband stood by and watched as she was raped. Nearly unable to cope with this knowledge, she wishes for the guidance of her dead mother-in-law, Baby Suggs. Morrison uses Sethe’s imagination of Baby Suggs’ calming words in order to emphasize the continuous and violent aftereffects of slavery upon former slaves. In Sethe’s imagination, Baby Suggs’ tells her to lay down her “[s]word and shield” (101). By using a metaphor comparing implements of war to Sethe’s emotional response to pain, Morrison demonstrates how assuming a violent nature is often necessary to be able to cope with the horrors of slavery. Morrison also includes both an aggressive and defensive object in this comparison to demonstrate how slavery cannot be merely held off defensively; it forced slaves to assume an attacking standpoint in order to brook its effects. Sethe instructs herself to lay these implements of war “[d]own by the riverside” (101). This water imagery is particularly important given Sethe’s dangerous escape to freedom across the Ohio River. In this line, Morrison conveys the tendency of former slaves to retain their previous methods of emotional self-defense, these workers being unable to lay these down after crossing the river to freedom. The imaginary Baby Suggs pushes Sethe to release her emotional defenses as she is released from bondage, leaving behind her hurt and memories. Sethe tries to lay down her “heavy knives of defense against misery, regret, gall and hurt” (101). Morrison uses the word “heavy” to indicate the burden this emotional turmoil puts on Sethe and thus, former slaves as a whole. Again, words with defensive and aggressive connotations are mixed in order to portray the complicated way in which former slaves were forced to cope with their past, unable to handle the memories of their past life and yet unable to fight them off. Morrison uses Baby Suggs’ imagined advice in order to convey how, once subjected to slavery, slaves can never escape its effects though they try.