LOVE AND MOTHERHOOD IN TONI MORRISON'S BELOVED

This book discusses Toni Morrison's Beloved and attempts to explain the healing process of black people in the United States from the pain of slavery. Using black feminist approach, the author discusses how the female characters deal with the past and live with it in the present, what love and motherhood mean to the female characters, and how much the past influences their lives. This approach is considered the most effective one to analyze Beloved related to three kinds of inseparable oppression: sexism, racism, and classism. Beloved delivers a universal message to all black people that even though they must live with the past of slavery, they should learn from it to face the future. Although the pain of slavery still remains in black people's memories, they have to move on. Beloved also makes the readers see that not all black people are victims and not all white people are oppressors.