K@ta: A Biannual Publication on the Study of Language and Literature (Jan 2000)
RECONSTRUCTING WOMANHOOD IN TONY MORRISON'S BELOVED
Abstract
Tony Morrison's fifth novel, Beloved (1987), explores the degradation of slavery imposed upon slaves, even when they were owned by a "humane" slave master. The novel is set in the Reconstruction period, the period after the American civil war. The word reconstruction may be used for the Afro-Americans, especially for the Afro-American women who face double discrimination for being black and women. In dealing with women's oppression, Afro-American women have to reconstruct themselves as an act of survival, and to be aware of the horrors of the experiences which their ancestors had to go through.