How much love is bearable? Motherhood in slavery

Essay from the year 2005 in the subject American Studies - Literature, grade: 1,0, University of Siegen (FB 3: Literatur-, Sprach- und Medienwissenschaften), course: Slave Narratives, language: English, abstract: "e;If I hadn't killed her, she would have died."e; (119) It is a most horrible scene: A mother killing her own flesh and blood, out of deepest mother-love. Toni Morrison s novel "e;Beloved"e; takes this gruesome deed as an approach to illuminate the tortuous and intricate slave mother/child relationship, a bond that in many respects reflects the atrocious nature of slavery. Hence, the essay aims at elucidating the significance and extensive meaning of maternity in Morrison s extraordinary slave narrative.