The Subversion of Maternal Love in Beloved and A Mercy

张媛媛

Abstract：From her maiden masterpiece The Bluest Eye to her latest novel A mercy，Toni Morrison had a very sharp observation of black mothers dilemma and trauma left by slavery.Among these works，Toni Morrison shaped two typically subverted African mother roles，they are Sethe in Beloved and a nameless black mother in A Mercy.

Key words：subversion，maternal love

Generally，mother is an image who shoulder the responsibility of nurturing children from both physical and mental side.And mother is also a culture transmitter who bear a mission of passing down national tradition and features from generation to generation.However，Black mothers were unable to cultivate their children in person，because these descendants of slaves were doomed to be sold like commodity as potential slaves.In such extreme cases，in order to seek for a relatively safe shelter for their kids，these vulnerable black mothers had to choose abnormal means which always violate the ethics and morality.The manifestation of their maternal love，condemned by the social mass and even their own kids.

In A Mercy，an anonymous slave mother asked a white man for taking away her daughter instead of herself，because she believed that this white man would treat slaves as human beings rather than animals.In Beloved，a black mother of four kids called Sethe strangled her baby daughter in order to protect her baby daughter from undergoing the same miserable destiny as a female slave like herself in future.Sethe cannot witness her baby daughter being exploited and raped by heartless slaveholders and other licentious male slaves.She believed that only paradise can offer a safe shelter for her baby daughter.“What she had done was right because it came from true love.”（Morrison 252）Whether abandoning daughter or killing daughter，the demonstration of maternal love was unaccepted by the public and misunderstood by their own daughters.

Black mothers bear the duty of passing down traditions and values of African Americans to later generations.The cultural heritage of ancestors also depends on innumerable mothers to deliver by themselves.Without biological mother standing by kids side and showing maternal affection in normal way，children would easily lose the sense of security and the perception of affiliation，let alone the self-recognition.“Never having been loved- protected，nurtured，and sustained through cultural bearing- by their mothers，unmothered children never learn how to love themselves.”（OReilly 40）

In A Mercy，Florence witnessed her mother knelt down and begged Jacob Vaark：“Please，Senhor.Not me.Take her.Take my daughter.”（Morrison 26）Even readers cannot learn until the end of the novel that this moms choice is out of protecting Florence.But，the shadow left by this abandoned experience made Florence lose the sense of security and long for being taken care of carefully.In order to avoid being ignored and deserted once again，Florence devoted all to the blacksmith and regarded him as her world and the only person who can save her from loneliness and helplessness.In this love relationship，Florence deny herself as an independent man，which violate the pursuit of blacksmith，a free man.The tragic ending of love is destined.

In Beloved，Sethe，a black mother who killed her baby daughter also suffer much trauma of being denounced by her children，herself and the public.During eighteen years after committing infanticide，Sethe lived in her nightmare filled with compunction.Although Sethe insisted that what she had done was all out of true love and under that dangerous condition，death was the best protection for her baby daughter，she was still unaccepted and isolated by both white and black community，even her children and lover all kept away from her after learning the truth of infanticide.Her baby daughter became a ghost haunted around the house day and night to punish Sethe through upsetting Sethes seemingly stable life.Sethes refusal of leaving the house or expelling the ghost represents that，for her，the ghost is not evil but sorrow.Her baby daughter died for being loved，and herself lived for atonement.

Under the force of slavery，maternal love was subverted.Mother cannot express motherhood in normal way and daughter cannot or can only obtain a little distorted maternal love from biological mother.The transmission of culture is interrupted and both mother and daughter feel rootless.The short of ancestors memory and emotion makes mother and daughter seek their root culture from the neighborhood step by step and long for emotional comfort from the people around in their lifetime.

In A Mercy，Lina is the one who actually plays the role of mother for Florence.On the farm，Lina took care of Florence from all aspects just like her mom.For example，Lina made clothes and shoes for Florence，and when Florence wore that shoes，she recovered maternal love and protection.Florence confided all her secrets to Lina and Lina also gave her impartial and sincere suggestion.Lina shared life experience with Florence and give her warning to lead her an independent and free life.In Beloved，Sethe got spiritual shelter from her mother-in-law，Baby Suggs.Under her support，Sethe set out on the journey to seek for self-identity and self-emancipation and tried to embrace new life.

Shackled by the slavery system，it is difficult for black mother to shoulder two duties of nurturing children and passing down national values to later generation at the same time.But Toni Morrison also suggests that only black mothers themselves forget the trauma，admit and develop their cultural identities，and highlight the cultural inheritance of their own nations，can black women dominate their own destiny by themselves.

Works Cited

[1]Morrison，Toni.A Mercy.New York：Alfred A.Knopf，2008.

[2]Morrison，Toni.Beloved.Beijing：Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press，2005.

[3]OReilly，Andrea.Toni Morrison and Motherhood：A Politics of the Heart.Albany：State University of New York Press，c2004.

（作者單位：云南大学 外国语学院）