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Margaret Garner: The woman whose story inspired Beloved


    Beloved by Toni Morrison was actually based on a newspaper article that Toni Morrison saw about a woman named Margaret Garner. But who was this lady in the newspaper? What about that newspaper clipping inspired Toni Morrison to create the deeply poignant story we know as the world-famous classic Beloved loved today? Let’s look a bit into the life of Margaret Garner.

As it turns out, the events in Margaret Garner's life are very similar to the biggest plot point for Sethe in Beloved. Born into slavery, Garner was 22 years old when she tried to make her escape through the underground railroad with her four children, her husband, and his parents. It was the year 1856 in January, and she had crossed the frozen Ohio river to her cousin’s safe house. However, they had just barely arrived when the house was surrounded by slave catchers. Faced with the horrible choice of whether to go back into slavery or die, she chose death and slit her 2-year old daughter’s throat. And she would have killed the rest of her children before killing herself if the federal marshals hadn’t stormed in to take her to court. The court lasted two weeks and in the end, Garner was charged with destruction of property for killing her child and injuring her other children, rather than murder. Can’t set a civil rights precedent and let slaves become humanized. 

After learning just how real this story was, Toni Morrison’s book became all the more moving and tragic to me. She didn’t just weave some extreme scenario where she exaggerated the horrors of slavery. What happened in the book happened in our nation’s history. And this is why I honestly think every American citizen should read this book. 

Comments

  1. Amalia BolleroJanuary 4, 2022 at 7:34 PM

    This is great post! I like how you chose to write about the woman who inspired Sethe's character, as it shows a real life example of someone who had similar experiences to Sethe. You did a nice job of giving a brief explanation of Margaret Thatcher's story. I also agree that reading Beloved is incredibly important for everyone, especially because of its ties to our nations history and that it cannot go ignored. Nice job!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ethan RobertsJanuary 5, 2022 at 10:21 PM

    This is a good post! I think by realizing that Morrison wrote this part of the story following real events that are literally depictions of slavery, so they can't be ignored. Within the story, it makes the reader see Sethe as more of a real person. Reading Beloved would definitely be beneficial for anybody interested in the history of America or just good literature.

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