Text: “Truth in Timbre: Morrison's Extension of Slave Narrative Song in Beloved” by Peter J. Capuano
Critical Lens: Biographical/Historical Lens
Toni Morrison’s Beloved is a novel that explores the issues of slavery and racial divisions throughout American history in a deeper level. When reading Beloved, it mainly focuses on the racial divisions between slaves and whites in plantations such as Sweet Home throughout mid 1800s to early 1900s.
Specifically observing the characteristics of former slaves such as Paul D and Sethe, both Capuano and Morrison reveal the message that slaves are being treated worse than animals affecting their physical, mental, and emotional state.
Looking back to the article “Truth in Timbre: Morrison's Extension of Slave Narrative Song in Beloved” by Peter J. Capuano, Capuano explains the use of slave songs through two authors’ perspectives who are Toni Morrison and Frederick Douglass.
Sign of white people in need of “fifty able-bodied negro men” during mid 1800s (Swann Galleries)
Peter J. Capuano is a presidential fellow of University of Virginia’s doctoral program for English Literature and mostly focuses on novels that were published in the 1900s. Viewing Peter J. Capuano’s article, he reveals that slaves are being dehumanized and are being treated worse than animals. In Capuano’s article, he reveals that slaves are being treated worse than animals through the use of diction. Capuano recalls to Morrison’s novel Beloved which he states that, "They [slaves] sang the women they knew; the children they had been; the animals they had tamed themselves or seen others tame. They sang of bosses and masters and misses; of mules and dogs and the shamelessness of life. They sang lovingly of graveyards and sisters long gone. Of pork in the woods; meal in the pan; fish on the line; cane, rain and rocking chairs. (108)" Capuano uses the previous quote to illustrate what slaves sang and how each felt when singing slave songs. Reading back to the previous quote, Capuano describes slaves’ emotions through Morrison’s use of diction, this helps readers understand slaves in the pathos perspective even though readers can not fully relate to historical events. Although he was not a slave nor wrote a book based on slavery, he deepens his analysis by looking back the 1800’s previous author such as Frederick Douglass to determine the relationship between his narrative and Morrison’s novel Beloved.
Another way we can illustrate slaves being dehumanized is through looking at the image above by Swann Galleries. The image above shows a paper stating “Wanted, for the year 1856, fifty able-bodied negro men” and further explaining that the good quality security. This image represents the dehumanization towards slaves through the amount of money they’ll earn in a year and being addressed as “Negroes” instead of their own names. Being addressed as "Negroes" demonstrates that slaves do not have the same value towards whites therefore they were treated differently compared to whites. Acknowledging that slaves “earn $150” shows slaves’ lack of value as humans particularly when working in plantations. During slavery, segregation was also occurring which many slaves had little to no rights regarding to school, work, and government’s actions. This made it more complicated for slaves to utilize their voices to emphasize their value as humans throughout the mid 1800s.
Investigating Toni Morrison’s background, she is an American novelist, author, Pulitzer prize winner who wrote a novel describing slaves' daily living conditions at Ohio during the mid 1800s early 1900s. Reading Toni Morrison’s novel Beloved, she reveals that slaves are dehumanized and getting treated worse than animals by slave owners and authorities. However, through the use of slave songs, slaves begin to gain confidence and sing slave songs to confirm their value as humans to white slave owners and authorities who traumatized them to the point where they began to think the opposite. Recalling to part two of Beloved, Paul D and other slaves were imprisoned for attempting to escape their plantations. When Paul D and numerous slaves were imprisoned, they faced brutal working conditions but eventually began to sing slave songs to reassure their value as humans whereas authorities thought otherwise and forcing slaves into facing horrific working conditions in prison compared to their plantations. Paul D and other slaves are singing loudly to let authorities and slave owners know that they are still human and have the same value as whites. Through the use of slave songs, slaves managed to use their voices to express that they are valuable and no one is going to force them into believing the opposite. Overall, Toni Morrison uses diction such as slave songs to clearly illustrate that slaves are being treated worse than animals and are dehumanized by whites. Acknowledging that Morrison was not a slave, this makes it somewhat harder for her and readers to relate to past events that occurred in the novel and in history. Although Toni Morrison was born after slavery was abolished, she writes Beloved to describe slavery through different characters’ perspectives to help herself and readers understand the emotions slaves felt on a daily basis.
Looking back to an article “Truth in Timbre: Morrison's Extension of Slave Narrative Song in Beloved” by Peter J. Capuano, Capuano also explains the use of slave songs through Frederick Douglass’ narrative. Frederick Douglass is a former slave escaping from his plantation during the early 1800s who later wrote a narrative explaining his experience as a slave working in Edward Covey’s wheat plantation. Through the use of multiple facts and little amount of slave songs, Douglass reveals the brutal nature which many slaves are being dehumanized and brutally mistreated by white slave owners affecting their mental and emotional state. Although Douglass was cautious about “not insulting white audience members” who read his narrative since he only wanted to reveal the truth behind slavery instead of focusing on a specific person such as his slave owner. Because Douglass uses factual information to describe slavery, this helps him reveal the truths behind slavery. Examining Douglass’ Narrative, Douglass provides few slave songs not only help express his feelings when he was a slave, but also help readers understand how he felt when he was working in Covey’s plantation. Capuano states that Douglass used slave songs to explain “the emphasis on the sound than on the actual words,” he confirms that Douglass wanted to bring attention to readers about the extent where people can negatively change others and to the point in becoming cruel to each other when striving to improve their lives for the better. Freedom can be illustrated and felt in different ways for a slave; however, if a slave escapes or is released from their plantation does not fully prove that they’re completely free.
Overall, Capuano uses Morrison and Douglass’ books to reveal that slaves are being treated worse than animals. In Capuano’s article, he quotes slave songs to emphasize the pathos appeal to further help himself and readers understand historical events. Although he uses a credible author such as Frederick Douglass to further connect to factual information therefore making some of his statements credible. Including Douglass in Capuano’s article helps himself and readers further comprehend slavery through Douglass’ perspective in which Douglass emphasizes facts instead of slave songs. Furthermore, Capuano connects to Morrison’s theme to reveal that slaves were treated worse than animals, but through the use of slave songs, slaves emphasized their value as humans whereas whites thought the opposite. Throughout Capuano's article, Morrison was a major influence because they had similar themes also since each mostly looked at slavery through the pathos appeal.
The previous information presented can be corroborated in the following links:
https://goo.gl/caLzkw
https://www.prestwickhouse.com/samples/305396.pdf
http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1999/1/99.01.03.x.html
