The Theme of Motherhood in Toni Morrison’s Novels

The theme of motherhood is ubiquitous in Morrison’s two novels, Beloved and Sula. Each novel presents a different interpretation on mothering; the disparities offer various understandings on the role of the mother.

In Beloved, Sethe and Baby Suggs’s mothering styles are juxtaposed. Sethe loves her children completely and sees them as her personal property that cannot be taken from her. In direct contrast is Baby Suggs, who does not remember most of her children and was careful in her affections toward them for fear that they would be taken from her, and she would be left hurt and vulnerable.

These two competing styles illustrate the conflict that slave women had in loving their children. The two women do not understand the other’s approach to mothering. The inability to understand one another is clearly seen on two instances. The first occasion takes place when Sethe kills her own daughter, Beloved in the shed because she refuses to allow her daughter to be taken away and put into slavery.

In contrast, Baby Suggs witnesses the loss of each of her children and stands idly by while they are sold to various owners. Baby Suggs resigns herself and her children to this fate while Sethe fights to remain a caring mother, even while in the bonds of slavery.

The second instance occurs when Sethe tells Baby Suggs that she cannot draw a breath without her children. Sethe’s blurring of her life with her children’s is a dangerous pairing given her station in life. A more detached and knowledgeable Baby Suggs gets down on her knees and begs God to pardon Sethe when she hears of this dependency on ones children. Baby Suggs’ relationship to her children perpetuates the slave tradition and adheres to the patriarchal agenda of the white owner. In relationship to her children, Sethe usurps the role of master and enjoys a sense of ownership over her children.

While these two women employ very different models of motherhood, the contrast between the two illustrates the conflict involved when a woman is both mother and slave. The ways in which they negotiate these two roles are different for Sethe and Baby Suggs, but what is similar is the range of emotions that they have for their children.

A major distinction between the role of mother in Sula and Beloved is that the mothers in Sula are not subjected to slavery. This discrepancy greatly influences the model of motherhood. In Beloved, the mothers were concerned with how much they loved their children, however in Sula, the mothers are more concerned with how much they like their children. Both Eva and Hannah comment on how they love their children but don’t necessarily like them.

This distinction between love and like in Sula is interesting because it presents their children as subjects, unlike in Beloved where they are objects. The mothers in Beloved were so concerned with how much they should love their children that liking them was an extravagance that never occurred to them. Eva and Hannah do not like their kids yet this does not impede their ability to mother. However, Baby Suggs and Sethe’s proclivity to love too much or too little encumbers their mothering.

There is a thread that ties the mothers in these two novels together. Both Eva and Sethe take the life of their child because as mother they know best, and since they gave life they can also take it away. Hannah and Baby Suggs are both separated from their children too early. Hannah sexual proclivities emotionally separate her from Sula and then her death ultimately severs their ties. The lackadaisical attitude toward parting is exemplified by Sula’s resignation in watching her mother burn. As a child she too accepts this separation. This division of mother and child between Sula and Hannah and Baby Suggs and her children is passively accepted. Eva and Sethe actively cause the severance, ironically in the name of unity and motherhood.

In Sula the lack of liking for one’s child, is more of a reflection on the personality of the child than the role of mother. The boundaries of motherhood and the separation of self and other are more lucid in Sula than in Beloved. The extent to which Eva and Sethe are creator and destructor speaks to the power of motherhood, as presented by Morrison the role of the mother is a force not to be reckoned with.