“Unconscious, [and] Emotional... consequences of slavery”

In Barbara Shapiro's article she examines the “unconscious, emotional, and psychic consequences of slavery” and shows how the system of slavery robs mothers and children of one another and themselves. She explains in her article that the central figure of the book is the character Beloved, and she shows how the novel is not so much about the physical death of Beloved, but rather the “psychic” death. This type of death “involves the denial of one's being as a human subject.” Shapiro shows that at the core of all of our beings is the need for us to connect with another and most specifically with our mothers. She also shows, how it becomes impossible for both children and slaves to see their “self” when “society denies them that status.” She goes through the different stages of child development and shows how slavery has impaired their ability to develop “normally.” She explores the rape of Sethe and shows the many ways that the rape robbed Sethe of herself, and her possible life.  Ultimately however, she claims that the novel is not “hopelessly bleak or disparaging.” She illustrates how each of the characters have survived and best of all, she explains how “Beloved demonstrates the interconnection of social and intrapsychic reality.” She shows how Sethe, by “claiming ownership,” has access to “the free autonomous self.” She says that this self is accessible through relationships and people being able to recognize one another for who they are.

By reading Shapiro's analysis of Beloved through a feminist lens, I was able to gain another great perspective of the feminist lens. She brought up the ideas of normality and psychic thoughts that occur throughout the book, which can be seen as typically the psychoanalytical lens, however she was able to use these ideas in such a way that made it possible to see it from both a psychoanalytical and feminist lens point of view. The feminist lens point of view can most predominately be seen when Shapiro is talking about how the core of our being is to connect with others. This is very important to the feminist lens since this lens talks about the relationships between men and women often.