Revisions, rememories, and exorcisms by Cynthia S. Hamilton

Revisions, rememories, and exorcisms by Cynthia S. Hamilton

For my second look at a critical lens expert’s writing, I chose Revisions, rememories, and exorcisms by Cynthia S. Hamilton. This particular essay focuses on the literary style of “Beloved” and how it is an embodiment of how to tell the American slave story. Hamilton discusses how specific word choices were made in writing on the subject in the past, that were solely made so as not to anger the white readership. In “Beloved” more freedoms could be taken to show the institution of slavery as brutal including allusions to rape, descriptions of murder and brutality, all true elements of life in slavery that had to be overlooked in the past. The importance of the setting in which the novels on slavery are written in effects the novels almost as much as the writers own ideas on the subject. This is due to the fact that for a writer in the age of slavery to use any kind of negatively charged language to describe slavery they would be putting themselves at risk, not only because their work would most likely not be published. If their work was to be published, to be publicly outspoken against slavery in that time could be physically dangerous, in 1851 an anti-slavery Senator was brutally beaten on the floor of the senate for opposing slavery. Toni Morrison is able to take many liberties that allow her to more fully, and more accurately tell the story of Americans who had their freedoms taken from them and were in turn treated as tools on a farm.

Ms. Hamilton also chose to focus on the historical accuracy of “Beloved” as part of her review on the novel. The level of detail that comes into play about the underground railroad, the treatment of ex-slaves, and even into the mindset of racists at the time. Toni Morrison obviously spent a large amount of time researching in order to provide details like schoolteacher’s disappointment in not being able to “reform” Sixo, instead of coming out and just killing Sixo for running. While writers in the time period would have had a more accurate representation of these parts of the times, Morison provides an astonishing accurate account of an escaped slaves life. For me the level of detail that is present in this novel is what captivates me and draws me in, for something that happened over one hundred years ago, Toni Morrison is able to make the experiences feel close and real.