Abstract: Beloved is the well-known novel written by the American black female writer Toni Morrison. It mainly tells that a black female slave Sethe killed her daughter in order to save her from slavery. But the ghost of her daughter comes back to punish mother’s behavior ceaselessly. This novel shows that whether in history or in reality, black female may be the group which was oppressed deepest and suffered from both the racial discrimination and the gender oppression. This paper is to analyze four main female characters in this novel: Beloved, Sethe, Denver and Baby Suggs so as to reveal the seeking of identity by black female and the exploration of the way out for black female by Morrison.

Key words: Beloved, Toni Morrison, female characters

CONTENTS

Abstract

摘要

1. Introduction1

  1.1 An Introduction to Toni Morrison1

  1.2 A Literature of Beloved.1

2. Four Main Female Characters in Beloved.2

2.1 Beloved—A Black Female Who Has Sad Past.2

2.2 Sethe—A Black Female Who Has an Initial Awakening2

2.3 Denver—A Black Female of New Generation Who Has Infinite Hope3

2.4 Baby Suggs—A Black Female Preacher Who Advocates Black Self-Respect.4

3. Conclusion.5

Bibliography6

Acknowledgements.7