Beloved

• What is the name of the plantation in Beloved?

  Sweet Home plantation
• When was Beloved produced?

  1987
• Who produced Beloved?

  Toni Morrison
• Who was the story of Beloved based on?

  Margaret Garner
• What did Margaret Garner do?


  She escaped with her husband and four children to Ohio in 1856
• Why was Margaret Garner put on trial?


  She killed her youngest daughter and attempted to do the same with her other 3 children instead of allowing them to return to slavery
• What is the representation of slavery within Beloved?

  Depicted as brutal, inhumane and violent
• What are examples of the brutal images of slavery within the book?


  Black americans hanging from trees, floating downstream drowned, or raped by white Americans
• What is schoolteacher a representation of?


  White supremacy with his violence through whipping, torture and humiliation
• What happens to Sethe?


  She is beaten, humiliated and raped in front of her husband
• What happens to Ella?


  She is locked in a room for a year and abused by a white father and son
• Which prize did Beloved win?


  The Pulitzer Prize in 1987
• What did Toni Morrison win for Beloved?


  The Nobel Peace Prize in Literature in 1992
• Which award did Morrison accept?

  An award from the Universalist Association saying there was no more suitable memorial to slavery in 1998
• What did a New York Times poll say?


  In 2006 a poll of 200 critics said Beloved was the best book of American fiction in the last 25 years
• Where was Beloved ranked?


  Ranked 26th on the American library Association's list of most banned books in school
• What did Virginia declare?

  In 2013 it said it was too intense for teenage readers
• What did Michigan declare?


  Michigan said the book was overly simplistic and pornographic
• What happened after the national book award in 1987?

  It didn't win the national book award and fellow writers protested with 48 African-American writers signed a letter which appeared in the New York Times book review
• What does the book do rather than starting change?

  It reflects the shift in conversation incited by the Civil Rights Movement
• Why was the widespread appeal of the book limited?

  The book was explicitly addressed towards a black audience which may put off white readers
• How can it be seen that it didn't change race relations?

  There was another major race riot in 1992 in Watts area for 6 days, with Rodney King beaten severely by police
• Why was the production of Beloved a disaster?

  It earned $23 million in ticket sales compared to its $53 million budget
• How does Morrison present the only way for black women to escape from their pasts?


  She says the only way to break from discrimination is through death itself
• What is Sethe valued for while at Sweet Home plantation?


  She is valued for her fertility and tracked down due to this 'purpose'
• What does slavery do to people's identities?


  It destroys them with African-Americans stripped down to their position as property/fixed assets
• What does Morrison recognise?

  An intersectional approach
• What underpins Beloved?


  Racial discrimination and a sense of alienation
• What happens to black women as a result of slavery?


  It physically and emotionally removed them from their family, and in the example of Sethe, it removes her from herself
• What do black Americans represent within the novel?


  The seperation from their families and the victims of slavery as a institution
• Why are black Americans unable to establish their own position?


  Due to their low economic standing