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In Toni Morrisons’ novel, Beloved, the main character Sethe, is a former slave

who chooses to kill her baby girl rather than allowing her to be exposed to the

physically, and emotionally damaging horrors of a life spent in slavery. There is

no other way to say it: she murdered her child. By killing her child, so dear to her

heart, the question arises whether Sethe acted out of true love or selfishness.

The fact that Sethe's act is irrational can easily be decided upon. Does Sethe kill

her baby girl because she wants to save the baby from slavery or does Sethe end

her daughter's life because of a selfish refusal to reenter a life of slavery? By

examining the complexities of Sethe's character it can be said that she is a

woman who chooses to love her children but not herself. Sethe kills her baby

because, in Sethe's mind, her children are the only good and pure part of who

she is and must be protected from the cruelty and the "dirtiness" of

slavery~(Morrison 251In this respect, her act is that of love for her children. The

selfishness of Sethe's act lies in her refusal to accept personal responsibility for

her baby's death. Sethe's motivation is dichotomous in that she displays her love

by mercifully sparing her daughter from a horrific life, yet Sethe refuses to

acknowledge that her show of mercy is also murder.

Throughout Beloved, Sethe's character consistently displays the duplistic nature

of her actions. Not long after Sethe's reunion with Paul D. she describes her

reaction to School Teacher's arrival: "Oh, no. I wasn't going back there[Sweet

Home]. I went to jail instead"~(Morrison 42) Sethe's words suggest that she has

made a moral stand by her refusal to allow herself and her children to be...