In the story beloved by Tony Morrison there is no narrator inside the story ,who is a part of the story . The narrator is totally unknown. The narrator in this story is not limited , knows everything that is going on in every ones mind and how every one feels about every even that has happened in life and is about to happened in their life. But the story is narrated from a third person point of view. I would like to state that the narrator in this story is omniscient.
The story is very self explanatory in a way . But it gets confusing because of the sudden flash backs . The story is mainly about Sethe and her struggle through out her life . That’s what I think of the story . But her story is narrated by different voices also . Just like the way Denver talks about the story of her birth. Its Sethe’s story of escaping from sweet home which is a painful memory for Sethe but when Denver becomes the narrator she takes pride of it. There is a hint of joy she takes out of Sethe’s painful story. The narrator played awesomely with words and timing and settings over here. Which made the story a bit confusing but very lively when its put together .The narrator is the real ornament of this story .
Yes, i agree the story “Beloved” is omniscient narration as third person narrator. Its taking turn when narrator get to acess to one character’s mind at a time. First, we get to know the protagonist Sethe’s memory, then we get to know her daughter’s feeling and mind from chapter 3 starts with “Denver’s secret was sweet…” then goes on with Paul D memory back in Sweet Home with Sethe and other brothers and so on. The narrator uses the third person narration using either “He, She or character’s name.”
I agree with you that, the narrator is a third person omniscient. It is very obvious Sethe is the protagonist . It is true that the narration talks about Sethe’s life and the struggles but some how goes beyond her. I agree with you that story is very detailed and uses a lot of flash back. I doubt if there is a better way of writing such a story other than the use of flash back because throughout the story you could sense that one of the author’s main themes was memory and its effects on the characters. And in doing so there is little you can do beyond remembering things and when that happens flashbacks comes into play.
Like the others, i also agree with you that the story gets a little confusing with the change in narration and the flashbacks. It may be a little different to keep up with the shifts, but it is important not to fall behind with it because then the story would not make any sense at all. I don’t know if i agree with you that the story has no narrator at all, because in many parts of the book, we are reading Sethe’s memory, whether told from her point of view, or someone else’s. I would like to say that Sethe, while being the main character is also the narrator of “Beloved,” for the most part. There are other points, like Emmanuel points out that Denver becomes the narrator, and she is the one telling Sethe’s story and her memories, but the narrator is defined here, not totally unknown
The narration is done through a very clever way so that each segment goes to his or her views clearly. Yeah it’s really confusing sometimes.
From page 87 through 100, how Beloved had narrated the event of giving birth to Denver. How Denver was suppressed by ordering not to tell about Beloved to their mother.
“Don’t tell her. Don’t let Ma’am know who you are. Please, you hear?”
“Don’t tell me what to do. Don’t you ever tell me what to do.”
“But I’m on your side, Beloved.”
“She is the one. She is the one i need. You can go but she is the one I have to have.” Her eyes stretched to the limit, black as the all-night sky.”
These show Beloved’s anger and hatred towards Sethe. Why she was left alone and took Denver instead? And how Denver covered up to Beloved by narrating the struggle Sethe faced during Beloved’s birth.
“Denver was seeing it now and feeling it – through Beloved. Feeling how it must have felt to her mother. Seeing how it must have looked. The more points she made, the more details she provided, the more Beloved like it. End of Pg 91.