Trees, Scars, and Tree Shaped Scars



Trees, Scars, and Tree Shaped Scars

Annotated Bibliography

Brian Morrison

- "I've Got a Tree on My Back" - This website discusses different ways of communication which both the blacks, but mainly the white slave owners use. These include beatings, which convey their superiority over the slaves.

- "Beloved: A Metaphor for the Psychological Ramifications of Slavery" - This website does what it says it does: talks about what slavery does to the mind. Specifically, it shows how hurt Sethe was that Schoolteacher's nephews took her milk and beat her.

- "Symbolism and Motifs - Chokecherry Tree" - This website defines the scar on Sethe's back as a symbol of a chokecherry tree, but more specifically the burden that Sethe carries.

- "Toni Morrison's 'Beloved' ( review )" by: Richard Lung - This is a review of the book, however it also discusses Sethe's scars as a "beautiful metaphor for a hideous torture, that could only be sadism".

- "Lesson Plans: Beloved" - This can only be described as a summary of the book to aid (lazy?) teachers. It explains the main events and then offers questions for the teachers' students.

- Beloved Review by: cpearl - This is a review of the book, Beloved. It reveals some of the plot of the book, and includes a description of Sethe's scars.

- "Chapter 5" - This is a synopsis of chapter 5 in the book, Beloved. It mentions both the mulberry tree, which Beloved rests next to, and the stump that she is sitting on when Sethe, Denver, and Paul D find her.

- "Slavery's subversion of Motherhood in Toni Morrison's Beloved" by: Tao Te Ching - This is an essay which explores the many references to motherhood in Beloved. It mentions the chokecherry tree as an example of what made up Sethe's life.

- "Toni Morrison and the Color of Life" by: Anne Janine-Morey - An essay, of which the relevant part describes Sethe's scar as the beginning of Paul D and Sethe's lovemaking and reconciliation.

- “Sethe and Paul D’s Connection Through Her Scars” - This essay describes Sethe’s scars as a way of telling her life story. “No matter how a person changes or what happens to them, these marks are another bit of tangible history, following each of them wherever they may go.” Scars are a permanent record of what has happened to that person. Sethe’s most prominent scar is, of course, the chokecherry tree.

- “Toni Morrison's "Beloved": Notes and Work Suggestions for Students from The Clarendon School, Trowbridge, UK” - In a review by Carol Rumens, the use of a tree as a metaphor is discussed.

- “Beloved by Toni Morrison” - This site is a review of Beloved. It includes the author’s opinions of the book, and some key quotes.

- “Chokecherry Tree: Symbol of the scars of slavery.” This site describes the symbolism behind the tree shaped scar on Sethe’s back. It mentions how the bitter chokecherries represent the bitterness of slavery.

- “ClassicNote on Beloved” - This site is a summary of the book, Beloved. It talks about the scars Sethe received from Schoolteacher’s nephews and how they symbolize the life Sethe lived before she escaped slavery.

- “Beloved's Scars and Further Complications of Scars as Communication” – This is an essay which describes how scars are used in Beloved to help communicate Beloved’s story. “These scars serve as a reminder of everything Beloved had gone through. They become a symbol of what she has suffered and who she is.”

- “Book Review” - This is a site which includes reviews of many books, including Beloved. It reveals the fact that Sethe has a tree shaped scar on her back and how Toni Morrison develops this fact throughout the story.

- “Fracturing and Distorting...continued” - An essay that describes the unique ways in which Toni Morrison uses numbers in Beloved. It also explains “how the cutmark on Beloved's neck replicates the scar on Sethe's back, and ultimately how the blood spilled through infanticide replicates the African blood spilled in slavery. By looking deep into the hearts of Sethe's family, Morrison gives us the detail to attempt comprehending the fate of sixty million others.”

- “Scarring the Black Body” - This essay describes how scarring is a recurring theme throughout African American Literature, including Toni Morrison’s Beloved”

- “Sethe, a slave to her past” - This essay describes how Beloved is riddled with metaphors. One of these is Sethe’s chokecherry tree.

- “Nobody saw them fall” - An essay describing the symbols in the ice skating scene. This includes how Denver’s ice skate hitting a bump represents Sethe giving Beloved her scar. She was contently gliding through life until she hit a bump that turned her life upside down. That bump was Sethe killing Beloved.

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