Describe Beloved as an allegorical figure.

Answer

Describe Beloved as an allegorical figure. [NU: 2017, 21] ★★★  

In “Beloved” (1987) by Toni Morrison (1931–2019), the character Beloved is not only a ghost or a young woman. She works as an allegorical figure. She represents memory, history, and the legacy of slavery that refuses to disappear.

Beloved as the Past Made Flesh: Beloved is the murdered child of Sethe. She returns in physical form. Morrison writes in Part One, 

“A fully dressed woman walked out of the water”. 

Her strange arrival shows she is more than human. She is the past rising again to haunt the present. 

Symbol of Memory and Trauma: Sethe identifies Beloved as her daughter. In Part Two, she says,

“Beloved, she my daughter. She mine”.

 These words show how Beloved embodies memory. She forces Sethe to relive the pain of slavery, her escape, and the infanticide. As an allegory, Beloved is the memory of all enslaved lives. 

Voice of the Dead Slaves: Beloved also speaks in strange voices of suffering souls. She recalls the dark, watery place where many died. This connects her to the millions lost in slavery’s violence. She is not only Sethe’s ghost but the collective spirit of forgotten victims. 

The Allegory of Obsession: Beloved consumes Sethe’s life. She demands all her attention, food, and love. This shows how the past destroys the present. Morrison shows memory as both necessary and dangerous.  

Community Healing and Disappearance: At the end, thirty women gather to pray at 124. Beloved vanishes in confusion. In Part Three, the narrator adds,

 “It was not a story to pass on”. 

As an allegory, “Beloved” reminds us that trauma must be faced, but also released. 

In conclusion, Beloved is an allegorical figure of history, memory, and slavery’s wounds. On one side, she is the daughter of Sethe other side, a symbol of millions of dead slaves. Through her, Morrison shows how the past lives