Coping and Defense Mechanisms of Intergenerational Trauma of Slavery in Toni Morrison's Beloved (1987)

Abstract

African Americans suffered physical, sexual, emotional, and psychological trauma from slavery, which has been passed down through generations. In the novel Beloved, Toni Morrison talks about the trauma of slavery and how it affects both those who directly and indirectly experienced it. This dissertation analyzes the characters Sethe and Denver in the novel Beloved by Toni Morrison using Sigmund Freud's theory of psychoanalysis, focusing on the concept of defense mechanisms. Moreover, the researcher seeks to discover the defense mechanisms of intergenerational trauma of slavery. Additionally, this dissertation uses qualitative methods of research to achieve its aim. This dissertation concludes that Sethe used denial, repression, and dissociation, and Denver used avoidance, regression, and dissociation, and these defense mechanisms are defense mechanisms of the intergenerational trauma of slavery because Denver indirectly experienced the trauma of slavery and inherited it from her mother Sethe, and Sethe was transmitted the trauma and directly experienced it as well