Author(s)

Hailiang Lei

School of Foreign Language and Literature, Southwest Minzu University, Chengdu, China.

In Beloved, Morrison characterizes an “infanticide” tragedy that a black mother Sethe kills her daughter “Beloved” in the American slavery society. It displays Morrison’s reflections on ethical relationships and describes ethical choices of Sethe and other black groups. Taking Sethe’s infanticide behavior as the research object, the paper mainly interprets the maternal ethical identity under patriarchy, the black ethical environment under slavery, and the ethical consciousness of a black mother from the perspective of literary ethics. It analyzes the reasons why the black mother made infanticide behavior, and focuses on the various helplessness of Sethe as a black mother. It hopes to provide suggestions for the ethical choices of black women in the United States and encourage them to find a broader living space in the difficulties of life.

Beloved, Infanticide, Ethical Choice, Literary Ethics

Lei, H.L. (2022) The Infanticide Tragedy under Black Slavery: An Analysis of Sethe’s Ethical Choice in Morrison’s Beloved. Open Access Library Journal, 9, 1-6. doi: 10.4236/oalib.1108804.