Toni Morrison's novel Beloved is an intricate and complex story that is built upon several narrative strategies. By using Genette Gerard's approach to narratology in combination with theories of narrative empathy in an analysis of the novel, this essay shows how Morrison's consistent use of analepses, shifting focalization, and changes of narrator can generate empathetic responses. The narrative devices create a story which travels through different memories through different characters, which illustrate the horrors of slavery and the history of humanity. The analepses provide an insight into the trauma that the characters have experienced, and the shifting focalization and narrator changes reveal their thoughts and emotions about both the past and the present, providing the reader with ample representations of the horrors of slavery and its consequences. The narrative strategies used in Beloved together create a story which emphasizes the importance of never forgetting our past. It reminds us that even the most painful memories in human history must be reflected upon in order for humanity to move on and learn from our mistakes.
Alma Palm Langefalk (Wed,) studied this question.