"It's not everyone's father, its your father" Tony Morrison on Beloved. The novel of Beloved as I interpreted, is not wholly a novel on the cruelty of slavery, but a novel on love, pain, and sacrifice in human nature, of which slavery is only an angle.
The big question of how media shapes the view of the world of themselves, can be answered somewhat through the seclusion of media, or interaction in general, from 124. Beloved is a novel of a mothers view and a mothers guilt and the pure primal instinct of it. The story is about a young female named Sethe, living in a house haunted by her murdered baby alongside her still living daughter, Denver. The novel explores the supernatural, with Beloved, coming back in a physical manifestation to extort revenge on her mother, along with the natural, slavery at the time and the horrendous life that came along. In the story media is rarely prevalent in the house of 124. When Beloved appears, Sethe without any outside perspective can symbolically reveal the own innocent perspective conceived through ones own emotions and experiences. She dotes on Beloved and does anything in her blood to please her, or maybe to make up to her for causing Beloved's death. She does not see any other perspective, one can say that the character interactions are a sort of media for that time, an outlet for other ideas/opinions. Sethe and Beloved, Beloved and Sethe, two interactions without outside influence, that illustrate how the media can shape the view of others and themselves, and without it only what has and what is create that perspective. An example of media changing views, is the dilemma of Paul D, a fellow former slave of Sethe's from Sweet Home. Paul D comes to 124 to try and create a life with Sethe and Denver, warming up to a life at 124 and establishing an intimate relationship with Sethe. Perspective soon changes, as only it can, with the introduction of media. The media in the sense is a newspaper, given to Paul D by a former slave named Stamp Paid, that changes his views on Sethe and brings their intimate relationship to a close. The media outlet, detailing Sethe's murder of her own baby child, answers the big question by shaping Paul D's view of Sethe. Whereas before without the unbridled illumination, Paul D had feelings of affection, and some can say love, for Sethe. With media, it has shaped Paul D's vision, disturbing his previous feeling and proving him unable to stay with Sethe, despite previous experiences or emotion he could have felt.
Media has an important role in emotion and guilt, and can help change perspectives as seen in Beloved.
