Beloved by Toni Morrison: Teaching Resources
Beloved: A Unit
Plan
This impressive American Collection unit plan gives students the opportunity
to reflect on the history of slavery and its aftermath by creating plays and
other writings. You'll find thoughtful and creative pre-reading, support for
reading, and post-reading exercises, all in PDF format.
Unit is intended for an upper-level high school class of above average ability,
possibly AP.
Beloved,
Lecture Notes
Extensive site from a professor at the University of Warwick. Scroll down page
for notes on various Beloved topics:
History
Suppressed histories, taboo subjects and "rememory"
The case of Margaret Garner
Narrative traces consciousness not just of the individual but of the family
and the "tribe"
Intimacy of relationship between narrator & narratee
Variant of the female Gothic (western)
Use of vernacular & signifying
African-American cosmology
Infelicitous space - slave ship is "hell" for African Americans
Rememory: cf. oral tradition, the griot
Gynocentric
Also offers discussion points and further reading.
Facing
the Ghosts of Our Past: Writing Narrative Reflections on the Civil War and Slavery
In this New York Times lesson plan students read a review of the movie 'Beloved'
as a starting-point for discussion and research focused on how the Civil War
affected a variety of different people. Students then write a first-person narrative
from the perspective of one of those people.
Beloved:
Study Questions
There are over 100 questions on the novel at this site, some specific to a single
page and others broad and reflective. From a faculty member at the University
of Iowa.
Beloved,
Essays
This site provides access to almost 40 online journal articles on Beloved.
Beloved Reading
Guide
This guide divides the novel into 3 parts and encourages students to examine
key quotes and scenes, looking at narrative relationships, characters, and themes.
Forum
- Thoughts on Toni Morrison's Beloved
These are initial reactions to Beloved by students in a Bryn Mawr seminar course.
Interesting reactions range from "Beloved was spiteful. . .full of venom,"
to "a tragic tail so beautifully told."
Beloved:
Study Questions
Nine questions from a "Great Works" course at Stanford.
Beloved
This student-produced AP site contains a Morrison biography, a plot summary,
and links to criticism, symbolism, and censorship. It also has a variety of
background information: African myths and folklore, slavery, the Underground
Railroad, the Civil War, the Civil Rights Movement, Ohio during and after the
Civil War, and more.
History of Jim Crow
This video companion web site site explores segregation in America from 1870s
to 1950s. Check out both the American Literature and Teacher Resources at the
bottom of the opening page. There are many related lesson plans, simulations,
images, primary sources, and more.(The teaching unit on Beloved is the same
one at the top of this message.)
PAL:
Perspectives in American Literature - A Research and Reference Guide
Chapter 10: Late Twentieth Century - Toni Morrison (1931-)
Offers a selected bibliography of books and articles on Toni Morrison. Print
resources only.