I'm Sensing a Theme in the Classes

The novel Beloved, written by Toni Morrison in 1987, is filled to the brim with symbols and imagery. All of which hint towards the divisions of the class, and the similarities across race in certain classes. In fact, there appears to be a pattern, where the lower and middle white classes tend to be kinder and more accepting to the freed lower slave class, which indicates that different races, if they belong to the lower classes look past their racial differences to help each other.

Most slave owners did not have huge plantations, they generally could only afford 5-6 slaves, and a small number owned more than that. Throughout the novel, it seems very apparent that these middle class slave owners, with a few exceptions, treat their slaves kindly, such as the Garners at Sweet Home and were described by Baby Suggs as treating her kindly and went so far as to say that she had never lived better on any other farm or house(171). The Garners only owned about 5 or 6 slaves and while life was not perfect, they were “encouraged” to “correct” Mr. Garner, and explain why they thought a different method would be better(147). The Garners were not extraordinarily wealthy, especially considering the wealth of some plantation owners at the time of the novel in the 1860’s. The Garners may have been seeing a little of themselves; struggling to survive with more wealthy people in the classes above them, and thus were able to look past the racial differences and treat those at Sweet Home as “men”(147). However, this was not perfect, as some middle class whites badly mistreated the slaves, though this was likely a product of the common beliefs at the time that blacks were inferior mentally to whites. Schoolteacher is an example of this, at one point Sethe remembers him telling the Garner’s nephews to put her[Sethe’s] “animal” features on the right side of page. Schoolteacher not only believes in the racist principles keeping the blacks enslaved, but he also teaches it to others. So while not all middle class whites are perfect examples of kindness towards slaves, there s definitely more of an inclination towards it in this class.

Another interesting example is that of Amy Denver, a white, runaway indentured servant, the same as the black, runaway slave Sethe. Runaway’s could almost be considered a class of their own, since they shared many of the same characteristics, but they could also be considered part of the lower classes. The article, To Be Loved: Amy Denver and Human Need: Bridges to Understanding in Toni Morrison's “Beloved”, by Nicole M. Coonradt points out that there are a great many similarities between the experiences of Amy Denver, in her indentured servitude, and Sethe’s experiences in slavery and their escapes from enslavement(Coonradt, 2005, 9). Morrison describes Amy’s eyes as “fugitive”, suggesting that Amy herself is a runaway from somewhere, which immediately puts her in the same class as Sethe, especially since if she is a runaway she has nothing that she truly owns, much like Sethe. Coonradt argues that the parallel description of the two indicates that they share a connection that is bigger than their simple meeting and time together, an almost supernatural connection. The two women are from different races, yet they share a connection that bypassess their racial differences, allowing them to break free of social constructs and help each other. Something that would have been impossible without their shared backgrounds. The backgrounds of a person do not necessarily indicate social class, but usually those of the same class share similar experiences. The slave class is a good example, as shown by the parallel description in Morrison’s novel.

Morrison's novel hints that the class structure often breaks down across races, so rather than there being a separate lower and middle class for both blacks and whites, there is more of a universal lower and middle class. Because the experiences are shared, the lower classes of a dominant race often can identify with similar classes of a different race, and subsequently treat them with more respect.
Nicole M Coonradt's 2005 literary analysis Article: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25115312?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents