Alienation in the “Beloved”“Cultural trauma refers to a dramatic loss of identity and meaning, a tear in the social fabric, affecting a group of people who have reached a certain degree of cohesion” (Day 2). This quote from Ron Eyerman in “Cultural Trauma” references a large theme within the novel “Beloved”; Alienation of the self with one's identity. As the cultural trauma of slavery took its toll on the populations of every single state in which it persisted, it culminated in the same outcome in every case. Simply put, the institution of slavery forms concrete and seemingly immovable walls between slave and master. Within this practice, members of these societies remained locked into their respective roles. Erikson defines identity as “the conception of who one is and what one is across time and situations” (Day 3). Yet slaves in our day did not experience any variety of “situations.” Second only to the harsh conditions and emotional trauma of slavery was its consistency. Every day, from dawn to dusk, involved the same work schedule with rarely present variety. With this in mind, it is certainly no exaggeration to say that the slave was stripped of his identity due to his inability to see himself in a variety of real-life situations. The slave knew only the life of a slave. It is only when Paul D and Sethe escape this life that they are forced to stop alienating themselves from the world around them and come to terms with their own identity. The slave masters in “Beloved,” whether seemingly benevolent or not, have an effect on their slaves, alienating them from everything around them, to the point (in the words of Fredrick Douglass) of crushing (the affection natural of the mother to the child”, (From...... middle of paper ...... more. Morrison shows us through his novel that there is more to life than master and slave. He documents the struggle of Sethe, Paul D, Baby Suggs and Stamp Paid try to escape this mentality, but in doing so, the community is united and the horrors of the past (Beloved) are driven away. Despite years of social training, it is only when the. alienation is broken that love is born and life can occur. Works Cited Day, Lanette. “Identity Formation and White Presence in Beloved and The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison. edu Mckendree University, April 2, 2014. Øisang, Rikke A “Otherness and the Black Body in “Beloved”.” University of Oslo, nd Web. 3 April 2014. Leon, Geoffrey. “Sense of Alienation and Racial Discrimination in Beloved.” Sense of alienation and racial discrimination in Beloved. Bachelor's and master's degrees, nd Web. 03 April. 2014.