he schoolteacher reduced slaves to animals. He told his pupils to list Sethe’s “human” and “animal” traits. Sethe recalls a line said by Schoolteacher in Part One, Ch. 4, 

“Put her human characteristics on the left; her animal ones on the right”.  

This cruel act shows how Black people were treated as less than human. Such dehumanization gave white masters the power to justify violence.

Sexual Violence and Control: Racial violence was also sexual. Schoolteacher’s nephews assaulted Sethe, held her down, and stole her breast milk. Sethe says in Part One, Chapter 1:

“They used cowhide on you?” 

“And they took my milk!”

This moment is more than physical abuse. It robs her of her role as a mother. Slavery not only beat women but also attacked their love for children. It combined racism with sexism. It shows the double oppression of Black women. 

Violence Against Families: Slavery destroyed families through sale, separation, and death. Sethe makes a shocking choice when Schoolteacher returns. She kills her crawling baby girl with a handsaw. Morrison writes  through the  Sethe voice in Part One, Ch. 16:  

“… I put my babies where they’d be safe”. 

This act is violent, but it comes from love. Sethe believes death is better than slavery. The violence of the system forces a mother to commit the unthinkable. 

Psychological Violence and Memory: The damage of slavery does not end with freedom. Sethe, Paul D, and Baby Suggs carry scars inside. Paul D hides his emotions in a “tobacco tin.” Morrison says  in Part One, Ch. 7: 

“That tobacco tin buried in his chest where a red heart used to be”.

This shows how racial violence locks away love and feelings. Trauma becomes part of memory, shaping every decision.

Community and Silence: The community also reacts to racial violence with silence. After Sethe’s infanticide, people turn away from her. Baby Suggs, broken with grief, stops preaching. The house at 124 becomes haunted and isolated. Violence not only harms one person. It destroys trust and divides the whole community.

Legacy of Racial Violence: Even after slavery ended, its effects remain. Beloved herself is a ghost from the past. She forces Sethe to relive the violence. The narrator explains:

“Anything dead coming back to life hurts”.

This means that remembering slavery is painful, but forgetting is impossible. The supernatural here represents the deep wounds of racial history.

Finally, in “Beloved”, racial violence is everywhere, on bodies, in families, in memory, and in silence. It is physical, sexual, and psychological. Morrison shows that slavery twisted love, destroyed homes, and dehumanized people. The novel reminds us that even when chains are gone, the scars of racial violence remain.