Beloved by Toni Morrison
Lesson plans and teaching resources

Beloved
Summary, character analysis, theme, symbols and motifs, style and structure, and a list of key quotations.

Beloved
Nine questions for discussion and/or writing.

Beloved
Suggestions for analyzing the prose style, and 3 reading quizzes.

Facing the Ghosts of Our Past: Writing Narrative Reflections on the Civil War and Slavery
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.

Mining literature for deeper meanings
This TED-ED video (4:13) Amy E. Harter encourages students to read and write critically and thoughtfully by practicing insight, acknowledging complexity, and searching for big ideas. Captioned, includes follow-up questions. Uses examples from Pride and Prejudice and Beloved .

Narrative Structure and Perspectives in Toni Morrison's Beloved
Students respond to the complicated narrative structure of the novel by visually representing the novel's non-linear organization. After discussion, students are guided through close readings of the three different accounts of the infanticide that Sethe commits, with the goal of making evident the ways in which identity and bias shape how characters, authors, and readers see and choose to represent the world.

Toni Morrison, on How "Beloved" Came to Be
A short article in which Morrison explains the genesis and development of the character, Beloved.

Toni Morrison's Beloved some ideas to consider & some questions to ask
Questions for discussion and writing.

Toni Morrison's Beloved on Stage
In this 10-minute clip, Morrison and others discuss their connection to the historical story that prompted Beloved and to the opera.

Vocabulary from Beloved
Words are presented in context and with definitions. Click on a word for pronunciation, examples of recent use, more.

Why Is Beloved Beloved?
An insightful review of the novel.