African Influenced Christianity in Toni Morrison’s Beloved Essay

Religion has influenced fiction since people first began writing fiction. Christianity tends to be one of the most influential forces on western writers in the last couple millennia, but the introduction of other cultures changes the influences present in books. The forced migration of enslaved Africans created a fascinating fusion between Christianity and native african religions, primarily totemistic but often involving archetypal pantheons. The slaves often identified with the Israelites enslaved in Egypt, and such parallels between biblical stories and their own experiences hastened the adoption of a modified Christianity by the slaves. Events in Toni Morrison’s Beloved reflect the experiences of the Israelites and other biblical figures in ways modified by native African religions. The slaves identification with the Israelites is used by Toni Morrison, who gives Paul D an equally divine rescue. So he raced from dogwood to blossoming peach. When they thinned out he headed for the cherry blossoms, then magnolia, chinaberry, pecan, walnut, prickly pear. At last he reached a fiel...