Freedom and Independence in Beloved Toni Morrison's important novel Beloved is a powerful portrait of the black American experience. Exploring the impact slavery had on the community, Beloved evolves around issues of race, gender and the supernatural. Revealing the history of slavery and its components, Morrison declares the importance of independence as best represented by Sixo. The combination of an individual within a community exposes the central theme of moving from slavery to freedom and reuniting with family and community. Sixo is one of nine slaves living on Sweet Home, a plantation in Kentucky. A young man in his twenties, Morrison introduces him as "the wild man" (11) without explanation. Later, Paul D describes Sixo as “Indigo with a fiery red tongue” (21). He is closer to the African experience than the other slaves. Morrison portrays Sixo as a strange man in an attempt to highlight the idea of ​​an individual in a community. The community at Sweet Home is the only reassuring object slaves possess. The relationship between fellow slaves creates a "fake" community, enough to satisfy everyone. Morrison uses Sixo as a rebellious and intelligent one, one who refuses to conform to his predicament. Physically enslaved, Sixo rejects his position and remains a lively man who takes night walks and dances in the trees to keep his bloodlines open. Although black sexuality is dominated by slavery, he chooses his own woman and controls his own destiny. Sixo "planned to the minute a thirty-mile trip to see a woman." (21) Despite the limitations of slavery, Sixo asserts his independence and seeks a better life and a family of his own. In an attempt to free themselves from the restrictions...... middle of paper ......Sixo's characterization defines how the slaves managed to remain people despite slavery. Morrison places Sixo in the novel Beloved, to express the manifestation of community as well as individualism. Sixo exploits the strengths of the Sweet Home community to independently seek its own identity. Without the consistent community of Sweet Home, Sixo would not have been able to embark on journey after journey in search of personal freedom. The stable community allowed Sixo to express a rebellious independence that would otherwise have been lost. Sixo retained a sense of self, lost by many others. Beloved explains that the independent spirit and confidence in personal self-worth cannot be maintained without the presence of an impervious community and the individual desire for freedom. Works Cited: Morrison, Toni. Beloved. New York, Penguin Books USA Inc, 1988.