Oppression and shame - an analysis of sexuality in Willa Cather’s "My Antonia" and Toni Morrison’s "Beloved‪"‬

Sexuality is an important issue in Willa Cather’s novel My Ántonia and in Toni Morrison’s Beloved. This may appear quite normal, as sexuality is a substantial part of adult life and both books are to a large extent concerned with the description of adults’ lives. Therefore, we might not wonder why the authors of these novels do depict sexuality in their books, as it does not seem to support any statements. This is the more true the less explicit sexuality is tackled. We might assume that sexuality occurs in these books because it exists, in a kind of l’art pour l’art manner. However, I want to show that the depiction of sexuality in Beloved and in My Ántonia is not at all a coincidence, but is an important means to show power relationships in society and, as a final consequence, to express social criticism in both novels.