In Toni Morrison’s Beloved , the dynamic shifts from suffocation to a ferocious, terrifying love. Sethe’s act of killing her daughter to save her from slavery reverberates through her relationship with her surviving sons. Here, the mother-son bond is fractured by the trauma of history. The sons flee the haunted house, unable to cope with the weight of their mother's past, highlighting how trauma can sever the bond that is meant to be the safest.
This figure seeks to control or "consume" the son’s identity. Norman Bates’ Real Mom Son Sex