Overview: Toni Morrison on the writing process and inception of
Beloved, stated, ''I was amazed by this story I came across about a woman called Margaret Garner who had escaped from Kentucky, I think, into Cincinnati with four children; and she was a kind of cause celebre among abolitionists in 1855 or '56…I found an article about her in a magazine of the period, and there was this young woman in her 20's, being interviewed - oh, a lot of people interviewed her, mostly preachers and journalists, and she was very calm, she was very serene. They kept remarking on the fact that she was not frothing at the mouth, she was not a madwoman, and she kept saying, 'No, they're not going to live like that. They will not live the way I have lived.’ A desire to invent. Now I didn't do any more research at all about that story. I did a lot of research about everything else in the book - Cincinnati, and abolitionists, and the underground railroad - but I refused to find out anything else about Margaret Garner. I really wanted to invent her life."
Directions: Read
Beloved, pages 1-33. Next, compose a blog response using the names or symbolic moments below as the catalyst for your analysis on the reading. Please use direct evidence from the text and respond to each other. Get a conversation going. I look forward to your responses.
Characters
- Sethe
- Paul D
- Baby Suggs
- Howard and Buglar
- Denver
- Beloved
- Halle
- Sixo
- Paul A and Paul F
- Amy Denver
- Mr. Garner
- Mrs. Garner
- Schoolteacher
- Sethe’s mother
Symbolic Moments
- 124
- Ten minutes for seven letters.
- Chokecherry tree.
- “They took my milk.”
- Tobaco tin.
- Brother. According to Paul D, why is it better than Sethe’s?
- Cornfield. How loose the silk….. How jailed down the juice….
The many souls that live and have lived in the house are all connected by similarities and contradictions in their own personal feelings. Baby Suggs, Beloved, and Denver specifically overlap their own desires and frustrations with life, both its significance and the lacking of. Living among color, Baby Suggs survives her final days asking about pinks and pale lavenders, slow cooling colors, passive from the pain of both past and present in her long life. A life not her own, taken from her like the many children she lost, “All I can remember is how she loved the burned bottom of bread. Can you beat that? Eight children and that’s all I remember.’ ‘That’s all you let yourself remember.” A life that has forced her into passive lavenders to avoid breaking, taking from her and leaving only “Halle who gave her freedom when it didn’t mean a thing.” Baby Suggs, bedridden after Beloved’s death, is in stark contrast to the lingering ghost of her granddaughter. Beloved, “through the door straight into a pool of red and undulating light.” Angry, pulsating reds at the theft of life, the brutal way death was brought. Angry at never having gotten to live, moving through a home where Baby Suggs welcomes death to a life taken from her. Nether had ownership over their fate, their future, both crippled by a brutal reality, leaving the older devoid of life and the younger demanding more of it. As Denver remains the only living soul within 124, she wishes for ownership over herself, that which Beloved and Baby Suggs could not have. Born at a different time than her grandmother, Denver still holds hope for a future, has since surviving infancy, long enough to experience restlessness within the walls of the house, the permanent home of her sister. She imprints her own frustrations on this ghost, “Rebuked. Lonely and rebuked.” They share a common anger, the feeling of not being allowed to live, and so Denver claims ownership over Beloved, “My sister,’ said Denver. ‘She died in this house,” the only piece of her past she feels she has ownership over, a part of her life she can control, can understand. Denver wants to experience her life, her future, even if she cannot have her past: “I can’t live here, I don’t know where to go or what to do, but I can’t live here. Nobody speaks to us. Nobody comes by.” Trapped in a single moment in time, in house that never changes, with the soul of her sister. Baby Suggs, Beloved, and Denver have all been betrayed by their own lives and left without control, yet Denver still may be able to grasp her own future outside the house where two have already died.
ReplyDeleteFor someone who is hypothetically free, Denver seems to be defined by her mother’s bondage. Her dependence on her mother and her isolation is almost startling. When first introduced to her, it is easy to see Denver as a child, yet she has practically reached adulthood with only the company of her mother, the memory of Baby Suggs and the spirit of Beloved to keep her company. However, this isolation is not a choice of Denver’s, the ghosts of her mother’s past keep her this way. Literally, the spirit of Beloved has scared away potential friends, husbands, and brothers. Additionally, Sethe’s loss of her other children seems to have pressured Denver to stay with her mother, just as the trails Sethe had endured to win her freedom compelled her to stay in the same house. Moreover, Denver’s sense of self seems to have been stunted in this isolation. She has created no life of her own, but has devoted her life to managing Beloved’s spirit and her mother. This resentment for the overbearing identity of her mother expresses itself in her hatred of Sweet Home, a place that she seems to have no memory of but the events of shaped her mother, defined her father, and constitutes the bond between Sethe and Paul D. The most telling example of her loneliness comes after Paul D overpowers the spirit of Beloved. Denver took a biscuit and headed back to the porch, sadly reflecting on the depature of her brothers and Baby Suggs but seemingly also for the departure of Beloved. Even though Beloved tormented her, she was still company to Denver. Sethe may have ran away, but her family is still far away from escaping the effects of slavery.
ReplyDeleteYour comments about Denver's role in the home and being the go-between for Beloved and her mother are really interesting. I hadn't thought of the dynamic between the three of them or the motivations Denver has to stay with her mother despite her loneliness.
DeleteI also thought about how Denver is so lonely yet discreetly enjoys Beloved's spooky company. I feel bad for Denver as she is frustrated at the difficulties of making friends, but also think that this frustration comes from her many years of living on solitude with Sethe and longing for more steady relationships in her life.
DeleteI like your idea about their dependence on one another. While they are both dependent on one another, I think your thoughts on how Denver knows her mother is dependent on her and feels somewhat obligated to stay at 124 is interesting. She misses her brothers and seems to hold some resentment to her mother, stuck feeling obligated to her as all her other children are gone.
DeleteThe contrast between Sethe and Denver is astounding. While they have both suffered through many similar things; the disappearance of Howard and Buglar, the death of Baby Suggs, and the hauntings of Beloved. However, their upbringings were incredibly different, making for their reactions to the tragedies entirely different, as well.
ReplyDeleteSethe, raised a slave, seems to focus her entire life around those in her life who have left, and those that she has left. She ran away from Sweet Home and all of the Sweet Home boys, nearly all of which have presumably died, including Sethe’s husband. Next was Beloved, who was tragically murdered by, “having its throat cut,” (5). Shortly thereafter, both of her sons ran away, and her mother in law passed on, “shortly after the brothers left,” (4). Sethe blames all of this on her leaving Sweet Home all those years ago. Had she not left, maybe Beloved would have survived and her sons would not have run away. Presently, she is afraid of leaving 124, despite its obvious haunting issues, because she does not want a repeat of all the tragedies in her life. She claims it is, “‘Alright the way it is,’” (17). This sense of denial is unwavering in Sethe. While a life of slavery, it almost seems as though she longs for at least some semblance of that life back; Halle and the others all longing for her and the seemingly peaceful relationship she had with the Garners. It appears as though Sethe is afraid to make any more change in her life for fear of it getting even worse than it already is.
Denver, on the other hand, does not want their current lifestyle at all. She is sick of living an isolated life, leading to her ultimate breakdown of, “shaking and sobbing so she could not speak,” (17). As she has had a much different childhood than her mother, she has not reacted to their tragedies in the same way. While she continuously loses those in her life as well, she has no past life or experiences that she is able to reflect on in order to understand why her life is the way it is now. Thus, she has become incredibly resentful toward her mother and anyone new in her life.
This helped me understand Sethe so much better. I particularly like how you put words to the fear we could sense Sethe had of leaving her home, and that you spelled out the connection between her experience at Sweet Home after running. I hadn't thought of Sethe necessarily longing for Sweet Home, but it definitely explains her actions and choices.
DeleteOne of the main themes of Beloved is memory and the past which we mainly see through the protagonist Sethe. Through her perspective, the novel alternates between the present in Cincinnati and the past at Sweet Home. Although she tries to focus on the present, Sethe’s past and the trauma she's endured continue to haunt her. In one sense she is haunted by the memories of her past. The structure of the novel flips back and forth spontaneously between the past and the present, showing how Sethe has little control over the memories she tries so hard to suppress. Little things in her daily life such as “the plash of water, the sight of her shoes and stockings awry on the path where she flung them...and suddenly there was Sweet Home rolling, rolling, rolling out before her eyes (7).” Each time Sweet Home pops into her head it brings forward repressed memories of the horrors she witnessed such as “boys hanging from the most beautiful sycamores in the world (7),” or when schoolteacher “punched the glittering iron out of Sethe’s eyes (11).” In another sense she is haunted by a physical depiction of her past in the form of her murdered daughter, Beloved, who brings “turned over slop jars, smacks on the behind, and sour air (4),” to Sethe’s home of 124. However, because her past is something she tries so hard to avoid, it ultimately becomes inescapable. She confines herself to her home which isolates her from the outside world and traps her with the ghosts of her memories and the angry ghost of her daughter.
ReplyDeleteI think it's really interesting, how memory affects Sethe. It takes a lot of time to move through traumatic events but the traumatic events Sethe has suffered through extend to the other members of her family. Denver is forced to stay in 124 because Sethe says she'll never run again after the memories after her past.
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ReplyDeleteBoth Baby Suggs’ and Sethe’s upbringings as plantation slaves shaped the way in which they viewed life and formed their expectations for life. Because both of the women were born into slavery, they never took things for granted in life and never had high expectations for things. This is particularly true for Baby Suggs. She lived the majority of her life on the Sweet Home slave plantation until her son finally managed to save enough money to buy her from her master. Having this upbringing dramatically shaped her views. Sethe recalls talking to Baby Suggs while she is still mourning the death of her baby, Beloved. Baby Suggs is not sympathetic towards Sethe and tells her that she is, in fact, lucky because she still has “three [children] pulling at [her] skirts” and she only has “one [child] raising hell from the other side” (6). Baby Suggs had eight children and she says that “every one of them gone away” from her. By living the life she did, Baby Suggs has learned not to expect much out of life and to be grateful for the little things she does have. This is why she believes Sethe to be lucky by losing just one of her children instead of all of them and what caused her to expect less in life, even less than Sethe because she was able to escape Sweet Home when she was still relatively young.
ReplyDeleteMorrison’s manipulation of the chokeberry tree contrasts the reactions of Sethe, Paul D, and Denver to slavery. The “tree” growing out of Sethe’s back is formed by the lashes she received from the schoolteacher after telling on the Sweet Home boys to Mrs. Gardner. Morrison chooses to make her scars appear like a tree, but more specifically, a “chokeberry tree.” The chokeberry tree represents suffering at the hand of another. For, Paul D “rubbed his cheek on her back and learned that way her sorrow, the roots of it; its wide trunk and intricate branches.” Sethe defines herself and her life by these scars. They restrict her movement, her actions, and her future, for Paul’s cheek “was pressing into the branches of her chokeberry tree” (20). The “tree on my back” is her excuse to not move away from the house.
ReplyDeleteAfter this assessment of her suffering, Paul D criticizes her use of slavery as an excuse, her “tree” as an inhibitor to her freedom. Her tree is “not a tree, as she said. Maybe shaped like one, but nothing like any tree he knew.” Paul’s “trees,” his sorrows at the hand of another, “were inviting; things you could trust and be near; talk to if you wanted to as he frequently did since way back when he took the midday meal in the fields of Sweet Home” (25). The “trees” are Paul’s growth from his circumstances, from the cruelty he could rely on daily. He describes Sixo’s fight against the oppressive restrictions of slavery. “Now there was a man and that was a tree. Himself lying in the bed and the tree lying next to him didn’t compare” (26).
Sethe’s restrictions on herself are felt most poignantly by Denver, who partakes of the suffering of her mother. She inherits her mother’s lonely life and Morrison depicts her internalization of it in the solitary scene in which she takes “jelly,” the edible form of chokeberry berries, and “slowly, methodically, miserably she ate it” (23). In this way, Sethe perpetuates the phenomenon of the “chokeberry tree,” as she causes her daughter to suffer at the hand of another— herself.
I like how you analyzed the significance of Sethe's scars, how they were specifically described as a chokecherry tree and they are what prohibit her from leaving her home. She treats her scars like they are an actual tree that can grow, but that isn't what is really going on.
DeleteAs Grace mentioned, Sethe's past seems to act as her primary conflict. In addition to this, her inability to confront her past obscures both her identity and her needs. While reading, I thought of the chokecherry tree to be a reminder that her past is permanent. Though she tries to suppress it by focusing on the future, it has become a physical part of her. Another aspect of her past that has taken physical form on her are her breasts. Again, they highlight a loss of identity as Sethe no longer thinks of them as her own, despite them being part of her. Instead, she sees them as a stolen part of herself as the Sweet Home boys "'took her milk!'" (P. 20.) Now, Sethe can no longer enjoy positive aspects of life. As Denver mentioned, no one visits 124 due to Sethe's physical and emotional isolation. She is even shown to be hesitant to have sex, claiming to have “forgotten how it worked” (p. 24), on account of the rape she had experienced.
ReplyDeleteAs means of coping with this trauma, Sethe decides to focus on the future rather than the past. In a way, 124 could symbolize this new hope she has for life. However, this clearly does not apply to Denver, who is desperate to escape the house. Sethe's neglect for Denver's needs could demonstrate how determined she is to move forward and finally gain some sort of stability. This could be seen as she gives Denver her definitive answer: “‘No moving. No leaving. It’s alright the way it is.’” (p. 17.) In contrast, 124 could also be a representation of Sethe's secrets. Of course, the house is incredibly mysterious and hidden from the public. Many elements of Sethe seem cryptic as well. For instance, little detail is given on Beloved's death, other than the mention of her throat being slit. Sethe, as the protagonist, does not reveal anything else. She additionally does not explain what happened to her husband, Halle. This might prove that Sethe is an unreliable narrator, or that she might just be concealing more trauma.
I agree with your interpretation of the "tree" on Sethe's back. I think it shows how she continues to carry her past with her into her present day life in Cincinnati and how her time at Sweet Home is a permanent part of her life.
DeleteI really like the point you made about how Sethe's past "obscures her identity and her needs". This is such an important observation as her obsession with her past makes her out to be an incredibly one dimensional character; without taking her past experiences and building her character off of them, she has instead chosen to completely ignore her past and try to form an entirely new persona, which is incredibly harmful to her.
DeleteWith Sethe revealing the (implied) rape and theft of her breast milk to Paul D, it truly showed how much of a nurturing mother she was to her children. Left with only her daughter, Denver, in a house Sethe grew up with all of her kids and Baby Suggs, she has no intention of leaving because “It’s all right the way it is” (17). There is a definite emotional connection to the house or a fear of having to deal with the troubles of resettling in which she does not want her daughter to endure. Throughout the conversation, Sethe seemed very heavily impacted on how the white boys took her breast milk, not the beating she got afterwards and during the incident.
ReplyDelete“They used cowhide on you?”
“And they took my milk.”
“They beat you and you was pregnant?”
“And they took my milk!” (20).
She repeated that they took her milk, that repetitiveness showed severity and how important it was to feed Beloved rather than taking care of herself, which is something Paul D couldn’t see as a man. The term ‘maternal love’ is only defined through the bond between a mother and their child, understandably why Paul D doesn’t understand why her breast milk was the biggest problem of the situation. Sethe throughout the hardships of slavery can be described as a very selfless person, it was more important to take care of her child than herself. Her milk is a symbol of the amount of love she had for her kids and how she’s trapped herself in the past. Babies at Beloved’s age were vulnerable and needed attentive care from their mother, which was taken away. With the scar and her breasts it shows the weight of her past dragging her down, “What she knew was that the responsibility of her breasts, at last, was in somebody else’s hands” (21). The responsibility of being a mother that provided for their children is what Sethe feels, even in the present. Emma pointed out that the scar on her back from the incident gives her an excuse not to move away, as well her restrictions to movement. She is trapped in the past physically and mentally, not allowing her to enjoy the present, specifically with the only daughter she has left.
I really like the quote you chose from page 20 and how you related it to motherhood and 'maternal love'. I think you intertwined the quote very well with your thoughts and the symbolism.
DeleteAs Jill mentioned, I too was drawn to the symbolism of the chokecherry tree. I think that the very idea of a tree represents originality, that although as a slave she may share common aspects of her past with other slaves, but their pasts are not exactly alike. Although the slaves may have been in the same place, for example the Sweet Home, being the only girl Sethe was the only one to experience “The jealous admiration of the watching men…” (33). Not only this but any experience she shares with the other slaves is not going to be exactly the same based on perspective alone as well as their differing pasts before that contribute to their current experiences. Another factor to contribute to a past’s individuality is time. Sethe first acknowledged her “tree” after a white nurse pointed it out to her as having a “Trunk, branches, and even leaves. Tiny little chokecherry leaves.” (18) She then acknowledges that this comment was made “...eighteen years ago. Could have cherries now for all I know.” (18) Sethe realizes that she is not the same person she was eighteen years ago and that her scars, whether physical or not, reflect that. She uses the tree metaphor to bring beauty to a painful past. It is not until Paul D. feels her scars again after the excitement of the original moment passes that he realizes that “...the wrought-iron maze he had explored in the kitchen...was in fact a revolting clump of scars. Not a tree...he knew because trees were inviting…” (25) No matter how hard she may try to push down her past by referring to it positively, ugly memories have a tendency to surface if left unresolved or if evidence carries into the future. Thes memories shape her current actions and therefore are now a part of her, not only her personality but also as the scars on her skin, as represented as a tree that grows and is added to throughout life.
ReplyDeleteI really love your commentary, Kathleen. I had not even thought too deeply into the symbolism of the chokecherry tree until now. It truly is evident that Sethe's ignorance of her past has caused her damage to worsen even more than it originally was, and it is not until an individual from her past quite literally points it out that she even begins to realize this.
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ReplyDeleteI found Denver to be a very compelling character. It is interesting to see the relationship between her and Sethe as well as to see how Denver responds to the situations that are thrown at her. It is clear that she has experienced a lot and I find it interesting the way in which Toni Morrison reveals these situations to us. One part in particular that stood out to me was on page 23 when it says, “Now her mother was upstairs with the man who had gotten rid of the only other company she had.” This part clearly upset Denver. I still haven't determined whether she is referring to her mother or the ghost in this quote, or more likely, both. Because 124 is haunted, Denver has been isolated all her life. Even some of her own family members have disappeared. As a result, Paul D. feels like more of an intruder than a guest. While reading, I was also very interested by the house itself and how Toni Morrison almost makes it “come to life” as the story unfolds. It says, “Now he was trembling again but in the legs this time. It took him awhile to realize that his legs were not shaking because of worry, but because the floorboards were and the grinding, shoving floor was only part of this” (21). Not only is the house itself interesting, but also the address. When referring to the address in class we always said, “one-two-four” rather than “one-hundred and twenty four”, leading me to believe that the address must hold some kind of importance. I hope- and suspect- that as the story continues we will learn about the house and specifically how people around town view it.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your point that Denver is quite compelling and I think that the difference in Denver's relationship with Beloved and her mother's relationship is interesting. Denver feels like Beloved is still with her and she should be treated like her sister, not ignored. That is why she is so sensitive to when strangers come around.
DeleteI think the relationship between Sethe and Denver is a key part of the story. Denver being born outside of slavery, she struggles to understand the pain that Sethe and the other members of her family have gone through. She makes comments about sweet home being so sweet, why would they even want to leave. They're misunderstand each other and it separates the two of them.
DeleteI agree Elissa, this is a great analysis.
DeleteIn her stirring novel, Beloved, Toni Morrison is a clever enchantress - creating a spellbinding tale that cuts across time and space. The story of Sethe moves through a continuum that ping-pongs between a house, ironically named Sweet Home, where the Garners enslaved Sethe, and 124 Bluestone Road, where Sethe is trapped by her dead baby, Beloved’s “fury.” Morrison uses the house, typically a symbol of family, comfort, safety, and love, to emphasize the devastation that has befallen Sethe and her loved ones. In fact, in Beloved, the home is a “spiteful” place and is portrayed as the antithesis of those symbols of comfort. For example, Morrison ironically dubs Sethe’s early slave home, Sweet Home, where Sethe’s memory of its “shameless beauty” overshadows how “terrible … it was,” and 124 is filled with “baby’s venom.” But, 124 is not the only eerie entity in this story as Morrison’s graphic description of slavery rattles the reader to their core. Baby Suggs points out, “Not a house in the country ain’t packed to its rafters with some dead Negro’s grief.” Toni Morrison proves that not every home is where the heart is, but rather it is where the haunt is.
ReplyDeleteThe significance of 124 Bluestone Road is evident in all the attention it gets through the first two chapters. The book starts off with “124 was spiteful” (3) emphasizing its importance right from the start. It is learned that 124 is haunted and has a deep and evil history. The house is powerful enough to drive away Howard and Buglar the sons of Sethe away. To drive away family because of house must make the house extremely impactful on everyone's lives. Although 124 is extremely desolate, it is not clarified as to why it is. Whether it is because of Sethe’s physical and emotional isolation, the deaths in the house, or the inaccessibility, the house is nonetheless alone and representative of something larger in the book. In addition, although the house is said to be haunted, people still seem to have the desire to stay. When Paul D wonders why Sethe hasn’t left 124 yet, she says that “I will never run from any other thing on this earth” (18). Sethe makes a case that it is because she doesn’t want to run but could there be other factors? Sethe’s daughter Denver, is even friends with the ghost and feels lonely when Paul D tells the ghost to go away. The duality of 124 is expressed within these chapters. The readers can see the parts of 124 that have to do with the fact that although it is haunted, not everyone sees it as a bad thing, like Denver is friends with the house.
ReplyDeleteI am not sure if this is intentional or not but 124 is missing the number 3, I felt that this could be a reference to Sethe's third child that was killed
DeleteSethe and Denver have lived a brutal life, having their empty home filled with sadness and rage from Beloved, along with dealing with the aftermath of Howard and Buglar’s flight and Baby Suggs’ death. Sethe is a broken woman, forced to reside in 124 because she can not leave nor if she could she would have nowhere to go. It is revealed that she has been abused, her back covered in chokecherry trees after those boys, “held me down and took it… them boys found out and told on em. Schoolteacher made one open up my back and when it closed it made a tree. It grows there still” (20). They took her milk, something that was of high value to her. It ruined a part of her. Her and Paul D have an intimate moment after this, Paul D holding the power to allow her to open up, “Not even trying, he had become the kind of man who could walk into a house and make a woman cry” (20). I viewed Paul D as being a brother/father figure to Sethe when he is first introduced, developing that relationship at Sweet Home, but that all changes once he sees the pain that she has been experiencing the past eighteen years. While Sethe is comforted by Paul D’s presence, Denver is cold towards him. She has never met a kind stranger, or really a stranger at all, their house warding off all visitors. The people that she loved died and all she was left with was a dysfunctional relationship with Sethe and the spirit of her dead sister. Denver views Beloved in a different light than everyone else. Most are scared of her presence, while Sethe believes it is a sad presence, but Denver understands why Beloved acts how she does. She is mature for her age, capable of empathizing with her spirit. She describes Beloved’s spirit as “Rebuked. Lonely and rebuked” (16). She is saying that Beloved is being neglected, blaming Sethe for it. Sethe tries to repress the memory of Beloved, it being too haunting for her to comprehend, but Denver won’t let the memory of her sister die.
ReplyDeleteI like how you describe the relationship between Paul D and Sethe, and his transition away from a father/brother figure. He seeks to both comfort Sethe and assuage his own sorrow and longing, and this causes his impulsive actions that he later regrets, and that are detrimental to Denver.
DeleteI agree with both of your thoughts on Paul D and Sethe's relationship. It is definitely complex with their shared history, and at times somewhat unclear. I thought it was interesting that he almost seems to resent her by the end of the chapters and they don't seem as comfortable with each other as they were before
DeleteSethe and Paul D had a very unique experience at Sweet Home, and still 18 years later, Denver does not understand why they have the feeling about Sweet Home that they do. For example, early in the chapter there is a flashback when Mr. Garner is talking to his friends about how his slaves are real men. He believes that if his slaves are taught to act as “real white men”, then Mr. Garner will be seen as tougher, and having more control over his slaves. He also allows Halle to work extra hours on Sundays, to eventually pay for his mother (Baby Suggs) to be free. Mrs. Garner is also an important role in Sethe’s life. When Sethe and Halle decide to get married, Mrs. Garner is the first person that Sethe confines in. While Mrs. Garner provides no help in the process of creating a wedding for Sethe and Halle, she does seem generally happy for the two of them, telling her, “Halle’s nice, Sether. He’ll be good to you”(31). Even with the kind nature of the Garners, Sethe and Halle and all the other men were slave workers. They could not live the life they would have chosen to live. When Paul D comes to visit Sethe, they remember the terrible times that were spent at Sweet Home. The question that Denver asked that really stuck with me, was why was Sweet Home called Sweet Home if it really was so terrible. I thought that this was a really honest question from Denver, and it was honestly one that I had myself. The simple answer from Sethe and Paul D was, “it wasn’t sweet, and it sure wasn’t home, but it was where we were”(17). Even though they had terrible memories of being and working there, they also remembered the good times they had when they could all be together.
ReplyDeleteThe idea of how past memories exist and influence the present was recurring throughout Beloved. Sethe, although no longer enslaved, still remains under the rule of her past life as a slave at the Sweet Home plantation. The novel constantly switches back and forth between narratives of her present and past lives, demonstrating how rough her past was. Through Sethe, Morrison is able to captivate the effect of an individual’s past on their lives, and how negative memories can continue to haunt an individual. For instance, in a conversation with Sethe, the characters state, “They used cowhide on you?’..’And they took my milk’….’They beat you and you was pregnant?’...’And they took my milk!”(20). Sethe expresses how affected she was by the boys taking her breast milk, and she seems to be more affected than all the physical abuses she endured during her pregnancy. These tough experiences still effect Sethe in her present, and she is clearly trapped by her past as a result of these.
ReplyDeleteOne prominent theme in Toni Morrison’s Beloved that jumped out at me was the relationship between the past and the present. Particularly, how the past can never truly be erased. Morrison uses the character Sethe, a freed slave living in Cincinnati, to embody the message that the burdens of the past cannot be left behind. I saw this with the symbolism of Beloved’s, Sethe’s third child whom she murdered, ghost. Sethe believes “that she [has] to live out her years in a house palsied by the baby's fury at having its throat cut”. I see the haunting as a way for Morrison to show how scarring Sethe’s past of a slave is. The ghost serves to represent the pain and manipulation Sethe went through. I also believe the ghost could serve as a painful reminder of Halle, Sethe’s husband who she has not seen in many years. The “fury” of the baby’s ghost could possibly represent the anger Sethe feels towards her previous slave masters who abused and tortured her. In addition, there is the possibility that Beloved’s ghost serves as a guilty reminder of how Sethe slit the throat of her own daughter. Another symbol I recognized with being connected to the pain of the past were the scars on Sethe’s back. More specifically, the scars are shaped as a “chokecherry tree”. The scars not only represent the physical pain but also, the emotional trauma that comes with slavery and its abuse. For me, the tree shape symbolized how deeply her origin or “roots” are sowed into slavery. Trees are some of the sturdiest plants and they withstand all types of weather, sort of how the memories from her time are the most painful and thus the easiest to remember; they remain prominent memories even through all the years and the new memories that have been created.
ReplyDeleteThis was something that really struck me too! I think Toni Morrison's ability to use the different perspectives of time really played in to how she wanted readers to see her characters develop. I thought it was really smart how you touched on the idea that Beloved represented her father. I think the baby could also represent the inescapable guilt Sethe feels for leaving Beloveds father behind. You were spot on when you said her past decisions are something she cannot escape!
DeleteOne thing that really caught my attention in the novel and that was pointed out as an important symbol in the blog post instructions was the “10 minutes for 7 letters”. It took me a while to realize that Sethe paid for these 7 letters with sexual intercourse. By having sex with the mason, or whoever engraved the tombstone for 10 minutes, she earned 7 letters. She wonders if she had had sex with him for longer, perhaps she could have gotten more letters. Long enough and she though maybe she could have engraved “Dearly Beloved.” On the fifth page you see this questioning and thinking about it: “Ten minutes for seven letters. With another ten could she have gotten "Dearly" too? She had not thought to ask him and it bothered her still that it might have been possible--that for twenty minutes, a half hour, say”
ReplyDeleteThe whole chapter (and I assume what will turn into the whole book) definitely has an eerie tragedy sense to it. We saw in Going to Meet the Man the theme of sexual exploitation of the Black women’s bodies, which we can clearly see Morrison touching on.
I think Audrey makes a really good point touching on the start of Denver’s character development. We can kind of start to sense her frustration with not being able to fully live her life. Denver has a desire to break free from this trap and strives for more independence and emotional freedom. I’m interesting to see the role in which Denver continues to play in the rest of the novel and how she develops.
Wow I never realized that was what was happening when they were talking about Beloved's Tombstone. Gender roles are a subtle theme i've been noticing in my readings. Paul D is shocked and threatened by the strength of Sethe. He becomes clearly uncomfortable when he learns she has been providing for herself sufficiently all this time, and feels the need to step in. Sethe embodies a strong female antagonist, something very rare during those times.
DeleteI really like Nadia’s point about the sexual exploitation of black women in the novel, especially Sethe. The notion of “7 letters for 10 minutes” is extremely saddening to think about how internalized and normal this seems to Sethe, as she ponders could “she have gotten "Dearly" too?” for “twenty minutes, a half hour, say.” Growing up in her particular circumstances, Sethe simply got used to this constant exploitation, and had to work around it to get through life. Instances such as the rape and stealing of Sethe’s milk (“took her milk!'" (P. 20.)) do still haunt Sethe, however. Even with these past experiences of sexual trauma such as with the mason and other men at Sweetwater, Sethe still continues to make ultimate sacrifices for motherhood: Making motherhood her defining character trait.
ReplyDeleteI think in part the haunting of Beloved can represent Sethe’s repressed trauma, because Beloved’s death herself was extremely traumatizing to Sethe. Running away from Sweetwater pregnant and alone, trying to curate safer lives for her children, must have been beyond traumatizing for Sethe to witness all of her children either be killed or run away except one. Like Jill mentioned, it’s interesting to see how Sethe can oftentimes not recall what happened, such as with Beloved, but gets intense flashbacks due to PTSD or trauma. I think possibly the more subconscious trauma that Sethe either cannot or will not remember could be the ‘hot’ ‘angry’ ‘red’ energy that fuels the haunting of her new home.
Ally, I liked the mention of the milk. It truly was tragic, and having to see what Sethe had to go through is really disheartening.
DeleteWhat stuck out to me the most was Beloved herself and the spirit that haunts her house. Though she isn’t living, she still has a monumental impact on the story, especially in the feelings about 124. When discussing 124, the people that walk by are haunted by the events that happened there. They knew “124 was spiteful. Full of baby’s venom. The women knew it and so did the children. For years each put up with the spite in his own way, but by 1873 Sethe and her daughter Denver were its only victims.” (3) I was most intrigued by the spirits left behind. Sethe is haunted by the memories of Beloved both from when she was murdered and Sethe was terrified of the image of “the baby’s fury at having its throat cut, but those ten minutes she spent pressed up against dawn-colored grave were longer than life, more alive, more pulsating than the baby blood soaked her fingers like oil.” (6) I believe that this imagery that’s permanently stuck in her brain, stops her from moving on. She’s forced to live with this pain and she’s never able to forget the people she’s lost. Even remembering the phrase “ten minutes for seven letters”, describing when someone offered to carve seven letters into a headstone for her in only ten minutes. Through all these terrible memories and all the losses she’s suffered, she is unable to move on.
ReplyDeleteElissa, that's what I thought at first two with the ten minutes for 7 letters. But I discovered it was actually her having to have sex with the mason in order to get the 7 letters carved for free.
DeleteNadia, thank you for pointing that out as it was a detail I also missed!
DeleteAlthough we have yet to meet Halle, I think his role in Beloved has really shaped the story thus far. His act of “giving up five years of Sabbaths just to see (Baby Suggs) sit down” (13) was extremely admirable. His strong work ethic at Sweet Home is one of the few things we know about him and it is also his connection to former friend Paul D. This friendship is symbolic during the chokecherry tree scene as Sethe and Paul D explored their relationship in a new way. I wondered if this would anger Halle, that one of this former friends was with his wife, however since eighteen years have passed it is difficult to discover. I think Halle also provides a sense of comfort for Denver, who struggles with loneliness which Rian and Kristy both discussed in their blog posts. When Paul D mentions that Denver “has her daddy’s sweet face” (15) she is surprised that this man is connected to her father. Halle, her father, being one of the so few connections to other people she has, Denver is frustrated that Paul D and Seethe speak to her in a way that decides “her own father’s absence was not hers” (15). I hope we get the chance to learn more about Halle as the novel progresses, as he is a central character that is a son, father, husband or friend with every character we’ve met thus far.
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ReplyDeleteI found it ironic that the things that were hugely impactful in chapter 1 of Beloved were from the past. The impact of Beloved, the loss of family, and the lasting effects of Sweet Home all intertwine to create a living hell for Sethe and Denver in 124. It seems as though the loss of Beloved caused their lives to truly unravel, “Who would have thought that a little old baby could harbor so much rage”. It was a domino affect: the death of Beloved, the sons ran away to escape it all, causing Baby Suggs to pass. The death of Beloved caused total isolation at 124, although readers do not yet know the details of the death even passersby know something horrific occured in that house.
ReplyDeleteToni Morrison is able to make these past and present struggles a reality through the shifting time perspective and different anecdotes. Sethe and Paul D continuously refer back to their experiences at Sweet Home; although they were able to escape Sweet Home, it is yet to escape them. The haunting experiences of losing her milk and the ‘cherry tree’ are things only Paul D. can empathize with. This connection between the two of them is palpable even to Denver, “In a way that made it clear it belonged to them and not her”. The complexity of these characters are something that will continue to unravel throughout the story but it is already evident there are different sides and secrets in all of them.