Overview: Toni
Morrison has created a duality in Beloved, as at once the daughter Sethe
murdered out of love, and as a former slave who lost her mother on a slave ship
and endured life with vicious slave owner.
Why did she do this? How does it
create meaning? Before we move onto the
last section of the novel, I would like you to explore this further.
Directions: Using
the two narratives from Beloved (as well as any textural evidence you find
helpful), compose a 2-3 page literary analysis using the following questions as
a guiding outline for your essay: How
does Morrison create a duality with the character Beloved? What evidence do you see in the two
narratives that create this meaning?
What would be the point of creating this duality? What will it mean for the rest of the
novel? Please use the following
prompt. Post your essay to this blog
space AND on Turnitin.com.
From the introduction of Beloved to the continuation of her character, we see the complexity of her personality grow. The distinctive qualities that define her within the book, cause the readers to raise questions as to why she behaves the way she does. There are two crucial chapters that contain revealing information that involves an explanation to some questions. We know from the novel that Sethe committed the act of murder to her own flesh and blood, ending her daughters life to protect her against men that wanted to take her. Sethe lived with the guilt of killing her own daughter for years, putting a strain on her relationship with Denver and any other person that attempted to come into her life. Despite this, Beloved is introduced into the novel as an older and strikingly similar version of Sethe’s deceased daughter. From her reappearance to the way in which she influences the people around her, anyone reading this book will question who Beloved is and how she managed to come back to life. However, as we continue to read the story, it is shown that Beloved may not be a reincarnation of Sethe’s daughter. From evidence of Beloved’s past, and fragmented chapters that discuss where this character might of came from, it is revealed that what the Sethe and Denver thought to be Beloved is actually a girl who used to be a slave.
ReplyDeleteIn the beginning of the first chapter, one can interpret what is being said in two different ways. The writer purposely creates this duality to make her readers think about who this figure is and how they change the other characters. Reading the chapter while believing it Beloved or a slave girl talking makes sense until understanding Sethe and Beloved on a deeper level. The slave girl explains that she is “always crouching the man on [her] face is dead” (248). Thinking from the slave girl’s perspective, she is on a ship with the men that keep her in captivity. Crouching below the ship’s deck, she is watching the men above her. Although this makes sense when thinking about the perspective of Beloved being a slave girl, it can also be argued that Beloved is a reincarnation of Sethe’s daughter. After the murder of Sethe’s daughter, she could have entered some type of purgatory between the living and the dead. Describing the man on her face and the overwhelming idea of death, Beloved is talking about her after life experience. Morrison writes this chapter in a way that can apply to both versions of Beloved. Doing this in order to understand the impact that this figure has the novel, the readers can predict the way in which she can change the continuation of the story. Later in this chapter, Beloved describes that she wants “her face a hot thing” (250). This phrase with the idea that Beloved is a slave girl, she could be talking about her mother. Beloved being Sethe’s daughter could be also talking about Sethe, a more specific maternal figure. With either character, the idea of a maternal character holds equal importance. Whether it is a slave girl simply wanting her mother back or the reincarnation of Sethe’s daughter, both of these characters have a strong desire for their mother.
The evidence from these two narratives includes the duality between the slave girl being on a ship or the daughter of Sethe immediately after her death. It is also seen when the character discusses her need of a mother. It is clearly shown through the two interpretations of Beloved’s character that the writer has intentionally created two ways that this figure can be seen. Nonetheless, external analysis reveals that Beloved is a slave girl that acts as Sethe’s daughter. Living with the guilt of murdering her daughter, Sethe wants to create a new figure in her life to ease this pain. Beloved, after experiencing the loss of her own mother on the slave ship, wants to satisfy her desire to have her mother back as well. In the second chapter, there is a fragmented interaction mainly including Sethe and Beloved. Beloved claims that “Sethe is the face [she] found and lost in the water” (253). Seeing Sethe after emerging from the water, she forms the idea that she is her lost mother. Sethe and Beloved both equally want to reclaim the person that they lost. Beloved made it clear that “three times [she] lost her” (253). When they were united, Sethe repeated “You’re back. You’re back” (254). Both of these responses show how relieved they feel after being brought together. By Beloved taking on the role of Sethe’s deceased daughter and Sethe welcoming her into 124, both of these characters get what they want.
DeleteThe purpose of creating this duality is to show how the multiple ways to explain the appearance of Beloved can affect the story. The readers can see Beloved in two distinct lights, bringing the audience to be aware that this character is not what one might expect. Although this novel is brilliant when forcing the readers to analyze these characters in a unique way, there is a greater meaning behind the intricate figures in the story. Toni Morrison created this novel to resemble the real life counterparts that experienced the oppressive nature of slavery. From generations of people that suffered this atrocity, Morrison manages to create a story that will help to explain the horrors. For the many people that were subjected to such hardships, it is extremely difficult to explain how people were affected and the way in which it changed multiple generations. The novel Beloved helps to describe the times of slavery while giving a voice to the people who underwent these struggles.
For the continuation of the novel, it is important to take the desires and needs of each character into consideration, as they will create the ending. For the story to make sense in the end, Sethe must go away for a while. In order for Beloved to discover who she is, she needs to live a life apart from Sethe, or else she will never be able to separate her own feelings. Beloved is only able to concentrate on her love and incredible need to have Sethe in her life. Due to her belief that Sethe is her mother, Beloved’s true identity cannot be revealed without a separation from Sethe.
When reading, there is always proposed to the reader an intersectionality of sorts between the literal and the not so. In Beloved, the reader is presented a novel and a character which each mirror each other in this intersectionality, proposing a greater narrative of both a history and a human experience. Beloved’s duality is indeed that, that which is concrete and that which one must hope and reach and believe in, but are burdened never to know for sure.
ReplyDeleteThe reader is brought under the assumption of a greater power, as Morrison leads the reader into this false sense of grandness, leading one to want to see the story as merely allegorical. There’s this sense of a higher power or a need for an explanation that is often associated with religion or superstition. The reader is shown this symbolism throughout the novel: as the holy trinity, Sethe and Denver struggle alone with the unseen presence of Beloved, the ghost of judgment lurking about them, disgracing 124 and the world with it.
Beloved is a literal child, stunted in her understanding of life and of action, which, arguably, makes her the blindest and just judge of the world she’s been born into. There’s this idea of Beloved as a diety, a reborn murder victim of slavery “full of baby’s venom”(3), but when she is not that she is just an unsuspecting and scared child brought from her home to a place where she is no longer human. Beloved doesn’t understand the rationale of how or why she’s been put into this situation only that she longs to have a mother, a family, a life and the humanity that was taken from her; only that “I am not dead I am not”(252), leading to her desire to understand why the world and her blood, her mother, abandon her. This is truly the longing of all the characters as they grapple with the remnants of slavery and the damage that’s been done.
One character often forgotten in the plot is Baby Suggs, a spiritual turned godless upon the realization that there is no higher power-- truly the core of Beloved’s character. As Baby’s preaching in the clearing “the Word”() turns to her laying down and wait to die, the reader gets to see this effect. When confronted by Stamp Paid about her desertion of the clearing and “the Word”, Baby responds: “What I know is what I see: a n***** woman hauling shoes.”(211) There is this whole deconstruction of Baby’s reality after seeing Beloved die, a realization of reality and then a breaking down of it as “[Baby Suggs] felt when she lay down and thought about color for the rest of her life”(208). There is this sense that all the reader and the characters have been lead to see as “of a higher power” is real, just in the hands of another-- “the men without skin”(248).
The novel, in its purpose, tries to find a way of settling a history which has long laid, dormantly festering. Beloved is the intersection of the old, the new and the terrible. Beloved is a dead baby and a frigid tombstone, is a number to be sold off a damp and leaking slave ship. Beloved is an object of sex and an object of childish misunderstanding, a purposeful destroyer, and a mindless questioner. Beloved is a symbol and a person and a history meant to be deconstructed and recognize, a history which should make one need to “lay down and [think] about color”(208). With this in mind, the only possible path for the end of the novel is ultimate judgment.
It is immensely difficult to answer the question, who is Beloved? One might believe she is the daughter of Sethe who came back from the dead, while another side believes she is a former slave who lost her mother on a slave ship. Toni Morrison depicts two vastly contracting narratives in order to give the reader insights into the character that will become essential in understanding the novel. The duality of these narratives serves as a way to expose the underlying idea of abandonment that is threaded in both narratives. Beloved is a complex character who has greatly changed the dynamic of Sethe and Denver’s lives at 124. With knowing this, one can infer that Beloved will continue to alter the lives of Sethe and Denver, leading to an ending in which someone will leave 124. The narratives convey the miscommunication and misunderstanding between Sethe and Beloved, which will be a driving point for the rest of the novel. These dualties have allowed Morrison to expose the true horrors of slavery through the character Beloved, which is the main purpose of these narratives.
ReplyDeleteBeloved being Sethe’s daughter is a narrative that although fits nicely, seems a bit unrealistic to be true. The idea that Beloved seemingly came back to Sethe after she had murdered her is one that restores meaning in the lives of both Sethe and Denver. Reading the two chapters with this in mind, it’s easy to follow the narrative in which Sethe and Denver so strongly align with. A line that’s reiterated throughout Beloved’s chapters is, “her face is my own” (248). In thinking of her mother, Beloved seems to express this idea repeatedly and later confirms Sethe as this face, stating “Sethe is the face that left me” (252). Another indication that Sethe is the mother she speaks about is proved by Sethe's earrings. In describing her mother, Beloved says, “she wants her earnings” (250). We have seen the mention of Sethe's earrings, in which she received from Mrs. Gardner, a few times previously in the text. In the dialogue, Beloved asks Sethe, “where are your earnings?” and Sethe responds with, “they took them from me” (254). This interaction clears up any doubts Sethe may hold about Beloved, as she is able to be ressaured by the idea that Beloved knows this small, significant detail that only her daughter would know.
One concept that fits in well with this narrative is the idea of Beloved making her way back home to 124. After her death, Beloved recalls Sethe telling her, “there is a house” (252). This ‘house’ represents 124, in which Beloved is able to return to when she came back “from the other side” (254). If Beloved was not her daughter, the chance she stumbled upon 124 would be a pretty big coincidence. Lastly, one idea that really only fits in with this narrative is the line, “daddy is coming for us” (255). This is a clear indication about Halle and further reconfirms this idea that Beloved is coming back to her mother and her family. It is clear that although Beloved came back, she wants answers from Sethe. Why did she abandon her? Sethe, on the other hand, believes she “understands everything already” (236). This miscommunication between the two will most likely result in the truth about Beloved’s identity. As the two struggle to understand one another, Beloved and Sethe will have a difficult time living in the ‘family’ bubble they have seemingly created with Denver. This is what will tear them apart, eventually leading one of them to leave 124.
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DeleteWhile the narrative of a former slave who lost their mother on a slave ship is much more realistic, it too has its flaws. But this narrative works considerably better in regards to Beloved’s life before she arrived at 124. First, the line “I am always crouching” appears repeatedly throughout her narrative and paints the idea of her being on a ship (248). Moreover, the text supplies a profuse amount of content of her life as a slave and the abandonment of her mother. Throughout her life on the ship, she recurrently speaks of a man, her slave owner, who sexually abused her. Later on, she reveals that he had died, providing her with an escape from slavery. This is when she eventually made her way to 124. But before that, the abandonment of her mother is key to understanding the character of Beloved. Beloved recalls the death of her mother stating, “they do not push the woman with my face though. They do not push her. She goes in...she was going to smile at me” (250). This conveys the idea that her mother, a slave on the ship as well, committed suicide by jumping off, abandoning Beloved. Furthermore, she asks, “why did she do that when she was just about to smile at me?” (253). Beloved cannot seem to fathom why her mother would abandon her like this and has seemingly never gotten over this moment. Later, when she’s no longer a slave, she “waits on the bridge because she (her mother) is under it” (251). This is where the two narratives eventually cross paths, as this is where Beloved would meet Sethe and after all the trauma she previously endured, she perceives Sethe to be her mother.
DeleteThis duality that Morrison creates with these two narratives is essential in understanding the true purpose. No matter which narrative you believe to be true, they both center around the idea of the loss of the mother and the abandonment Beloved felt. These two components are fundamental ones in Beloved’s character, as it helps explain why she acts the way she does. Her attachment for Sethe, her actions towards Paul D, and her indifferent personality towards Denver are strongly connected to the mother/abandonment issues of her past. The whole point of this duality is to help one recognize what Morrison is trying to point out in Beloved. Both of these narratives highlight the treacherous time of slavery. One narrative speaks of how a mother killed her daughter to protect her from slavery, while the other describes the horrors a young girl endured as a slave, all while watching her own mother commit suicide in front of her. This duality also sets the novel up for a conclusion, as it’s apparent that these characters will not be able to live together as they are now. As previously mentioned, it is clear that Sethe and Beloved have a misunderstanding of one another and will struggle to communicate as the novel progresses. This miscommunication facilitates the idea that one of them will leave 124, further highlighting the issue of abandonment. This would be the most logical ending to the novel and follows in with the theme of abandonment that Morrison illustrated throughout the two narratives.
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ReplyDeletePeople always say that memories last a lifetime. But can they last longer than lives? In Toni Morrison’s Beloved, she explores the power and transcendence of memories, particularly through a character named Beloved. Morrison creates a duality within Beloved, making her both the daughter Sethe murdered appearing in purgatory as well as a former slave on a ship who witnessed her mother jumping overboard. The juxtaposition of Beloved’s sides show the similarities that bring them together, especially the underlying feelings of abandonment and loneliness. Beloved is more than just a slave girl and she is more than than just Sethe’s girl. Through her experiences, Beloved synthesizes multiple stories into one, illustrating that relationships, emotions and situations can continue reincarnating long after their original bodies have passed.
ReplyDeleteThe term “rememory” is used by Sethe and Beloved when recounting past events, suggesting that they are using pieces of their memories to reconnect with each other. When Beloved talks about her experience on the slave ship, she speaks in a stream of segmented phrases and no punctuation, showing her fragmented and vague memory. She remembers seeing her mother in the ocean saying, “when she saw the dead people pushed into the sea she went also and left me” (253), showing the isolation Beloved felt when her mother prioritized her own well being before Beloved’s. Beloved and her mother share the pain of the slave ship, which ultimately brings them back together in the present. As the daughter of Sethe, Beloved says she saw Sethe “take flowers away from leaves” (248), meaning Sethe ended life before its natural course was complete. She gave Beloved, her flower, a premature death by slitting her throat, trying to save her from pain of life on Earth. By not killing the whole plant, Beloved was again separated from her mother and unable to properly survive. By calling her mother “the woman with my face” (249), Beloved conveys that when she lost her mother, she also lost a part of herself. In trying to find her mother, she is also trying to find herself. Like a flower without leaves, she needs her mother to survive. The phrase “a hot thing” (249) is repeated numerous times throughout the passage, referring to the heat coming from Beloved and Sethe’s vital and complex relationship as well as the heat from the slave ship. The simple and ambiguous phrase exemplifies the multidimensional way in which Beloved talks. The memories of a slave girl during the Middle Passage reside in Beloved along with the memories of the child of Sethe’s daughter. When Sethe and Beloved finally meet again, they find common ground in the similar situations they have been through, strengthening their bond.
Through Beloved’s long span of memories, and relationships, she is able to show how history repeats itself, making the present a place where the past is reborn. Beloved recalls her lengthy relationship with her mother saying, “[t]three times I lost her: once with the flowers because of the noisy clouds of smoke; once when she went into the sea instead of smiling at me; once under the bridge when I went in to join her and she came toward me but did not smile” (254). These “three times” could not have occurred during the same lifetime since her mother entering the sea refers to the Middle Passage era long before Sethe killed her daughter in America. Throughout these lives, the same story of loss and suffering seems to repeat. Beloved says that “there will never be a time when [she] is not crouching,” (248), meaning that she will always feel the suppression of rights and effects of slavery long after leaving the physical restraints of crouching in the slave ship. The “crouching” will always have a spot in the present day world. Beloved encompasses the millions of mothers, fathers, and children who endured slavery, keeping its memory alive. By saying that it is “hard to make yourself die forever” (249), Beloved implies that even after a person has physically left this world, their stories and experiences will continue to circulate. Within Beloved’s story circulates the issue of repeating molestation. On the ship, Beloved recounts that a man abused her saying, “he hurts where I sleep he puts his finger there” (251). This abuse is repeated when Sethe was raped in the barn, her milk being taken away from herself and Beloved. Sethe, being the kind of mother who always puts her children first, was more concerned about her rapists taking her milk than her own body. In trying to escape slavery, Sethe’s own mother left her. In trying to help her children escape slavery, almost all of Sethe’s children end up leaving. Sethe says to Beloved, “I have your milk/ I have your smile/ I will take care of you” (256), but Sethe’s love for Beloved is so overpowering that it exposed Beloved to the the pain Sethe was originally shielding her from. Suffering does not discriminate; it repeats in all lands, all times and all people; a hot thing.
DeleteBy Sethe and Beloved reconnecting over their similar stories and emotions, they are able to free themselves from the past, finally being able to live together in the present. Their relationship can grow stronger, although this may not be a good thing. Beloved brings complexity with her wherever she goes which, combined with a closer bond to Sethe, could lead to more destruction within 124.
The suffering felt by Beloved, both the character and the book as a whole, create a narrative unlike any other for people to use when they talk about slavery. Slavery is about more than just the suffering on the ships and plantations. Slavery’s effects run deep and far, expanding further than many believe. Slavery is about the roots and stems and leaves of memories passed down through the generations, long after the slaves became “free”.
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ReplyDeleteA mother instinctively yearns to protect her children. Unable to make decisions and live independently, children rely on their mothers to nurture and shelter them. Beloved, the daughter of a freed slave, was born into an environment overwhelmed with bigotry, danger, and suppression. Her mother, Sethe, endured significant trauma and racism from her time on the plantation to her eventual freedom. At the plantation, Sweet Home, Sethe was barbarically tortured, gang raped, and dehumanized. This event influenced her ability to raise her own children. As a result, when the three men arrived at 124 in search of Sethe, she acted erratically, murdering Beloved with a handsaw. Years after the murder, a girl named Beloved arrives at 124. It is possible that she is the ghost of Beloved, Sethe’s daughter. However, this could be a confused, freed slave girl, who has been mentally tortured and happens to share the same name. Morrison is effective in crafting this character to adhere to both possibilities. Morrison utilizes language of race memory to depict Beloved as both Sethe’s daughter and a freed slave girl. Living in a society of bigotry and racial distress, the duality of Beloved is effective in highlighting the struggle Sethe and many African Americans face in preserving love and self-identity.
DeleteBeloved arrives at 124 disoriented, unable to outline who she is and where she came from. It’s possible this girl is the ghost of Beloved, Sethe’s daughter. She has returned to reunite with her mother, after spending years in an awkward purgatory. At the time of the murder, Sethe planned to kill the rest of her children and herself, but the three men discovered her before she could complete the task. This act of killing Beloved could potentially have been an instinct of a mother. Knowing the breadth of slavery and racism in America, Sethe could have made the choice on behalf of Beloved that life was not worth living. Since Sethe was unable to kill herself to remain with Beloved, the girl was stranded between the depths of life and death. Beloved explains her suffering in this place as “all of it is now it is always now there will never be a time when I am not crouching and watching others who are crouching too…” (248). Throughout the novel, Morrison portrays the relationship between Beloved, Sethe, and Denver as a holy trinity; just as in christianity, the three make up the the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This essence of spirituality further reinforces this idea of an afterlife, highlighting the importance of faith in a time of trauma. However, as a young child dependent on guidance, Beloved is confused why Sethe left her alone in this purgatory; she felt abandoned. Although Beloved still loves her mother, she finds that “Sethe’s is that face that left me it is the face I lost…” (252). Despite being abandoned, she still yearns a relationship with Sethe. Beloved highlights that she wants to “be there in the place where her face is and to be looking at it too a hot thing” (248). The two are together again now at 124, yet they still lack a sense of fulfillment in life. Beloved is a girl who has lost her identity just as Sethe lost hers on the plantation. Ultimately, Morrison depicts Beloved to highlight the loss of identity. Beloved lacks the appropriate identity to live independently and is in desperate need of a mother’s love. In order to find their true purpose, Beloved and Sethe require the help of each other.
Although effectively free, Sethe lives eternally as a slave. She has escaped the direct horrors of slavery, yet she will never be able to escape her everlasting scars and the continued biogoty in society. Similar to how Sethe’s identity is primarily shaped by her experiences as a slave, Beloved’s confusion and odd characterization could be a reflection of a slave girl, rather than the ghost of Beloved, Sethe’s daughter. Like Sethe, Beloved could have been tortured to the point where she lost her identity. In her narrative, she explains where she came from, outlining that “if we had more to drink we could make tears we cannot make sweat or morning water so the men without skin bring us theirs one time they bring us sweet rocks to suck…” (248). Although this narration could be interpreted as a description of a purgatory, it likely could illustrate Beloved’s experiences on a slave ship. The men without skin could be other ghosts in the purgatory, yet they could rather represent white men travelling with the slaves. From the perspective of a slave girl, Beloved witnesses her mother kill herself. She describes how “I see the dark face that is going to smile at me it is my dark face that is going to smile at me the iron circle is around our neck she goes into the water with my face…” (250). Her mother’s choice to willfully jump into the water ended her own pain yet made Beloved suffer. When the boat arrived in America, Beloved was likely taken in by a white man to be sexually abused and tormented. As a motherless slave girl with a limited memory of freedom, Beloved lacks identity. Being torn from her home and only knowing the life as a slave, the fractured, young girl resorted to what she found familiar when she arrived at 124: her sexuality. It is for this reason that she asked Paul D to “touch me on the inside part and call me my name” (137). Although now free, Beloved still identifies as a slave. Ultimately, Morrison establishes this possibility of a slave girl to highlight the identity crises among all other slaves. Beloved serves as a symbol of slavery without the aspect of spirituality, demonstrating how slavery impacts individuals, families, and communities.
DeleteBeloved represents some of the worst impacts of slavery. As a young black girl, she was stripped of her mother. No matter which perspective is true, both include Beloved being abandoned. This highlights the archetypal, real truth likely common among young slaves. Both stories are influenced by slavery. Without slavery, Sethe would not murder her children and Beloved’s mother would not kill herself. Morrison likely created this duality to show that slavery takes many forms and breaks people down. Sethe believing that Beloved is the ghost of her daughter illustrates her personal struggle with identity, whereas Beloved believing that Sethe is her mother illustrates a very different struggle with identity. For instance, as their relationship has been constantly fragmented by slavery, Beloved and Sethe explain that “You are my face; I am you. Why did you leave me who am you? I will never leave you again. Don't ever leave me again. You will never leave me again. You went in the water. I drank your blood. I brought your milk. You forgot to smile. I loved you. You hurt me. You came back to me. You left me.” (256). The characterization of Beloved has a greater meaning, spanning and relating out of the context of this story. Beloved is able to represent the idea of spirituality while maintaining the importance of family.
The mind is innately programmed to be selective. It decides what information is important and relevant enough to be remembered and what is not worth citing. For instance, although people tend to forget the majority of their dreams once waking up in the morning, they usually can recall either a joyful, good dream or a terrifying nightmare. This relates to the idea of race memory. African Americans who have experienced slavery in any facet of live are forever affected. Through creating a narration that can be interpreted from two differing perspectives, Morrison was able to demonstrate the deep history of race memory in both Sethe and Beloved. Although now free, they both struggle to reconcile with their past and face rediscovering their identity and the true meaning of freedom. Although the two interpretations of this narration are vastly different, it shares an evermore important theme: slavery permanently damages the love and self-preservation of a person. Despite the gradual improvements that have been made to diminish racism from America, race memory plays an imperative role in how African Americans live their lives today. Morrison, through her characterization of Beloved, was able to expose racism in America that still resonates in a contemporary society.
DeleteThe past is as important and real as the present. The perception of memory and history establish the sentiments, environments, and ideas that live in the current era. What an individual hopes, fears, and desires is a reaction to their own experiences. Between the life of Sethe, a former slave, and her relations with Beloved spins a tale of grief, trauma, and the power of remembrance. Beloved, whose identity is as ambiguous as it is impactful on those living in 124, is created as such to emphasize the omnipresence of slavery.
ReplyDeleteBeloved, a mysterious woman who wobbled out of swirling waters and into Sethe and Denver’s arms, resembles two sides of a coin. Her mysterious past and peculiar behavior leave the truth of Beloved unclear; she may be the reincarnated daughter Sethe killed out of love or a former slave brought overseas with no mother. This duality may leave the reader guessing as to which she may be, but in the end, a coin is a coin. After all, “All of it is now it is always now”(248). Beloved can be both Sethe’s daughter and a wandering former slave. Beloved is able to be written as this duality by having both perspectives stem from frustrations about her mother.
An anger brews beneath the surface of Beloved, both daughter and orphan. This confusion and rage is thrust at Sethe. If Beloved was her daughter, then her anger is from how she does not understand why her own parent killed her. Her rage circulates in 124 before Beloved was even material. Before Paul D entered the home, Beloved was a baby spirit that haunted all the inhabitants of 124. Everyone living in that home “[Had] to live out [their] years in a house palsied by the baby’s fury at having its throat cut…”(6). As a ghost, Beloved ripped up the walls, attacked the dog, and chased out her own brothers. Though she appears more in awe of Sethe than enraged upon their meeting, her actions speak volumes more. Looking at the other side of the coin, Beloved was packed into the confinements of a slave ship. When moved to the top of the ship’s deck, Beloved saw her mother, “the dark face that [was] going to smile at me...it [was] my dark face that [was] going to smile at me...she [went] in the water with my face”(250-251). Her mother committed suicide instead of reaching the journey’s end, but left Beloved behind. Once again, there is confusion, sadness, and fury over why she abandoned Beloved. In either case, Sethe is the perceived source of the questions Beloved wants answers for. As both characters, Beloved wants everything from the mother who hurt her. Searching for a mother figure and a place to stay, Beloved sees her past in Sethe.
Before the story of Sethe, Denver, and Beloved unravels, Romans 9:25 “I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved”, is written in the first pages of the novel. This scripture encapsulates the book and the reasoning behind this duality. Sethe immediately took to caring for Beloved. Sethe protected Beloved the ridicule from Paul D, fed her, and took her under her wing. Just as God accepted all as they were in the passage, Sethe welcomed Beloved and made her an integral part of 124. As for the latter half of Romans 9:25, “and her beloved, which was not beloved”, it acknowledges both the title and character of the book. It also calls into question the true nature of Beloved. Though her name seems positive, Beloved has had a negative influence on her surroundings. She has broken down Sethe’s way of living. Sethe, who tried desperately to stay in the present, has thought little of it with Beloved’s questioning of her history. Even she confesses that she is “Loaded with the past and hungry with more...left her no room to imagine, let alone plan for, the next day”(83).
It is almost crippling for Sethe. With Paul D absent from the home, Sethe is left with few hopes for any kind of future. The two parts of Beloved represent the consequences of slavery: trauma, abandonment, questioning, and pain. Beloved, the manifestation of Sethe’s own horrors from her past, is drawing Sethe in. The relationship between these two women and the duality represent how though slavery ended on paper, it lingers and echoes through time. It shows the brutal reality that Sethe can not escape the atrocities of her life.
DeleteIf this cycle of remaining in the past continues, then it seems that Sethe will have little left for the rest of the novel. Her confirmed daughter, Denver, has admitted that she is afraid of her mother at times. Sethe has also become more consumed by her time with Beloved. With Paul D gone, her only grasp on the present is with Denver. Between Beloved’s lack of interest in her and her fear of her mother, Denver may feel no obligation to remain at 124. The horrors of slavery and her experiences afterward will consume Sethe whole with Beloved’s help.
Upto page 248 of Beloved, we believed we had it all figured out. Beloved was the spirit of the dead baby, come back to life after Paul D scared her away. In the next two chapters of the book however, we learn that it is more complicated. Morrison describes Beloved simultaneously as the spirit we’ve been thinking she is and as a slave girl locked up and sexually abused.
ReplyDeleteThis section of the book opens by describing a women gathering flowers. Beloved says “I would help her but the clouds are in the way.” While at first glance, this would seem to fit perfectly with our idea of a ghost who is up in the sky, the clouds could also refer to smoke from white men’s muskets on a slave ship. Other details in this part are no less ambiguous. For instance, the next part, which involves “men without skin,” “eternal crouching,” and everybody trying to “leave [their] bodies behind,” could refer both to a slave ship run by white people who look like they don’t have skin, or to a hell-type limbo between life and salvation. The critical point here comes when the women with “Beloved’s face” jumps into the sea. Taken literally, this could be seen as the slave girl’s mother jumping off the ship to escape the horrors of the middle passage, but looking at it through the murdered daughter narrative, it could also be seen as Beloved’s metaphoric interpretation of her mother leaving her all alone in limbo-land. The next scene, where the rest are taken, and Beloved continues to suffer at the hands of a man, can also be seen either as the rest of the slaves being sold and Beloved being held by a vicious slave owner, or as the rest of the spirits moving on with Beloved continuing to be stuck in limbo. When Beloved jumps into the water and climbs back out, she could be doing so as either a ghost, or as a human who has gotten lucky and managed to not drown.
The chapter after this one is similarly written so that the reader could interpret it either as Beloved being the ghost of the murdered baby or as a slave girl. It is clear that Sethe’s questions are framed under the belief that Beloved the ghost of her daughter, but both her questions and Beloved’s answers are vague enough so that either case is plausible. When Beloved mentions coming from the other side, for instance, it could be taken as a spiritual other side, the realm of the paranormal, or it could simply be the other side of the bridge. The iron circle Beloved talks about could be the chains they put around slaves during the passage, or it could be something that the ghost, with her paranormal powers, can see the chains of the past hanging onto Sethe. When Sethe mentions bringing Beloved’s milk and Denver mentions drinking Beloved’s blood, Beloved doesn’t acknowledge this, instead focusing on the abandonment she felt. In the narrative of the ghost Beloved, this may be because the ghost is too angry about its abandonment to focus on these things, while in the narrative of the slave girl, it could be that she is confused about these things that purportedly happened and so chooses to ignore them. In these two chapters, Morrison uses her exemplary writing skill to simultaneously create two very plausible, yet very different, narratives concerning Beloved.
Why would Morrison do this? It is certain that she is not doing this to just frustrate the reader, but rather to make a larger point about the world. Throughout the book we’ve seen multiple references of Beloved being a symbol of the past. When Beloved comes back and scares away Paul D, who represents the future, Morrison is showing the past destroying the possibility of a good future. Once the reader gets comfortable with this idea, Morrison reveals that Beloved is simultaneously a girl brought to the US on a slave ship, telling us that slavery is that past that is destroying the future. This is further supported by the mention in one of the
previous chapters of the “jungle whitefolk planted in [the blacks]. It grew. It spread...touched them every one. Changed and altered them. Made them bloody, silly, worse than even they wanted to be, so scared were they of the jungle they had made.” With this, Morrison is saying that by capturing the blacks, forcing them to be slaves, and continuing to oppress them throughout the years, even after they got “free”, whites had planted anger, frustration, and resentment in the blacks. The knowledge understanding had made whites so scared they also started resenting and fearing the whites. This tension, just like Beloved in the story, is the result of a past not properly dealt with, and ultimately hurts future chances of peace and prosperity.
DeleteOne would wonder why Morrison did not just say this outright, but it is likely that in the 1980s when this book was written, not many people would accept this idea if it was stated outright. Therefore, like many writers, Morrison had to trick the readers into accepting the idea by introducing it gradually.
So what does this mean for the rest of the book? If Beloved had just been a storybook without any deeper meaning, it could have ended in an infinite number of ways. With Beloved representing the effects of slavery on our future, however, there are only two option. Either the past must be addressed, or someone must be hurt. Looking at American history, we don’t usually address the past, a fact Morrison must have certainly known. Therefore it seems most likely that the latter will occur in the book. As for who gets hurt, it is worth observing that slavery, which Beloved represents, hurts everyone. Therefore, it’s probable that by the end of Beloved, everyone loses in some way.
Toni Morrison creates the character Beloved, who is presented as both Sethe’s reincarnated daughter and a girl from Africa who was used as a sex slave. Both timelines amount to the same thing: an eighteen-nineteen year old girl, abandoned by her mother, left mentally stunted to the equivalent of a toddler, and calls herself Beloved.
ReplyDeleteThere is evidence for both Beloved being Sethe’s daughter, and Beloved being a young African slave girl. Beloved reacts to the cracks in the ceiling of the out house, similar to the cracks in the ceiling of a slave ship. “I don’t want that place,” she says, looking up at the cracks of sunlight, “this the place I am” (146). She also seems to be very familiar with sex, where a young ghost would not be. She goes to Paul D, saying “I want you to touch me on the inside and call me by my name” (137). This shows evidence of Beloved being a slave girl who has escaped and found herself at 124.
There is also evidence of Beloved being Sethe’s reincarnated daughter. 124 has a dog named Here Boy. Here Boy was thrown against the wall by the ghost of Sethe’s baby. After that “winter, summer, drizzle or dry, nothing could persuade him to enter the house again” (14). The dog was afraid of the ghost haunting the house. After the ghost is thrown out by Paul D, Here Boy reenters 124. However, when we first meet Beloved, she is lying on a stump outside of 124. “All they saw was a black dress, two unlaced shoes below it, and Here Boy was nowhere in sight” (61). Here Boy is afraid of the Sethe’s daughter, and disappears after Beloved comes into the story.
Why does it have to be one or the other? Beloved conveys in the novel that “it is always now” (248). It is always the present. More than one possible answer is true. Beloved is both Sethe’s baby and the African slave girl.
Why does Toni Morrison create this duality? It demonstrates the climate of society today. The dedication of Beloved is to “sixty million and more”. The “sixty million” refers to the estimated number of people of African heritage brought over to America in slave ships and the ones that died on the way. However, who is the “and more?”. These two words delve into the lesson of the book. The slave trade caused suffering that echoed through decades. Denver was never a slave, but she still suffers. She’s afraid of her mother and she doesn’t leave 124. She’s damaged. Because of slavery. She never experienced it, but she may as well have. “It is always now” (248); Our country in 2018 is the same country to which those slave ships sailed. Walking Already? Baby (who was free and never fully experienced slavery) is the same as the African slave girl who calls herself Beloved.
Toni Morrison creates this duality in more places than one. Beloved’s focus on Sethe and her dismissal of Denver represents the focus of the community. Society today studies slavery in schools. They pour over the horrible past, leave very little to be covered up -- just like Beloved and her thirst to learn more about Sethe’s past. However, when it comes to the effects of slavery that are still present today, people tend to turn their head and look away. So, in a way, Beloved represents not only the sixty million and more, but also how they are perceived by the white society today.
When it comes to Sethe, Beloved is fixed with interest about her past. She is like society today, fascinated by slavery; “Beloved could not take her eyes off of Sethe [...] she rose early in the dark to be there, waiting, for when Sethe came down,” (68). Sethe is flattered, but does not take much notice to the constant attention.
Denver, however, wants Beloved’s attention. She begs for it and she schemes for Beloved’s attention, “think[ing] of a way to get Beloved to share her room” (79). She wants to spend time with her. So much so that “Denver is a strategist [...] and has to keep Beloved by her side from the minute Sethe leaves for work until the hour of her return” (142). But Beloved is not interested “she [Sethe] is the one,” Beloved says to Denver, “she is the one I need. You can go but she is the one I have to have” (89). Denver begs for Beloved’s attention. She’s the one who needs it, being kept in a house with no company but her deranged mother and the promise of a sister. Just like the black community today, who needs the attention and help from society, but is overlooked. The community today looks to the past, just like Beloved does with Sethe, but refuses to look at the problems that take place in the present, again symbolized by Beloved’s lack of interest in Denver.
DeleteIn the rest of the novel, this duality is going to create a spiral of devotion between Beloved and Sethe, pushing Denver out of this family. Much like in real life, the present (symbolized by Denver) is going to be forgotten in exchange for the past (Sethe). This will create the ending of the story with Sethe and Beloved together and Denver alone, right where she doesn’t want to be.
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ReplyDeleteA constant tug-of-war between the past and the present is caught in between the pages and characters of Beloved. This battle reveals the severity of trivial encounters that each character has faced through times of slavery and abandonment, and demonstrates the intimidation one faces in efforts of letting go. As we move deeper into the novel, Morrison dives into the unspoken flashbacks and moments of intimacy that characters have experienced and uses them to communicate the overarching idea of separation that is deeply rooted within the contents of the novel. This powerful idea is emphasized while exploring Beloved’s two narratives where Morrison strategically exhibits separation through focusing on the duality of her character. Using specific language, Morrison purposely complicates these passages and forces the audience to question the duality of Beloved she is creating between a former slave and a spirit. With this duality, the individual pieces of Beloved come together and helps clarify reasons of the past as well as foreshadow relationships in the future.
ReplyDeleteIn Beloved’s first narrative, the scene is depicted at the docking of a slave ship. However, because of Morrison’s diction, it is uncertain to determine what state of being Beloved is in. For example, when Beloved wishes to reconnect and “help [Sethe] but the clouds are in the way,” (248) contrasting evidence sways us between opposing perspectives. The “clouds in the way” could either refer to clouds obstructing her view while looking down as a spirit, or as large clouds from the slave ship mixed with smoke from gunshots. Beloved also repeatedly visits the idea of wanting and seeing Sethe’s face, “I see the dark face that is going to smile at me.” (250) This particular line that Morrison uses delivers a more advanced duality. As a former slave, this could indicate moments where Beloved exchanged glances with Sethe in the midst of the chaos; but as a spirit, this could convey the dreadful conditions that Sethe endured to the near point of death where Beloved was almost able to see Sethe’s ghostly spirit appear to her own.
In the second narrative, as she continues to refer to Sethe, Beloved concludes how “Three times [she] lost [Sethe]” (253). While this hints towards the lack of attachment she has previously experienced with her, this moment also demonstrates duality in the larger sense. Beloved is describing her loss due to “noisy clouds, [jumping] into the sea instead of smiling, and [swimming] away.” (254) Though Sethe’s vision truly could have been obstructed by clouds and that she could have purposely ignored Beloved’s smiles, evidence of their mother-daughter relationship also points towards the possibility that Beloved was simply invisible to Sethe as a ghost.
From these two narratives, a greater understanding of Beloved is revealed along with her intense desire to reconnect with Sethe. Whether Beloved is a ghost or former slave, Morrison leaves it to the audience to decide how the initial separation happened. Regardless, the central idea of separation remains actively consistent throughout the chapters and significantly illuminates a metaphor that is strung throughout the book. The separation, or duality, between both of Beloved’s beings is metaphorical to the separation found in all of the relationships that the characters share with each other. For example, the relationships between Sethe and Denver, Sethe and Paul D, or even Denver and Beloved allude to this; all of these characters feel some sort of void between them. Ultimately, Morrison’s duality through Beloved creates a lasting impact, leaving the audience to curiously ponder about the upcoming relationships and how this central message ties together the narrative as a whole.
Beloved has had a constant presence in the many characters’ lives throughout the novel. From her appearance as the ghost to the young woman who appears mysteriously. Her sudden appearance is brought to question several times during the novel. Her unusual qualities prompts the reader to also question her. Beloved is introduced as an older but almost exact replica of Sethe’s dead daughter. Because she believed she was saving her children, Sethe had killed one of her children. Thus, the distant relationship she now shares with Denver and her sons, who left 124 soon after. However, several details cause us to even doubt if Beloved is Sethe’s daughter. As the novel progresses, we are given details that suggest that Beloved may have been a slave. A slave who escaped from her master’s home after several years of being held captive. This duality forces readers to thoroughly examine the evidence provided regarding Beloved’s past.
ReplyDeleteThe transformation from being a ghost to now Beloved, Sethe’s resurrected deceased daughter, occurred with her sudden appearance. Even I, the reader, several times questioned this mystery: it seemed quite unrealistic to be true. The resurrection of Beloved restores purpose and happiness in the lives of both Sethe and Denver. Denver regained her sister while Sethe was able to make peace with her unfortunate action. When thinking of her mother, Beloved believed that “Sethe is the face that left ” her all alone. Although Beloved was abandoned, there is a yearning to be reconnected with Sethe and home. Home is “the place where her face is” to her. It is at 124 where she is gains a sense of identity, in addition to Sethe.
Similar to Sethe’s unfortunate experience as a slave, Morrison offers an alternative narrative of slavery regarding the identity of Beloved. Her sudden appearance and odd actions are explained to be because of her past as a slave girl. Beloved, the slave girl, is also abandoned by her mother during their journey on the slave ship. Unfortunately, she is a witness to the death of her mother. She states in the novel,“It is my dark face that is going to smile at me the iron circle is around our neck she goes into the water with my face…” (250). She feels abandoned by her mother because her own mother chose to leave her. Gone was an explanation nor a good bye. Her mother’s exit was abrupt and unforgiving. Beloved lacks identity having grown up with no mother and having likely to be captured by a white man, sexually abused. It is now clearer why why she used her sexuality to manipulate Paul D. This fractured and identity- free young woman had resorted to what she had known and forced to do She had asked Paul D to “touch me on the inside part and call me my name” (137), thus ruining his relationship with Sethe. Beloved in this narrative serves as the remnants of slavery and the lasting impacts it can inflict on one.
The past must be addressed for their to be prosperity in the future. This is what Sethe, Denver, Beloved, and Pauly D have failed to comprehend. From Sethe believing that Beloved understood her actions to Denver resenting and fearing her mother. There are no questions asked nor any concerns about Beloved. Beloved has been their “saving grace”, saving them from themselves and the past they have failed to addressed. Morrison has made the point that this simply can not happen because the identity of Beloved remains a mystery. We now do not whether or not she was slave or the resurrection of Sethe’s deceased daughter. The unknown can end becoming their downfall.
From the moment Beloved arrived at 124, Toni Morrison has begun to build Beloved’s character. When she first arrived to the house, Sethe, Denver and Paul D were all there to see the beginning of her growth as a character. Beloved “acts sick, sounds sick, but she don’t look sick. Good skin, bright eyes, and strong as a bull.”(pg.67). At first, Paul D was the only one to voice suspicion about who this girl was. But as time goes on both Sethe and Denver also experience this two-sided character that Toni Morrison began to build. By creating this duality in Beloveds character it allows the reader to interpret her in several different ways. You can either see her as the ghost of Sethe child who she killed to save from the schoolteacher or the slave girl who was taken from her home and thrown onto a ship with inhumane living conditions.
ReplyDeleteBeloved has an attachment to Sethe since she first arrived at 124. They both had a connection that couldn’t be explained. Beloved knew things about Sethe that she couldn’t know. Beloved says “I want to be the two of us I want the join.” (pg.252). From the very beginning when Beloved arrived she did not want other people getting in the way of her and Sethe. Paul D, who was living in the house, was thrown out from Sethe but it was known all along that Beloved had a role in him being gone. Sethe had varying suspicions that this was her daughter back from the dead. Beloved even says “I would help her but the clouds are in the way.”(pg.248). This sounds as though Beloved was looking at Sethe from above watching over her and that throughout the whole thing she wanted to come down and help Sethe.
However, the duality is created by the realistic concept of who Beloved might be. Beloved, Sethe’s dead daughter, could not have really come back to life even if there were many clues that lead the reader to believe that. Beloved was taken from her home and thrown onto a ship. She remembers certain experiences of the ship and makes references to them. Beloved says “All of it is now it is always now there will never be a time when I am not crouching and watching others crouching too I am always crouching… “ (pg.248). All of the slaves used to be crammed in rows crouching below deck where they were held as they crossed the ocean from Africa to the United States. However even as a slave she talks about her memories on the ship and Sethe together. Beloved says “She had nothing in her ears if I had the teeth of the man who died on my face I would bite the circle around her neck The woman with my face is in the sea”(pg.249). There was a man who was dead laying on top of Beloved while she traveled across the sea and she looked at his teeth which were pointy and sharp. She said if she ever saw Sethe with shackles around her neck she would bite the chain off to free her. Beloved has an obsession with Sethe and watching over her from both dualitys.
Throughout the rest of the novel, the duality that Morrison has created from Beloved’s character allows the reader to wonder how her relationship with Sethe and Denver will develop now that we know she has experienced begin taken from her home and knowing about Sethe. Beloved has experienced heartbreak unlike other people. She was killed by Sethe to be protected but she felt abandoned when no one else ever joined her. Beloved, as the slave girl, watched her own mother jump off the ship and die, leaving her alone to face slavery in the new world. Both of her motherly figures abandoned which is a major part of who she has turned out to be and why she has such a deep attachment to Sethe now and doesn’t want to lose her.
Can two opposite stories both contain truth? As Toni Morrison’s novel unfurls, she lays out a tricky puzzle concerning the character Beloved. From the second she appears outside 124, she is shrouded in mystery. It is utterly impossible for the characters, or even the reader, to be able to confidently identify even the most rudimentary facts about Beloved. Where did she come from? How did she get to 124? Who even is she? Rather than providing a concrete backstory, Morrison cunningly creates a double narrative. On one hand, Beloved might be an ex-slave, who has fled her owners and discovered a refuge in 124. On the other, she could be the reincarnated spirit of Sethe’s deceased daughter. Morrison intentionally leads the reader to find truth in both versions of the story, providing both evidence and counter-evidence for each perspective. In the end, the futility of this dilemma serves to show that the truth doesn’t actually matter to the greater meaning of the plot; either way the characters have the same motivations and will follow the same paths.
ReplyDeleteThough readers may initially find themselves leaning towards the hypothesis that Beloved is a ghost, as the book progresses Morrison begins to heavily imply that may not be true. In one particular chapter, Beloved seems to vividly narrate memories from below decks of a slave ship. Though much of this chapter could be taken as an allusion to a state of purgatory, certain lines seem to be exceptionally void of double meaning. Beloved recalls how piles of corpses “fall into the sea which is the color of bread” (249). Direct references to being in an area surrounded by ocean lack a spiritual metaphor. “Daylight comes through the cracks… small rats do not wait for us to sleep” (248). These blunt descriptions seem to directly describe what a journey would have been like across the ocean in the below decks of a ship. It is confusing why Beloved would have these images burned into her mind unless she had lived them out earlier in life.
On the other hand, it is impossible to deny that Beloved does have a degree of spirituality surrounding her. Right from the moment she shows up, mysterious events follow. When Sethe first sees her she immediately feels the urge to rush to the outhouse. “The water she voided was endless… like flooding the boat when Denver was born” (61). Sethe seems to have undergone another “water break” which could be a spiritual symbol for the rebirth of Beloved. The hauntings in 124 cease which would make sense if the spirit now walks the Earth in human form. Beloved seems distinctly familiar with Sethe and has specific memories about her, asking questions like “where are your earrings?” (254) when she never could have known about them. She even has the same name as the dead child. It just seems far too coincidental to have been a random meeting of strangers.
Regardless of which story a reader might feel to be most accurate to the story, ultimately it’s most important to consider why this technique is employed in the novel. Why would Morrison seek to make her writing less clear for those who read it? Surely it isn’t because she would want readers to feel like they aren’t fully understanding the story. Instead, it seems Morrison wanted to use this ambiguity to demonstrate a point. No matter which narrative is true, or where Beloved actually came from, everything remains largely the same. Whether she was once a slave, separated from her mother on the long boat ride, or a reincarnated spirit of Sethe’s lost daughter, the characters have the same motivations. Beloved seeks to replace the motherly spirit she lost long ago. She wants the love of a mother and safety of a home. Sethe wants a second chance with her daughter, redemption and forgiveness for her actions. Theoretically, even if Beloved was once a slave and Sethe didn’t know, they could talk past each other forever and never realize. Morrison demonstrates this in a section of dialogue between the characters. “Tell me the truth. Didn’t you come from the other side?’ ‘Yes. I was on the other side.’ ‘You came back because of me?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘You rememory me?’ ‘Yes. I remember you.” (254). Both narratives could still be true. Beloved could have come from the other side of the ocean, or the other side of consciousness. She could remember Sethe as a person or remember what it is to have a mother. There is no answer.
DeleteIn any work of literature, the greater meaning transcends the technical facts about the plot. In Beloved’s case, this rule is even true to the characters themselves. It is wholly possible Beloved was once a slave. It is equally possible she wasn’t and truly is the ghost of 124. Morrison tells us both are true, and also neither is. Beloved is Beloved, Sethe is Sethe, and they need each other.
In the novel, Beloved, Sethe endured horrors after horrors in her time as a slave. She was beaten, raped, and her freedoms and rights were taken. Because of those experiences, when men came for Sethe at 124, Sethe murdered her baby in order to protect her. Sethe did not want the baby, Beloved, to go through the same things she did. What happened to Sethe was so brutal that no life was better than going through that. However, years later, a girl named Beloved finds Sethe. Immediately, there are multiple connections that could link the girl to the baby that Sethe murdered, as she has the same name that was engraved on the baby’s tombstone, as well as being the age the baby would have been at this time. Those are striking coincidences, yet the character Beloved could also be a former slave who lost her mother. Toni Morrison plays with this idea of a duality that Beloved could be one of these two characters. This duality is especially put into light during Beloved’s two narratives.
ReplyDeleteIn Beloved’s narratives, there are many phrases that could suggest Beloved being one of the two characters or even both. Beloved states that it is “hard to make yourself die forever” (249). This phrase strongly suggests that Beloved was unable to keep herself dead, and made a return to life and 124. This is interesting to think about as Beloved has long had a presence on 124 in a spiritual form. It could mean that Beloved was not truly dead, as she was stuck in a form of purgatory, trapped between life and death. The lines where Beloved says “there will never be a time when I am not crouching… I am always crouching” (248) suggest the Beloved that idea of being in a purgatory. Whereas crouching is a median between standing and sitting, crouching is a metaphor for Beloved being between life and death. I think this was created as to avoid the brutal slave life again, Sethe meant to kill all her children and herself but only was able to kill Beloved. It’s as if Beloved wasn’t supposed to be left alone, and is now stuck unguided between life and death until she finds her way back to 124. In Beloved’s narrative, she mentions a woman a lot, but never specifying who exactly, only using the pronouns. This makes us speculate if the woman is Sethe. In the line “I cannot lose her again” (250), Beloved could certainly mean Sethe. Beloved does not want to be separated from her mother again, and that could be the reason she goes back to 124. Morrison creates strong evidence for Beloved to be the incarnation of Sethe’s daughter, but this is only part of the duality.
The unspecified woman the Beloved mentions throughout her narratives could also very well be Beloved’s mother, who jumped off the boat, killing herself. This mother of Beloved was also separated through death, and Beloved could also mean her when she says “I cannot lose her again.” This line could definitely apply to either mother, emphasizing the duality between the two. The story of how Beloved’s mother killed herself was that she jumped overboard off the slave ship into the ocean. The line, “no boats go on this water” (251) could be a direct reference to that. Beloved could have created a connotation between boats and her mother killing herself, and water without boats brings a more peaceful feeling to her. Beloved could only say this line if she had a connection to boats, which in this life she does. A mother and her daughter have a very strong connection. By “the woman with my face is in the sea,” I think Beloved is seeing herself in her mother in the sea. Beloved last saw her mother jump into the sea, so when she looks at the ocean, she may see her mother staring back at her. The part, “the woman with my face,” is a metaphor for her mother, who see obviously sees herself in. These phrases certainly allude to Beloved being the daughter of a woman who died on a slave ship.
DeleteA major theme in Beloved has been the memories of one’s past. We have seen characters such as Paul D struggle with his memories of very brutal times, and Sethe struggles with the same thing. I think Toni Morrison created the duality with the character Beloved to connect Sethe with her past. Sethe murdered her baby to protect her from the horrors of slavery, but she is still haunted by that moment. With the character Beloved possibly being a reincarnation of her baby, Sethe gets to see what her baby could have turned out to be. This could be Sethe wondering whether or not she made the correct decision in protecting her daughter by murdering her, based on what she could have turned out to be. I think the rest of the novel will examine Sethe and her feelings about her decision that day, wondering if she made the wrong decision and whether she will come to terms with it.
In a life when the whole world seems to resent you, abandon, trap you, and torture ones wants to be loved. They desire affection from friends and family, but dehumanization, separation has given them tin hearts and murderous tendencies. After slavery, love has a completely new name, and sometimes does not even look at love. Absurd action out of suspicion and protection deepen the unanswered questions and fears from Beloved’s characters’ past, subconsciously keeping them just out of touch.
ReplyDeleteMorrison’s duality between spirit and slave, comes with the progression of pulling back layers of Beloved. On the surface, Morrison utilizes slightly childish paranormal activity to introduce her audience to the of layer of the unexplained presence in 124, an angry force, one that simply can’t ignored. Beloved’s arrival opens the door to more human like qualities, that continue to grow the longer she stays at 124. Her detachment from Denver, and odd interactions with Paul D, but attraction to a maternal figure in Sethe allows the audience to perceive Beloved. This can be further assured as Beloved reads her narrative, which pictures slave ship, which has crumbled her spirit to delusion and sadness.
The following is food for thought. Beloved can personify the “past”, the gripping, guilt intensifying painful prison, in which individuals crave the key, answers. Is it possible that Beloved is a representation of Sethe’s memories prior her freedom from slavery? Beloved’s narrative in Chapter 22 is completely disjointed with holes, in a literary sense, in her story, and physically, in the text. And this is how memories work, they are vivid but fragments fade and soon we “rememory”, eventually trying to even remember, remembering memories.
While separately, there is distinct evidence for Beloved to be , there are also moments where each side of the narrative can blend seamlessly. Beloved is disturbingly familiar to the sexual abuse that tainted her adolescence during her capture. At night, the men without skin, or in this perspective, the white men, “hurts where [she] sleep” (251). One can infer that this is rape, molestation, and heateful treatment. She asks Paul D to “Touch [her] on the inside and call [her] by [her] name” (137). A baby could not have been exposed to this level of corruption or insanity by the time of her death.
One explanation for, “a fully dressed women [fully] out of the water” (60) is the memory of Beloved swimming in the river previously to her arrival at 124. Her untouched appearance due to the severity of her captivity, with little to no interaction with the sun. However, there is a also a great sense rebirth, as Sethe recalls a sensation comparable to her water breaking before her birth to Denver. Beloved is grown, but she has held onto the traits of a newborn, skin glowing without any imperfection.
When Beloved’s mother dies on the ship, she describes that her mother, “goes in they do not push her she goes in” (250), and this suicide . When school teacher found Sethe in 124, no one forced her children to bring her children to the shed, no one pushed her into slitting Beloved’s throat. Instead, Beloved’s memory of jumping off the ship, is her returning to the world of the living, and on the way to some purgatorial nightmare.
DeleteEarlier in the novel, Denver sees Beloved choking her mother, but Beloved denies it, as if her hands on Sethe’s neck are helpful rather than harmful. On the ship, Beloved claims that,
“If [she] had teeth of the man who died on my face, I would bite the circle around her neck” (249). Beloved has already been separated from Sethe, according to Beloved, three times, and can’t afford to lose her again without getting full satisfaction, getting her answers.
“A hot thing”, is Beloved’s heart, but also her complex, intimate relationship with Sethe. All Beloved craved during her crouching misery was a smile, and Sethe she believed, “was going to smile at me she was going to” (250), but before this could be fulfilled, “the woman with [her] face is in the sea” (249), “My own face has left me” (252), “I am alone” (252). Beloved lusts for smile, but her temperament is boiling, she didn’t get her way. Beloved does not hate Sethe, but she detests the lack of affection an dreassuranceMorrison does not want to reader to toss and turn, or keep guessing what Beloved could be, but realizing that these stories are usual, that Baby Suggs, Sethe, and Beloved are all in the same, fending off the same horrors, separation, and disappointment.
The point of creating this duality is not entirely to further explain Beloved character, but to center the struggle of millions upon millions of African Americans who suffered after being torn from their land, stripped of their identity and dignity, and facing the consequence from the unjust fists of a raging, racist white America. She shows through a single duality that history unfortunately continues to repeat itself, separation continues to affect various groups, whether were referring to 17th century or 21st century society in America. Baby Suggs left Sweet Home early, why couldn’t she bring Sethe and Halle with her? A mother abandons Beloved. Why did Sethe kill me? Why did she willingly go overboard? Fear and jealousy separates Sethe and Denver, would she ever murder me? Why am I less of a daughter than Beloved? Recently, Trump’s rules at the border have lacked humanity, morality, and sympathy of refugees escaping the dangers they left behind them. They were separated from a parent, saw them too being pushed over into the sea. Separation of child and mother can deteriorate their relationship, makes themselves unrecognizable. Why did she leave me in this bizarre, cruel new world? Throughout time, unanswered questions give us hot hearts, confusion, and rage.
At the end of chapter 23, there is certainly plenty of questioning left to rehash. Sethe asks Beloved if she is forgiven, if she understands how murder was love, but Beloved is unwilling and stubborn, and incomplete. While Beloved is adoring, she is vengeful and unforgiven. Once Beloved gets exactly what she wants, she will disappear from 124, but her past, her memories will still permanently haunt Sethe, as they are now apart of her.
The titular character of Beloved has been elusive throughout the novel and continues to surprise us. Her intricate personality puzzles the reader and has them questioning what is real about her and what is not. Since her introduction, she has hovered over the line of reality and her existence is not clear. We are given a glimpse of two different Beloved’s, the ghost of Sethe’s murdered daughter and a former slave held captive on a ship where she witnessed the loss of her mother. After seeing the latter unfold, Toni Morrison begins to place doubt in the reader’s knowledge of Beloved and everything we knew about her. Does this second narrative place cracks in the foundation of her and Sethe’s relationship? Will Sethe and Denver view her differently after knowing more about her background? Beloved’s duality shifts the connections she has formed with the residents of 124 and changes the direction the story will go in.
ReplyDeleteThroughout the start of the book, Morrison took the reader on the path that Beloved was the ghost of Sethe’s murdered daughter. She shares multiple connections with her and behaves as though she is a child in the body of an adolescent and “can hardly walk without holding onto something” while also being seen to “pick up the rocker with one hand.” (67) She also experiences a deep admiration for Sethe and will do anything it takes to please her and make sure she is content. However, later in the novel we get to see another, more realistic side to Beloved and witness her life as a young girl on a slave ship who has lost her mother. Beloved still appears to see this as her life and says “all of it is now it is always now” (248) indicating that she still feels connected to her time on this ship and that the pain will never leave. Her relationship with Sethe is described as Beloved meeting her after leaving the ship and being “the face [Beloved] lost.” (252) While the narratives conflict one another, they also share many similarities. Beloved’s love for Sethe remains strong, no matter what her background is and appears to be the common thread amongst everything we have seen from her in the novel. Beloved also appears to come home to 124 in both narratives, to see Sethe, the face she lost. Even though 124 was never her home to begin with in either stories, Beloved has the ability to find her way back to Sethe.
Morrison’s use of duality to portray Beloved helped highlight the character’s importance to the novel. The Beloved we originally meet was able to bring together the residents of 124 and help bring Sethe closure to the horrific act she committed years ago. By interacting with her past, she starts to understand her ability to live in the present. Beloved was also able to be a sister figure to Denver and help her cope with her loneliness. Morrison was also able to show through the second narrative of Beloved the effects that slavery has on young girls and the importance of recognizing the trauma it ensues. Both narratives also center around Beloved’s abandonment and loss, recurring themes that pop up throughout the novel. Beloved’s experience with these help shape who she is and describes the reason she behaves in the manner that she does. Having this duality adds more layers to Beloved’s already complex personality. Beloved’s issues with abandonment are deteriorating her relationship with Sethe and may cause a rift between them towards the end of the novel. As much as Beloved loves Sethe, she may never be able to truly let go of the past. The duality created by Toni Morrison allows Beloved to help both Sethe and Denver while on her own journey to discovering her true identity.
How do you preserve the past? How is it possible to take an idea and split it into two? Threading together these two ideas is done by accepting that neither resolution is false, and that elements of both make contextual sense within the story. Whether Beloved is a ghost, or a confused slave girl, either outcome carries equal weight within the story. Toni Morrison has created a perfect duality in the sense that both ways of looking at the story are both valid.
ReplyDeleteThroughout the entire novel, the reader is led to believe that Beloved is a ghost. Her ghost is explicitly mentioned many times early on throughout the book, and the characters themselves believe that a spirit is in fact among them. During Beloved’s narration chapter, we gain some insights into what she went through, transitioning into purgatory and then back to the living world. Something that comes up continuously, and has close ties to Beloved’s re existence, is water. When Beloved is talking about water, she is mentioning something more. The ‘water’ in question is a representation, both metaphorically and physically, of memory. Almost every aspect of what Beloved describes relates to her memories, and lack thereof. This knowledge is made clear to Beloved, and in part the reader, as she begins to realize her new state as a ghost. At first, she is unsure of what has become of her, having only been two years old when murdered by Sethe. She is unsure of her surroundings, but finds solace in a familiar face. “The man on my face is not dead, his face is not mine” (248). Beloved has found Halle, her father, in purgatory with her. This small bit of knowledge allows her to be more aware of her surroundings, seeing different things and people than she could before.
The ‘morning water’ that is brought every morning is not that of the drinking variety, but in the form of tears. Tears brought upon by the men without skin, who with each passing day come to learn where they are, the memories of their death being too much to handle. They are the men without skin because they have died, decaying endlessly within purgatory. As time goes by, however, some are saved from this fate. Those who come to terms with their passing, and understand their reasons for doing so, are able to pass on properly. Halle does this, leaving Beloved, as she notes that “My own dead man is pulled away from my face I miss his pretty white points” (249). As hard as Beloved tries to do this herself, she is unable to. Because she has been killed at such a young age, she has almost not insight as to why she has died. She knows that she does not belong where she is, but is unable to properly pass. She is left searching for anything, but has no memory of the event, like many others: “If we had more to drink we could make tears” (248). It is not until Paul D comes around does Beloved get enough to move on, to rise up from the waters and confront Sethe in the living world once again. A thread from this belief which carries over into the living world is Beloved’s actions once she is found. When she is brought into 124, she drinks a profuse amount of water, bringing back all the memories of not just her life, but Sethe’s as well. The clouded vision is gone, and Beloved can speak once again.
There exists the possibility, as well, that the Beloved who shows back up at 124 is not Sethe’s murdered child. This Beloved could in fact be a lost, confused slave girl, searching for her mother. Despite her different upbringing, being transported via slave ship, this alternate Beloved has experienced the same loss as Sethe’s Beloved. Both are confused by the abandonment of their mother, struggling to understand why they were left alone. The one person they could trust, leaving their lives forever. Slave Beloved’s morning water and man on her face are as literal as can be. The beautiful tragedy that unites them, created by Toni Morrison, is that both Beloved’s are searching for the same thing. They both pine for the childhood that never was. They are exact mirrors of the struggles of Sethe, of Sixo and of Baby Suggs. The meaning behind either Beloved comes from the need for answers, the impossible question of the horror that life can become.
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