Identify an important passage in the book that we have NOT discussed as a class, and that another classmate has NOT chosen.
Type the passage, and then:
1. Explain the significance of the passage to the book
2. Explain the significance of the passage to the course (look at the topics we brainstormed and the essential questions if you get stuck.
3. Comment on at least one of your classmate's comment.
An excerpt from page 297 of Beloved:
ReplyDelete"Somebody had to be saved, but unless Denver got work, there would be no one to save, no one to come home to, and no Denver either. It was a new thought, having a self to look out for and preserve. And it might not have occurred to her if she hadn’t met Nelson Lord leaving his grandmother’s house as Denber entered it to pay a thank you for half a pie. All he did was smile and say, “Take care of yourself, Denver,” but she heard it as though it were what language was made for. The last time he spoke to her his words blocked up her ears. Now they opened her mind."
This section discusses several of the issues seen throughout much of Beloved in a more explicit manner. Denver discovers freedom, in both a more colloquial and an existential sense. She learns that she must not only escape 124 Bluestone Road to be free, but also embrace language, understand language, and, above all, define language.
The context of the passage is quite important. Immediately before, Denver realizes that she cannot control others, as in Beloved and Sethe, and can only control herself. This is a mild display of despair. In the passage above, Denver she concludes that she in fact has power, albeit mainly over herself. She, in a way, is able to break free of her past. And while she always has spoken language, she has a realization that results in her being able to employ language. This is therefore a very important part of the book: Morrison is making a large statement about the power of language, and that true freedom is only possible when one manipulates language and takes full control of their being.
The above passage and analysis is also important with respect to the course, particularly the themes of freedom, identity, and existentialism. The existentialist aspect explicitly allows us to relate Beloved to the other works we have read this year. These three ideas go hand in hand. Denver attains freedom because she begins to “be.” This “being” is at least partially realized with language (we see that this is a big change if we look back to a quote earlier, definitions “belong to the definers, not the defined.”) With Denver becoming a definer, although not to the extent to which a white person is, she is able to shape her identity. Prior to this scene, the community only associates her with being Sethe’s daughter. She successfully breaks away from this and defines herself, as characters such as Garcin and Gregor are unable to do. Even so, we see that identity is highly ironic, even contradictory, in some of the other works we’ve read. Going back to No Exit again, characters wish to change their identities, but seem to need the presence of others to confirm their change. Somehow Morrison makes Denver’s transition out of 124 entirely individual. She acts on her own and doesn’t really seem to care how the community interprets it. What I’ve just mentioned are merely a few of the ideas that this passage can relate to.
--Seth
I really like what you said about Denver's transition somehow being different than other characters we studied. Morrison clearly is trying to say something about black women and the black community as a whole in this book, but this ability to define herself and finally "be" probably has more to do with her being the first generation not born into slavery. Denver is able to break the chains (figuratively and literally) that have bound her ancestors for so long and make her own choices and create her own salvation.
DeleteAn interesting point, though, is that she was, in a way enslaved, till this point in the story when she finally began to live existentially, though in this case by her mother's memories and her fear of her mother. Although Sethe sacrificed everything to have Denver free she unknowingly keeps her enslaved with her memories. As the first generation of free blacks, she must still escape the deep seeded effects of slavery before truly being free, as she finally manages to do.
I found it interesting how the character Denver, in this passage, closely mirrors the character Halle. Denver and Halle, in their respective situations, were first to look towards the future. In Halle’s case, he worked to help his family escape from slavery, while Denver began working to help her mother escape from the binds of Beloved. I agree with you that Denver, as well as Halle as a result of my connection, exhibited being and were able to look towards the future as a result of doing so.
DeletePage 268 (Blue Book)
ReplyDelete"With those assurances, Denver left, but not before she had seen, sitting on a shelf by the back door, a blackboy's mouth full of money. His head was thrown back farther than a head could go, his hands were shoved in his pockets. Bulging like moons, two eyes were all the face he had about the gaping red mouth. His hair was a cluster of raised, widely spaced dots made of nail heads. And he was on his knees. His mouth, wide as a cup, held the coins needed to pay for a delivery or some other small service, but could just as well have held buttons, pins, or crab-apple jelly. Painted across the pedestal he knelt on were the words 'At Yo Service.'"
This passage describes a statue Denver saw as she was leaving the Bodwin's house after asking for a job with them and talking to Janey. Two things about this passage really interested me: what it says about the Bodwin's and white people in general at that time, and how it impacts Denver, and in general the first generation of free men and women.
The idea that this statue sits in the Bodwin's house was immediately shocking to me. Although they were white, they had been staunch supporters of the abolitionist cause, hired and treated blacks well, and even gave Baby Suggs the house in which Denver, Sethe, and Beloved lived. Clearly these were very progressive people, at least for that time. Yet, sitting in their house, is this extremely racist depiction of a black man, just there to do his duty and help the white men. It says something about the race relations in the country at that time that even people like the Bodwins would have something like that in their house. If even the most progressive people saw black people as mere caricatures of themselves and meant to be lower than whites, if not subservient, its difficult to imagine what the overall sentiment would be like.
Another interesting part of this passage is how I imagine Denver would react. Although clearly this statue is important Morrison does not say anything about it except in this paragraph, so we can merely speculate how it would have effected Denver, but I imagine it changed her views a lot. She had just finally gotten the courage to leave the house and work for a wage, and suddenly she sees this degrading statue on display in the very place she went for help. Her identity which she had just begun to finally shape no doubt was molded by this. Seeing this a young and finally independent black women would most likely create a sense of inferiority that would be hard to shake.
This statue is a simple yet potent symbol for the race relations in the the country at that time and how its effected and shaped the people around it.
While reading, this passage also jumped out at me as a bit surprising. It makes me wonder why Morrison would create an image of the Bodwins as the "good" whites, only to be brought down by underlying racism and white supremacy.
DeleteI connected this to the passage where Amy helped Sethe give birth to Denver-- massaging her feet and helping her out, but all the while making underhanded comments about Sethe's inferior capabilities. Do these passages reveal how deeply embedded the Master narrative is in all of society, or are they the result of a more bitter and pessimistic attitude held by Morrison?
I was too very surprised by the presence of this statue. You made a point about the seemingly contradictory nature of the statue and I agree with the conclusion you made in regard to the race relations at the time. Morrison seems to be making a statement along the lines of: no matter how nice a white person to the blacks, they still see themselves as superior. This causes a big question to arise in my mind: what is Morrison's purpose? Clearly there's the existential area of Beloved, which I discussed in my post, but there's also this area of race. Sanjukta mentioned the master narrative. I do see this bitter attitude on Morrison's behalf. I, however, do not see the "master narrative," that we discussed in class, as being accepted by society today. Morrison reveals the true nature of slavery, but didn't we already know its hellish nature? And of course to us it is bad, while in the master narrative at the time slavery was not. I know I got a little bit off track from what you talked about with the statue, but Morrison's purpose is perplexing to me. Why rewrite something that's already dead? Her audience clearly is the pre-Civil War American populace. Why spend an entire book examining the racist attitudes of whites towards blacks in the 19th century if these attitudes for the most part no longer exist? There must be something else to it.
DeleteAnd by "clearly is the pre-Civil War..." I meant "clearly is not the pre-Civil War..." in case my error wasn't clear.
DeleteSeth
“Whitepeople believed that whatever the manners, under every dark skin was a jungle. Swift unnavigable waters, swinging screaming baboons, sleeping snakes, red gums ready for their sweet white blood. In a way, he thought, they were right. The more coloredpeople spent their strength trying to convince them how gentle they were, how clever and loving, how human, the more they used themselves up to persuade whites of something Negroes believed could not be questioned, the deeper and more tangled the jungle grew inside. … It was the jungle whitefolks planted in them. And it grew. It spread. … so scared were they of the jungle they had made” (Morrison 234).
ReplyDeleteThis passage is from the perspective of Stamp Paid, immediately after he looks through the window at 124 and sees the three women (Sethe, Denver, and Beloved) sitting beside each other in front of the fire. In relation to the book, this section reveals a lot about Stamp Paid, and his view of the black community. He believes that blacks have allowed themselves to fall under the definition given to them by the whites, simply by trying to prove themselves as people. Blacks had allowed the “definers” to define them as animals, so they truly believed themselves to be animals. Stamp Paid’s past is evidence of his own “redefinement,” in protest of the Master narrative’s definitions.
The phrase “so scared were they of the jungle they had made” relates to the atrocities that many blacks were forced to commit as a result of slavery. For example, Sethe’s murder of Beloved. The whites were disgusted by her actions, without realizing that they were at the roots of the crime.
In reading this passage, I was immediately reminded of the themes we discussed in Heart of Darkness, and the in-class poem called “In the Subway.” All of these pieces related to existentialism, and the idea of characters allowing themselves to be defined by a Master narrative. When Marlow saw the Africans as beasts, he showed the perspective of the “Master,” creating a “jungle” in which he trapped the Africans’ identities. This is the same as the white woman in “In the Subway,” who created an identity for the black man across from her on the train. Stamp Paid sees the willingness to submit to such identities as detrimental to the black, ex-slave community.
Heart of Darkness flashed through my mind as I read this passage as well. I feel it effectively represents how the 'definers' dehumanized the African Americans and not only enslaved their physical bodies, but also their identities. I like the reference you made to "In the Subway" and can definitely see the connections to this passage. All of this made me very aware of the master narrative and its effects on characters we have read about and even our own lives. It really made me think: How does the master narrative have an influence on our lives and the people around us?
DeleteI think it's interesting that Stamp Paid is thinking about this idea of savagery while watching a tender moment in front of the fire between a mother and her daughters. Sethe, Denver, and Beloved were not acting at all like "a jungle" in that moment, and yet Stamp is thinking about "the jungle." It almost seems like a commentary on how truly artificial the definitions of the master narrative are. The black characters have allowed themselves to conform to these horrible stereotypes, but now, when they are not under direct scrutiny from any white characters, their true, and undefined, natures are showing through. Knowing that "the jungle" is hardly more than an invention makes the atrocities of Sethe's and Stamp Paid's pasts that much sadder.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete"Call me my name."
ReplyDelete"No."
"Please call it. I'll go if you call it."
"Beloved." He said it, but she did not go. She moved closer with a footfall he didn't hear and he didn't hear the whisper that the flakes of rust made either as they fell away from the seams of his tobacco tin. So when the lid gave he didn't know it. What he knew was that when he reached the inside part he was saying, "Red heart. Red heart," over and over again. Softly and then so loud it woke Denver, then Paul D himself. "Red heart. Red heart. Red heart."
This passage, a dialog between Paul D and Beloved displays Beloved's issues with identity. As this is the last passage in the section, it leaves the reader with many questions about Paul D, Beloved and symbolism within the book.
I found this passage to be very revealing. As Beloved demands that Paul D say her name, it shows that she is desperate for someone to define her. Does this mean she does not have a strong sense of identity? Is she reliant on others to define her? Also, why does Paul D repeat "Red heart" over and over again? What is the meaning/significance of this? Lastly, when it says, "so loud it woke Paul D himself" is it a literal awakening or a more of a metaphorical one? I really liked how this passage dealt with some of the key issues of identity that we have talked about this year.
I really like the connect that you made between identity and name as that is a key topic that we have been discussing in class this year. To answer some of your questions in my own opinion.. First, I do believe that Beloved lacks a true sense of identity. Beloved really has had no connection to her mother or family whatsoever until recently and I believe that familial connection is something that helps people to formulate an identity of themselves. For example, learning their family history and in Beloveds case specifically, knowing the reasons why Sethe did what she did. Beloved is reliant on others to define her because she has nothing else. She has not been told stories about her family, and from what we know, she apparently has not been living until now. She has been with disturbing creatures and only recently did she come to Sethe so it is justifiable that she is looking to others for an identity of her own.
DeleteI agree the Beloved is definitely searching for her Identity in this book. I that she is desperate for it and this is a good section that points that out. I also think that another good part that shows Beloved searching for her identity is towards the end of the book when she assumes all of Sethe's mannerisms and characteristics. Sethe and Beloved almost switch places and assume each others identities. So overall Beloved is really looking for her identity throughout the entire book.
DeleteAfter reading this passage again, questions very similar to yours. I did not understand the reason behind Paul D's repetition of "Red Heart". Do those words symbolize something else, such as blood? And to answer your question of whether or not Beloved has a strong sense of identity; I believe that she does not. As I said in my post, she had been having trouble with switching between identities in when she was alive and when she was dead. The issue of who she is she really wants to become is exemplified in quite a few places throughout the book. One that I found to be pretty evident was her monologue.
DeleteGiven her somewhat abrupt disappearance at the conclusion of the book and the community subsequently forgetting Beloved's name and erasing all memories of her, it is certainly fair to wonder whether Beloved ever had a sense of identity in the book. Much like Denver, who repeatedly asks her mother to tell her the story of how Amy Denver saved her life during much of the beginning of the book, Beloved continually spends time searching for her identity, as you suggested in your analysis. I believe that the "Red Heart" line may be a reference to the trauma that Beloved has been subjected to, with many familal ties destroyed by siblings fleeing and a relationship with Denver that continues to fray, as well as the more obvious attempt by Sethe to kill Beloved. This is one of few things that marks Beloved's past, from which most people look to construct their identity. Beloved, of course, finds it difficult to do so.
Delete"My daddy do anything for runny fried eggs. Dip his bread in it. Grandma used to tell me his things. She said anytime she could make him a plate of soft fried eggs was Christmas, made him so happy. She said she was always a little scared of my daddy. He was too good, she said. From the beginning, she said, he was too good for the world. Scared her. She thought, He'll never make it through nothing. Whitepeople must have thought so too, because they never got split up. So she got the chance to know him, look after him, and he scared her the way he loved things. Animals and tools and crops and the alphabet. He could count on paper. The boss taught him. Offered to teach the other boys but only my daddy wanted it. She said the other boys said no. One of them with a number for a name said it would change his mind -- make him forget things he shouldn't and memorize things he shouldn't and he didn't want his mind messed up. But my daddy said, If you can't count they can cheat you. If you can't read they can beat you. They thought that was funny. Grandma said she didn't know, but it was because my daddy could count on paper and figure that he bought her away from there. And she said she always wished she could read the Bible like real preachers. So it was good for me to learn how, and I did until it got quiet and all I could hear was my own breathing and one other who knocked over the milk jug while it was sitting on the table. Nobody near it. Ma'am whipped Buglar but he didn't touch it. Then it messed up all the ironed clothes and put its hands in the cake. Look like I was the only one who knew right away who it was. Just like when she came back I knew who she was too. Not right away, but soon as she spelled her name -- not her given name, but the one Ma'am paid the stonecutter for -- I knew. And when she wondered about Ma'am's earrings -- something I didn't know about -- well, that just made the cheese more binding: my sister come to help me wait for my daddy," (Morrison 218).
ReplyDeleteThis is a pretty long passage, but I just couldn't find the right place in the paragraph to cut it off. This is an interesting passage because it deals with a father-daughter relationship, which is an odd find in such a female-centric piece. Denver and Halle aren't often discussed in conjunction with each other, but this passage makes it seem like Denver feels closer to her dead father, whom she has never met, than to Sethe. It's subtle, but it speaks to the importance of storytelling to Denver. She says that Grandma Baby would "tell me his things," and as a result, she knows about his beliefs, his personality, and his favorite food (runny fried eggs) -- all things that Sethe was never willing to tell her. Denver refers back to Beloved asking Sethe about her earrings, and cites this as the reason why she is so happy about her sister's presence -- Beloved is so connected to storytelling that she could get that secret out of Sethe, and perhaps it is through this connection to storytelling that Denver believes she plans to "help me wait for my daddy."
At the same time, however, I think this demonstrates some of the naivete that Denver still has. She sees Halle as practically the embodiment of good -- because she heard from Baby Suggs herself that he was "too good for the world," but also because she doesn't have any reason to believe otherwise. Throughout the chapter this comes from, Denver gives off the impression that she fears Sethe and goes on and on about how much better Halle is than Paul D. She says much more favorable things about Halle and Beloved and, briefly, Grandma Baby, because she identifies more with death. That's not because she has a troubled mind, but quite the opposite: as a first-generation freeborn, she has never seen death firsthand, and she sees it as something more fanciful than the difficulties she sees in life.
I agree completely with the idea that it is interesting that there would be a passage about a father and a daughter in a female centric piece. It isn't something that I would've expected but it reveals a lot about Denver and her feelings about the people around her. I also thought that it was interesting how Denver was so interested in finding out about her father through stories that could be manipulated in any way. It relates to the idea that the message of a story is changed by the storyteller and the audience that it was aimed at. Had Denver been told different things about her father she may not have felt such a connection to him.
Delete"I cannot find my man the one whose teeth I have loved a hot thing the little hill of dead people a hot thing the men without skin push them through with the poles the woman is there with the face I want the face that is mine they fall into the sea which is the color of the bread she has 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 bite it away I know she does not like it" (Morrison 222).
ReplyDeleteThis passage came from part two of Beloved's monologue. Although her thoughts and emotions were running wild in this chapter, she seemed to be focused on one main issue that really stood out throughout the passage I have chosen, the woman. Beloved said that this woman's face was hers, almost as if she wanted to switch out her body with this woman. The description of this woman ran parallel to the characteristics of Stamp Paid's wife, Vashti. Vashti used to wear a bow around her neck and that was how Stamp paid recognized her from all of the other women. Similarly, Beloved was able to recognize this woman out of all the other dead women there, because of the circle around her neck. Was this woman the ghost of Vashti?
This passage relates to the course because it is a good example of the Identity theme. Beloved, since she died, wanted to become someone else other than herself. In the graveyard, she wanted to become the woman who had the circle around her neck. And after she was resurrected, she slowly leeched onto Sethe's identity and took on as her alter ego. Ultimately, I think that Beloved had a tough time figuring out who she really wanted to be, and what her purpose was in life... or death for that matter.
“It was then, when beloved finished humming, that Sethe recalled the click- the settling of pieces into places designed and made especially for them. No milk spilled from her cup because her hand was not shaking. She simply turned her head and looked at Beloved profile: the chin, mouth, nose, forehead, copied and exaggerated in the huge shadow the fire threw on the wall behind her. Her hair, which Denver had braided into twenty or thirty plaits curved toward her shoulders like arms. From where she sat, Sethe could not examine it, not the hairline, nor the eyebrows, the lips, nor…” (Morrison 184). (in the blue book)
ReplyDeleteI believe that this passage is extremely significant in Beloved not only because it is the key defining moment when Sethe actually realizes who Beloved really is but also because of what each part of Sethe’s description symbolizes.
The first thing I notices was that Sethe seemed so pleased after her discovery. Sethe is recalling the click- the settling of pieces into places designed and made especially for them. When reading this, I am reminded of her house number on Blue Stone Road, 124. To me, this is a clear representation of the places where each child fits (as we discussed in class) and that 3 was missing for a reason, because Beloved was dead. But once Sethe finally realizes that this woman living in her house is actually her reincarnated daughter, she feels everything fall into place. That piece of her life that she had been missing (represented by 12_4) is finally there, where it was especially meant to be.
A second connection that I made in regard to significance to the book is the second sentence of the passage above. “No milk spilled from her cup because her hand was not shaking.” I was immediately reminded of the time when Sethe is explaining how she was whipped with cowhide and had her milk stolen, to Paul D. As we discussed in class, this was especially important because it showed that she valued motherhood over her own body. And with regard to this quote, now that Sethe realizes who Beloved truly is- she no longer is spilling milk. This symbolizes her complete motherhood in my opinion. She is no longer wasting that bit of motherhood due to the extreme guilt she feels for killing Beloved. Sethe is no longer guilty/scared, her “hand was not shaking”.
This connection of Sethe and her motherhood and her realization of who Beloved truly is, is also very closely related to the topic of identity which we have discussed throughout this course. Sethe’s motherly role is such a key aspect of her identity that she has never felt whole as a person since losing Beloved. But as seen in the first sentence of this chosen passage, Sethe feels the click of things settling into their places after her realization. In my opinion, this represents Sethe’s motherhood becoming complete. But I also contrast that with the last sentence of this passage. “From where she sat, Sethe could not examine it, not the hairline, nor the eyebrows, the lips, nor…” I believe that this also reveals Sethe is unsure of certain aspects of Beloved identity which is represented by her features and consequently, this would imply that Sethe’s identity is incomplete.
“So they forgot her. Like an unpleasant dream during a troubling sleep. Occasionally, however, the rustle of a skirt hushes when they wake, and the knuckles brushing a cheek in sleep seem to belong to the sleeper. Sometimes the photograph of a close friend or relative—looked at too long—shifts and something more familiar than the dear face itself moves there. They can touch it if they like but don’t because they know things will never be the same if they do.” (Morrison 275).
ReplyDeleteThe significance that this passage has to the book is almost overwhelming. Not only does the passage conclude the story and wrap up all of the loose ends, but it shows the impact that Beloved had on the characters and the way that they lived their lives after she disappeared. It alludes to the overall theme of the book which was slavery and the way that people have forgotten most of the atrocities that occurred during the time period. People have tried to move forward and not forget what happened but they try and keep a distance because they know by acknowledging what happened things will not be the same as before. Like the memory of Beloved, the memory of slavery is something that weighs heavily on people and they don’t really know how to handle it.
The significance of the passage to the topics that we have been discussing in class/the course relate to the way that the passage lines up with the ideas of existentialism. The way that the people forgot Beloved alludes to the idea of whether or not she was actually there. Could she have just been a hallucination? What would make her an actual person and not a figment of their imaginations? If the memory of her disappeared was she really there to begin with? The idea of being and bot being that is described with existentialist theory relates perfectly with this passage.
“Leave before Sethe could make her realize that worse than that – far worse – was what Baby Suggs died of, what Ella knew, what Stamp saw and what made Paul D tremble. That anybody whit could take your whole self for anything that came to mind. Not just work, kill, or maim you, but dirty you. Dirty you so bad you couldn’t like yourself anymore. Dirty you so bad you forgot who you were and couldn’t think it up. And though she and others lived through and got over it, she could never let it happen to her own. The best thing she was, was her children. Whites might dirty her all right, but not her best thing, her beautiful, magical best thing – the part of her that was clean.” (Morrison, 251) (red/black book)
ReplyDeleteThis excerpt emphasizes a number of recurring themes from the book Beloved, primarily through its implicit description of the horrors of slavery. It shows that the institution of slavery gives the masters, in this case the white men, the ability to manipulate the identity of their slaves. They are able to redefine the slaves’ identities such that the slaves were “dirtied so bad they couldn’t like themselves anymore.” According to the passage, Sethe, Ella, Paul D, Stamp, and Baby Suggs, who were all former slaves, continued to be redefined by the masters even several years after they escaped the slavery. For example, Sethe understood that the white men had the power to strip her of her motherhood by seizing her children. For this reason, Sethe, in this passage, is attempting to inform Beloved about the horrors of slavery. However, Beloved is unable to understand Sethe as she is upset that Sethe had killed her. In this manner, this passage juxtaposes Sethe’s conflicting ideals and reality. While Sethe believes that her children are “her beautiful, magical best thing(s),” and hopes to prevent them from being exploited by slavery, her daughter Beloved is in fact exploiting her through her inability to understand Sethe’s arguments. In this way the passage also emphasizes that the characters of the book are truly inflicted by their pasts, which is shaping their actions such that they cannot find an escape.
I love this passage and way Morrison uses certain words to describe the horrors of slavery. I agree, that all the former slaves though they have escaped, are still defined by their masters. They cannot seem to escape this master narrative and the difficult part is that to do that they have to fight with themselves. I think this passage, makes Sethe's sentiments clear and what was going through her mind, when she decided that death was better for her children than slavery. However, Beloved is not wrong here either. She has not experienced slavery so she cannot relate to that. She might think that there were other options that Sethe could take ( like kill herself too) because through out the book, I felt beloved was angrier about separation from Sethe than death.
Delete"Everybody knew what she was called, but nobody anywhere knew her name. Disremembered and unaccounted for, she cannot be lost because no one is looking for her, and even if they were, how can they call her if they don't know her name?"
ReplyDelete(274).
I get a little confused every time I read this excerpt. Is Morrison referring to the fact that everyone knows the name Beloved but not the entire story behind her? When Morrison says, "how can they call her if they don't know her name?" I think she is covering one of the main topics that we have talked about this year, mainly in this book which would be Identity. Just like beloved herself, the people don't know who Beloved really is and what her purpose was for being there. Her identity is unknown and was really never found, although I think that was one of the main reasons for her being there in 124. This quote above just proves that Beloved never really found her identity and although she tried to, for example when she copied Sethe, it was not enough or true to her to actually make it memorable by the everyday citizens.
Sethe has a tough time with this though, which I think is because Beloved and Sethe had become so close, close enough to seem as if they changed places, that her connection to Beloved was more than just an acquaintance.
I agree that this is one of the most confusing passages in the entire novel. This is just an idea, but I think of this passage as an explanation for how the community came to think of her after her departure. In a way, she was their "Unspeakable thing Unspoken." Paul D had his treatment in Alfred, Sethe had her Mother's death, and Beloved'd death, and the community as a whole, had beloved herself. They all know that she was there, but they almost pretend she wasn't, because it is more pleasant that way.
DeleteI really liked the connection you made with Morrison referring to the fact that everyone knows Beloved's name, but not her story. No one really understood why Beloved was there- not even Beloved herself. I think this is also a major reason why everyone in the town forgot who she was in the end- they saw her as so insignificant that even the people who she was close with eventually forgot her too. It seems as though Beloved's identity was never truly found.
DeleteI wasn’t in class on Tuesday, so I’m not sure whether or not this has been discussed, but this is the quote that I selected:
ReplyDelete“Everybody knew what she was called, but nobody anywhere knew her name. Disremembered and unaccounted for, she cannot be lost because no one is looking for her, and even if they were, how can they call her if they don’t know her name? Although she has claim, she is not claimed. In the place where long grass opens, the girl who waited to be loved and cry shame erupts into her separate parts, to make it easy for the chewing laughter to shallow her all away.
It was not a story to pass on” (Morrison 323).
This passage, one of the last in the book, is critical in bringing Morrison’s book full-circle. Beloved began the book as a ghost, and her return to a similar state through the end of the book provides a rather fitting end. But more importantly, this passage shows that Beloved’s name has been forgotten, a rather sad observation considering that Beloved was given a name, and thus, an identity, as a result of her mother prostituting herself. Without a lasting identity, without a name, and really without any memories, Beloved rots away, essentially rendering Sethe’s life as useless. Sethe, often times referred to and perceived as an offspring-producing calf by those around her, had the sole role of bringing children into the world and making sure that they would survive into adulthood under her influence. However, several have already deserted her, with Beloved being the last of the pack, and Denver clearly fears her. It therefore is logical to describe her life as a failure, and her frustration is understandable when she says “She left me…She was my best thing.”
The idea of the community surrounding 124 forgetting Beloved’s name is one with significant symbolism, as this represents Beloved’s loss of identity. With the absence of literature to record stories of Beloved and evidence of her existence, and without even the simple memory of her name, Beloved’s existence is eventually questioned, causing us to make the logical conclusion that literature is critical in establishing identity. Ironically, the excerpt above concludes with the statement “It was not a story to pass on,” but since there is no record of the said “story,” there is no choice but to pass on the story. All in all, the establishment of this connection between literature and identity was a clear connection between this passage and some of the themes in the course.
I was working on this with the page not refreshed while Halle had put up a response with the same quote, so I didn't know that the quote was duplicated. Sorry about that.
Delete-Aniket
In this passage, it seems as though Toni Morrison is using the word “name” as a construct for identity. This has been done on numerous occasions throughout "Beloved," most notably when Stamp Paid tells the story of why he changed his “name.” This was the story of many slaves in slavery; renaming oneself was an act of prescribing an identity to oneself. It gave slaves the manifestation of an “existence” with true autonomy.
DeleteThat said you bring up a good point about the uncertainty of Beloved’s existence. If you were to look at Beloved as a characterization of slavery, Beloved’s “name” would be true essence of slavery or “the identity” of slavery. From this point of view, the line “Everybody knew what she was called, but nobody anywhere knew her name” seems to say that all people know of slavery, but no one could grasp the true essence of slavery: empathize with the cumulative horrors faced by slaves or understand the magnitude of the lives it affected. This logic can be extrapolated to the rest of the passage.
"'You got to get up from here girl.' He is nervous. This reminds him of something.
ReplyDelete'I'm tired, Paul D. So tired. I have to rest a while.'
Now he knows what he is reminded of and he shouts at her, 'Don't you die on me! This is Baby Suggs' bed! Is that what you planning?' He is so angry he could kill her. He checks himself, remembering Denver's warning and whispers, 'What you planning Sethe?'"
While the climax of the story seems to have already passed, in the instance of the community coming together to drive off Beloved, and Sethe attacking Mrs Bodwin, I see this short scene as of equal if not greater importance to the story. Paul D pleads with Sethe not to let herself wane away as he knows Baby Suggs did following the visit of a different white man to 124. It is vital that Sethe persists in living. Why? It could be seen as a breaking in the cycle of submission. Baby Suggs yielded to the sadness and it brought her death. Paul D does not want Sethe to succumb to the same fate. She must break the chain of repetition. This could also be seen as a metaphor for an end to slavery. If Sethe leaves the bed, she will be doing something that past generations (Baby Suggs) were unable to, persevere and refuse to be kept down.
I wanted to look at this scene in an Existential light so naturally, I turned to Metamorphosis first. The story could not run more parallel. The struggle to get out of one's bed, as both Samsa and Sethe try, is the struggle to break from the monotony, and the definitions that others have thrown upon you, in order to truly live a meaningful life where existentialism is concerned. To make your own choices is vital to life, and Gregor and Sethe both show the ability to do just that. One could also draw a comparison to the existential struggle Hamlet faces. "To suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take up arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing end them." This crisis with one's existential identity is the fight between existing in an uncomfortable or subservient role, or taking a chance to advance ones place. This could not only be seen as the struggle for Sethe to get out of bed, but also as an end to slavery.
"They forgot her like a bad dream. After they made up their tales, shaped and decorated them, those that saw her that day on the porch quickly and deliberately forgot her. It took longer for those who had spoken to her, lived with her, fallen in love with her, to forget... In the end, they forgot her too." p. 274 (blue book)
ReplyDeleteThis passage is very significant since it shows how people view Beloved at the very end of the novel. Everyone who had ever encountered Beloved, even those who knew her well eventually forgot about her. This displays the notion of identity which we have been talking about in class all year. Beloved completely lost her sense of identity at the end of the novel. The narrator compares everyone forgetting her to a "forgetting a bad dream." This truly shows how insignificant Beloved becomes towards the end of the novel. I also found it interesting how her name 'Beloved' fit into this passage. The name 'Beloved' means loved, or dear to the heart. At the end of the book, this name no longer fits- how can she be called Beloved if no one remembers her enough to love her? She completely disappears from the novel and becomes a nameless presence.
"They forgot her like a bad dream. After they made up their tales, shaped and decorated them, those that saw her that day on the porch quickly and deliberately forgot her. It took longer for those who had spoken to her, lived with her, fallen in love with her, to forget, until they realized they couldn’t remember or repeat a single thing she said, and began to believe that, other than what they themselves were thinking, she hadn’t said anything at all. So, in the end, they forgot her too. Remembering seemed unwise. They never knew where or why she crouched, or whose was the underwater face she needed like that. Where the memory of the smile under her chin might have been and was not, a latch latched and lichen attached its apple-green bloom to the metal. What made her think her fingernails could open locks the rain rained on?
ReplyDeleteIt was not a story to pass on.
So they forgot her. Like an unpleasant dream during a troubling sleep. Occasionally, however, the rustle of a skirt hushes when they wake, and the knuckles brushing a cheek in sleep seem to belong to the sleeper. Sometimes the photograph of a close friend or relative—looked at too long—shifts, and something more familiar than the dear face itself moves there. They can touch it if they like, but don’t, because they know things will never be the same if they do.
This is not a story to pass on.
Down by the stream in back of 124 her footprints come and go, come and go. They are so familiar. Should a child, an adult place his feet in them, they will fit. Take them out and they disappear again as though nobody ever walked there.
By and by all trace is gone, and what is forgotten is not only the footprints but the water too and what it is down there. The rest is weather. Not the breath of the disremembered and unaccounted for, but wind in the eaves, or spring ice thawing too quickly. Just weather. Certainly no clamor for a kiss.
Beloved." (Morrison 323)
I found this part to be extremely significant but at the same time I felt a little frustrated because there was no proper "ending" or "closure". The way I looked at this passage was how quickly all the people forgot Beloved even though she played such an important role in their lives. Beloved is the epitome of the horrors of slavery and the sacrifices that had to be made. Sometimes those sacrifices were needed however most of the times they were discarded, not by the oppressor but by the oppressed themselves. Like Beloved made Sethe's life miserable and disturbed the perfect balance of 124, thinking back about slavery and those horrors causes people to re enter the very past they are trying to ignore. So that is what they do, they ignore, they don't talk about and think that "she hadn't said anything at all". When they are decorating and shaping tales, they "quickly and deliberately" forgot about it. There is history to be told and the story even though people chose not to repeat it is very much there. Its in the "hands" of people and it is in their "foot prints".
This relates back to the importance of story telling and how it creates or destroys you. There are so many stories of slaves and even their masters that are untold and as a result we don't remember them. I think this is also the reason why Morrison remembers those "sixty million and more" whose story she could not write individualy but they are represented in the basics by Sethe's story and the people surrounding her.
When I published my post, I saw that Michaela and I have a similar passage. It was not intentional as I was working on it already and saw it when I refreshed the page.
Delete“The singing women recognized Sethe at once and surprised themselves by their absence of fear when they saw what stood next to her. The devil-child was clever they thought. And beautiful. It had taken the shape of a pregnant woman, naked and smiling in the heat of the afternoon sun. Thunderblack and glistening, she stood on long straight legs, her belly big and tight. Vines of hair twisted all over her head. Jesus. Her smile was dazzling.”
ReplyDeleteIn this passage, Toni Morrison uses a large degree of Antithesis. This emphasizes the content of the passage, and thus, enriches the concepts and literary elements presented in it. Although the passages immediately before and after this passage have been discussed in depth in class, this particular paragraph was largely skipped over and is worth discussing. The scene in which this paragraph is embedded has already been discussed as a rewrite of the rememory where Sethe killed Beloved. This in part explains the density of language used; each sentence has deep-seated meaning. The other part is that this scene is also “climax” of the book, therefore, each element is thematically relevant to the core messages that Toni Morrison is trying to convey in Beloved.
Antithesis, as mentioned earlier, plays a central role in this passage. There is a large degree of contrast in the description of Beloved. Beloved is described as both a “devil-child” and a “beautiful,” “pregnant women.” Although she previously represented the “baby,” in this scene she appears as a maternal figure. This contrast is also used to emphasize Sethe and Beloved’s seemingly contradictory transformations earlier in the chapter.
Throughout the chapter, Sethe becomes more “dependent” and childlike as she sacrifices her wellbeing for that of Beloved’s. While Beloved becomes well nourished from of the sustenance Sethe supplies, Sethe grows weary. Beloved begins to imitate Sethe and eventually they become near indistinguishable. Sethe is consistently characterized by pregnancy and motherhood, and thus, Beloved’s pregnancy in this scene signifies a complete reversal of roles. Beloved may have become pregnant after her affair with Paul D, which would serve to enforce this conclusion.
That said this scene has more profound literary importance than emphasis of previous developments. The contradictory transformations of Beloved and Sethe are symbolic of Sethe’s internal battles with her past. Here, Beloved is a characterization of Sethe’s “past,” in which, Sethe has let her “past” consume her to the point where she is a “slave” to it. Her “past” has sucked out all of her life energy, almost as if she had a parasitic relationship to it.
This passage also brings up interesting perspectives on the construct of “hell,” an essential topic that we have discussed throughout the year. Morrison’s relative juxtaposition of the words “devil-child,” “beautiful,” and “Jesus” say something unique about “hell.” We have already looked at Beloved as a characterization of Sethe’s “past.” Beloved can also be seen as a characterization of “slavery.” Slavery is a known evil. Thus “hell” in comparison could be seen as “beautiful,” because it is indefinite in its horrors. Although uncertainty is often worse than certainty, as described by “existentialism.” The horrors of slavery were so awful that the uncertainty may be seen as appealing to the towns-people in comparison, as it was to Sethe when she made the decision to kill Beloved.
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