Folks:Please select and comment on a passage from our most recent reading in Toni Morrison's Beloved. Be sure to include the passage at the head of your posting, including the page number (Beloved 108). Your work -- its content, delivery, and impetus for discussion --will serve as the substance of our work in class today.
-- PJC
12 comments:
“She told them that the only grace they could have was the grace they could imagine. That if they could not see it, they would not have it” [103].
Sethe says this to the reader when she revisits the Clearing where Baby Suggs once delivered sermons. This passage not only suggests the permanent brokenness of the people at 124, but also reveals a withdrawal from religion and society. Literally, Sethe explains the phenomenon which occurred often in the Clearing. Baby guided the men, women, and children from the disgusting reality of a haunted past and into a smooth state of mind. The newly freed people learned to love themselves and began to let go of the past. Ironically, however, the sermon lacked a strong religious influence. Slavery broke this people and forced them to abandon God. To them, his “grace” could not have been present during the whippings, beatings, and mistreatment. Instead, Baby Suggs encourages the people to create their own “grace” because this world in which they lived in will not make “grace” for them. They must “see it” [103] and reclaim ownership of themselves or else “they [will] not have it” [103]. The destructive effects of slavery forced the people to withdraw from God. Baby Suggs uses “imagine” to clarify that the people should not become swallowed by the fantasies, but should use the “grace” to soften the disturbing memories of the past enough to live. Similarly, Sethe must put down her “sword and shield” [104] so as to open her mind to the rememories.
“Stamp ferried some of that party. Left them on Bluestone. It ain’t too far.” (pg. 108)
Ella says this to Sethe when Denver is telling the story of her birth to Beloved. This passage not only develops the story of Denver’s birth and the sufferings that Sethe experienced, but also alludes to Denver’s metaphorical repaying of debt that she describes when telling the story of her birth. Literally, a man named Stamp ferries them across the river. On a larger level however, this man, Stamp symbolizes a “paid” stamp that one would put on a “bill”, thus, through him, Denver’s bill has been paid. The narrator explains to the reader that Denver knows neither what she knows nor who she must pay. This metaphorical scene suggests significance in not only Denver’s debt but also Stamp and Denver’s payment, furthermore this passage may foreshadow a meeting or some type of future connection between Stamp and Denver.
“She didn’t cry. She said ‘soon’ and smiled so they would think the brightness in her eyes was love alone. It was some time before she let Baby Suggs shoo the boys away so Sethe could put on the gray cotton dress her mother-in-law had started stitching together the night before” (110).
Sethe says this to the reader when she is finally reunited with her children at Baby Suggs’ house at 124 Bluestone Road. This passage not only reveals the theme of betrayal that Sethe feels towards Halle, but also suggests that Sethe is not superhuman, and it is difficult for her to keep it together after her husband basically deserts her. In this passage, Sethe has just been asked by her son “Pappi come?” She is happy to be with her children, but she feels like her family is incomplete, because Halle is not there along with her. She doesn’t know why Halle is not there with her, and it isn’t until much later when Paul D tells her how Halle was broken. Her entire time she is at Baby Suggs’ house, she is trying to put her broken self back together. She does a good job of hardening herself against feeling anything, but it isn’t until Paul D comes around that she begins to open up herself again. Sethe has buried her past so deeply inside of her that she has actually forgotten parts of it. She talks about her “rememories” as being too difficult to talk about, but as the saying goes, “it gets harder before it gets easier.” This passage also displays Sethe at less than her best, at a time when she is truly feeling abandoned and empty. She has kept herself and her family together through unimaginable ordeals, and this passage represents a time when she shows her vulnerability. So, while Sethe has a shield up to protect herself from her past, there are times when her weaknesses show through.
Emmie Taylor
English 11
Beloved Significant Passage
1/28/09
“Hard to say,” she said. “If anybody was to ask me I’d say ‘Don’t love nothing.’”
Ella says this to Sethe after she crosses the Ohio river with her newborn daughter Denver, in response to Sethe’s question of whether Denver will survive the trip to her new home. Literally, Ella is offering her opinion on the possibility of a future for Denver, and her advice when it comes to getting attached to newborns, yet beneath that literal meaning is a difficult and tragic idea: That a slave, or even former slave, should never love anything, not even their own daughter, so as not to have to deal with the pain when it is taken away. This idea is a reiteration from earlier in the book, when Paul D. thinks that the amount of love Sethe has for Denver is “dangerous.” In the world that they have known for most of their lives, anything and everything they have loved was either bought sold, beaten or killed. So, in the end it is safest to have to mindset of not loving anything, than to love and then lose that loved one.
Dillon Torno 1/28/09
Beloved Sig Passage 1 Beloved
“it was like stringing a tree for Christmas.” (94)
Amy says this to Sethe when she puts the spider’s web on Sethe’s wound. This passage not only reveals what Amy thinks of Sethe’s tree, but also introduces a parallel to an earlier description of Sethe’s back, and a contradiction to what Paul saw in Sethe’s back. Literally, Amy is describing the scars lined with a spider’s web on Sethe’s back beautiful. Ironically, however, what a white girl says is beautiful on a runaway’s back, a black man who’s a friend of that runaway says it’s “not a tree, as she said. […] nothing like a tree he knew because trees were inviting; things you could trust and be near; talk to if you wanted.” (25) When Paul talks about a trustworthy tree that he enjoyed being near, he is referring to the tree at Sweet Home that the men would sit under. He contrasts this tree with the tree on Sethe’s back implying that he’s not as comfortable as he was eighteen years ago. On the other hand, Amy, also known as whitegirl, sees the webs on Sethe’s tree “like stringing a tree for Christmas.” What a friendly black man with similar experiences saw as ugly, a white girl saw as lovely and compared it to something she new well. The different interpretations of the tree suggest that Amy would be better understanding Sethe’s struggles than Paul D would, even though Amy never experienced the things Sethe and Paul D have.
Zack Kaiser
1/28/09
“Amy wrapped her skirt around it and the wet sticky women clambered ashore to see what indeed, God had in mind.” (99)
The narrator describes Sethe and Amy as they reach shore on the Ohio side of the Ohio River after her recent birth of Denver. This passage illustrates the image of two new friends of opposite race in somewhat joy after they crossed the Ohio River. This passage not only develops the image of two women of the opposite race coming together after an insane event but also illustrates the author’s use or reference to the bible throughout Beloved. This is illustrating the relationship to Jesus being wrapped in swaddling as to Amy wrapping Denver in her skirt. Literally, this passage suggests a miracle had occurred for the baby to have survived but also this passage relates back to the earlier statement on the same page; “Amy stopped begging Jesus and began cursing his daddy”. This passage repeats the conclusion that it is a miracle the baby is alive but also elevates the possibility that the baby is special. This relates back to Jesus being wrapped just as Denver which emphasizes that this baby is special. This passage, “to see indeed, what God had in mind.”, not only emphasizes Amy’s belief that the baby is special but also may foreshadow the baby’s importance later in the novel.
Phil Chen
“There was no question but that she could do it. Just like the day she arrived at 124---sure enough, she had milk enough for all.” (P. 118)
In this passage, Sethe is preparing dinner for Paul D after she comes back from the Clearing, when Paul D holds her in his arms. This passage not only reveals Sethe’s capability and wish of fixing a delicious supper, but also develops the characterization of Sethe as she starts to revive her sense of identity and acceptance of Paul D. Literally, Sethe discusses the dinner menu with Paul D, who just stands up from the wooden tub, holds her in his arms and inquires about the dishes for dinner. On a larger level, however, it reveals Sethe’s beginning to accept Paul D and her new life around 124, and her rediscovery of the sense of self. Although her milk was taken away back in Sweet Home, and that outrageous assault has been deep inside her soul for so long, Sethe now decides to set her past in oblivion, and starts to construct a new family, with plenty of hope and future, “just like the day she arrived at 124”. Despite the fact that Halle undergoes a mental breakdown as he witnesses the incident of his wife, Sethe eventually overcomes it and does not fall into the world of desperation, hopelessness, and sorrow, because “sure enough,” she still “had enough milk for all”. Therefore, “there was no question but that she could do it”, fix this supper, let the past stay out of her sense of identity, and establish a new family bond with Paul D.
Bridgette McKnight
Her faith, her love, her imagination and her great big old heart began to collapse twenty-eight days after her daughter-in-law arrived. (pg. 105)
In this passage the narrator makes a description of one of the main characters in the novel, Baby Suggs. This passage not only characterizes Baby Suggs as a big hearted, faithful, loving person but also suggest the conflict between Sethe and Baby Suggs and repeats the theme of events that “break” people throughout the novel. Literally, the author explains how Baby Suggs began to lose everything that characterized her. On a larger level, however, the author reveals that Sethe causes Baby Suggs deterioration. Because Sethe comes to Baby Suggs without Halle, and he never comes back, Baby Suggs realized she has lost another son and more importantly the she allowed herself to love. This causes a change in Baby Suggs, causing her to go insane similar to Halle going crazy after watching Sethe getting her milk stolen and Paul D with the rooster. This passage develops the theme of people beginning to collapse throughout the novel.
John Golden:
“‘The roosters,’ he said. ‘Walking past the roosters looking at them look at me.’” (85)
Paul D says this to Sethe after she asks him what it was that ‘broke’ him. This passage is specifically talking about the rooster Mister. Earlier on Paul D described how he helped Mister hatch after his family left him. Mister was born lame, but grew up to be the alpha male of the roosters. It was the irony of Paul D’s situation that broke him. Mister was the animal, yet he was freer standing on top of the tub like throne, than Paul D was. Paul D walked by Mister with a bit in his mouth, looking more like than animal than Mister. Paul D was born a fully functioning human being, while Mister was a lame rooster. Yet Paul D ended up in slavery, while Mister became the leader of the roosters. This passage has a painful irony, which truly describes how and why Paul D was broken.
Elizabeth Kelly
“The things neither knew about the other – the things neither had word-shapes for – well, it would come in time: where they led him off to sucking iron; the perfect death of her crawling already? baby.” (p 177)
Sethe has just come to the decision that she wants to be with Paul D; not in memory for Halle, but for herself. She has decided that she did know what she wanted when he first came, when she told him about the tree on her back and some of the things that happened to her at Sweet Home. On one level this passage is hopeful. They would truly know each other in time; they would find words for all of the awful things that had happened to them. But on a deeper level Tony Morrison makes a statement not only about the things they cannot talk about to others, but the things that they fear remembering for themselves. Sethe has avoided color and “rememories” since her baby girl died. The readers are not told much about how the child actually dies, but we do know that it still haunts her even after Paul D scares the ghost away. As for Paul D, he does not speak much about his life at Sweet Home, all we know is that he was “broken”, and after the war worked on a chain gang. They have both have lived out the past eighteen years without romance, partially because of all of the things that haunt them. Things that they cannot remember for themselves, let alone tell someone else.
Passage : “Beloved watched the work her thumbs were doing and must have loved what she saw because she leaned over and kissed the tenderness under Sethe’s chin.” (115)
While in the Clearing, Sethe experiences a strange choking sensation, and believes she recognizes the familiar touch as that of Baby Suggs. Although it is true that the Clearing is a place where Baby Suggs frequently visited and the touch that Sethe felt on her neck was frighteningly similar to Baby Suggs’ touch, there is a strange connection revealed between Beloved and Sethe both before and after this incident that suggests otherwise. Following this occurrence, Denver accuses Beloved, saying “You did it…” Not simply throwing accusations around, Denver’s memory is sparked, reminding her of Nelson Lord. A strong question, probably always in the back of Denver’s mind is finally brought to the surface. “Didn’t your mother get locked away for murder?” This passage not only reveals the strange emotional obsession Beloved has towards Sethe, but it also portrays a desire for revenge.
This is third person narration that describes what happened to Sethe, to the reader, immediately after she arrived at 124 and how she learned to be free. This passage not only show the irony that while it may be difficult to runaway it is more difficult to be free after being enslaved all of you life. This passage is a glimpse of an issue that it is logical to assume that some runaway slaves had entering the North and now being free. After being enslaved for all of your life and constantly being told what to do the experience of “owning yourself” must be something quite new. Chances are in the beginning former slaves such as Sethe probably did not know what to do with themselves or their new found freedom. They had gone from slaves, treated as less then human with very little to no freedom doing the work that they were instructed to do every day of there lives for their entire lives, to newly freed people who could do, with in reason, what ever they wanted. This must have been some what unnerving at first because even if your prior life was horrible it was still your life and to suddenly not be living it any more would unnerve any person.
This quote not only suggest what is listed above but also seems to imply that while “Freeing yourself” might be difficult it may be equally difficult if not more difficult to “own yourself” Sethe had a hard physical journey getting to freedom but perhaps with this quote we are given a foreshadow, of a flashback as to the struggles Sethe endured when she first entered freedom and embraced her new, free life.
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