“…Love is as strong as death:jealousy is a crucial as the grave”…many waters cannot quench love,neither can the flood drown it” – SONG OF SOLOMON (8:6-7)
African American men and women throughout slavery struggled to establish a perpetual loving relationship. In her novel,Beloved, Toni Morrison manifests how slave culture separated man from women both in a physical and emotional way. Toni Morrison allows the reader to follow the story of Sethe and her reincarnated Beloved.The character Beloved throughout the book is a symbolic character. Beloved, in that she is the memory of all of the horrors of slavery and the people who suffered. This constitutes the barrier that prevents Sethe along with Paul D from moving on. From their past.
As the reader you learn more about Beloved’s history and specifically, the fact that she was killed at the hands of her own mother, Beloved’s mother, Sethe, made the “rough choice" to kill her own child because she did not want Beloved to grow up within the cruel system of slavery. Sethe knew that Beloved would never be able to determine her own destiny within they styem of slavery , and rather than her to have to suffer a lifetime Sethe decided to end Beloved’s life. This was a painful decision for Sethe. Morrison tries emphasize the difficult choices all African Americans had to make in order for them … Beloved is angry that her own mother, S Sethe only killed her children so they would be in heaven rather than being a slave. Sethe held on to hope that they would make it to heaven. The new and reincarnated Beloved feels the need to lash out on her mother who has wronged her. Beloved returns to restrain Sethe from moving forward from that decision of killing her child.Now with Beloved’s arrival ,she is back into Seth’s life. Beloved brings Sethe back in to her past which also makes Sethe feels the need to go back in her memory she once buried.
Remembers the earings
Hums the toon sethe knows
This is the generic return of all of those who died in slavery
Beloved states that “I am beloved and she is mine” The “she is mine” said by Beloved is significant in knowing when getting to know her as a character because it shows the strength with which Sethe has felt for Beloved, that feeling of possessiveness. Now that Beloved feels she is entitled to Sethe she wants her for herself and will get rid of anyone that comes in the way of that.
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. She whispered to me, chewed me, and swam away. … She smiles at me and it is my own face smiling. Beloved explains how Sethe was “lost” Beloved in this instance can be clearly shown that she represents not only Sethe’s reincarnated daughter but also the previous generations of blacks affected by slavery. Thus, we can infer that the “sea” that Beloved mentions refers to the Middle Passage
Black men have always been oppressed male forced to bear the burdens of their ancestors and have been discriminated and put down to the level class of society. Paul D himself as a black man in the novel was belittled. Paul D was a potential for a happier future for Sethe and Denver and the man figure Denver needed in her life. However Paul D came from her past and shares some of the same experiences that haunt Sethe. Sethe has some type of connection with Paul D which endorses her to open herself up to him and find some relief in sharing the burden of her memories which she would keep in all to herself. . Paul D recognizes the danger in Beloved's presence but is unable to change anything about it because before he gets the chance too she gets rid of him. All he can do is challenge Sethe's vision of herself and her children. In the end, after Beloved leaves, you sense that Paul D will provide a healing force for Sethe, again extending her the possibility of a more prosperous future and promoting her learn to love herself. Paul D since the beginning has always had love for Sethe and would do anything to defend her and the fact they he is unable to defend her devastates him.
“…Love is as strong as death:jealousy is a crucial as the grave”…many waters cannot quench love,neither can the flood drown it” – SONG OF SOLOMON (8:6-7)
In Toni Morrison's Beloved, there were many different love filled and driven relationships. Throughout the book you recognize relationships between siblings and relationships between a mother and her children. And man to women To some, love is something is a necessity in life. In the novel you witness the placed strain upon Paul D and Sethe.Morrison addresses the struggle of love and how in the black community your first love was not inevitably your choice. Sethe out of all her siblings was the only one that her mother decided to keep due to that fact that Sethe was made by black on black love. Love was something that was taken away from her mother because she had no choice. Sethe on the other hand, unlike many, was able to choose who she wanted to love. After being raped Sethe and Halle were never the same. Halle saw himself as weak and as the man who was supposed to be her foundation which she stood firm upon he broke. He watched his wife get raped and did nothing about it which shattered him as a whole and caused sethe to fall apart as well. Just as referenced in the Bible Adam and Eve were prime examples. Now for Paul D. In all his life, he had been collecting memories and traumas in the tobacco tin where his heart used to be and it took the reality of the woman he loved to break it open. "His tobacco tin, spilled its contents that floated freely and made him their play and prey" (Morrison 258). He had hit rock bottom and had begun to deal with the psychological trauma of his life. He questions "How much is a ni**er supposed to take" surrounding himself with images of "Halle in the butter, ghost-white stairs, chokecherry trees… or the loss of a red, red heart" (Morrison 277). Despite all this, he manages to hold on and eventually return to Sethe in the aftermath of Beloved. Despite all he had been through, there was still room for her in his heart. His love is demonstrated when he finds Sethe lying in bed like Baby Suggs did, waiting for death, and becoming "so angry he could kill her" that she decided to give up having come this far already. And then, he unleashes this bombshell of a love declaration: "Sethe, me and you, we got more yesterday than anybody. We need some kind of tomorrow… You your best thing, Sethe. You are" (Morrison 322). If that isn't love, I don't know what is. They accept each other in their damaged states and are united in love.
Now to the good part.
When you love someone you become one
Turn to last chapter
P. “there is a loneliness that can be rocked” two pages
It was not a story to pass on
Couldn’t remember or repeat after a while
In the end they forgot her
Remembering seemed unwise
Not a story to pass on, it was not a story to pass on.
What is the difference between
Not many slaves knew their mothers because they were torn from their homes. Many slave women were robbed of their innocence by their masters. Behind the face of every slave, there is always a very traumatic unforgettable story which is not something to pass on,
It was not a story to pass on
This is not a story to continue telling
It was not a story to pass on
This is not a story to skip
Beloved looks pregnant
Must be exercised before it spreads
Beloved was literally draining the life from Sethe as punishment for her murder. "The bigger Beloved got, the smaller Sethe became" (Morrison 194). Beloved abused the intense love Sethe had for her children, and that is what brought about her end. I couldn't think of a more badass thing than the image of Ella organizing a rescue of Sethe from her demonic child. The thirty women crowded outside 124 and sang for the release of Sethe from her bondage of love, for it was her love that kept her enslaved. When the hummingbirds came back for Sethe and she was about to cut Mr. Bodwin, Ella punched her out cold and they say Beloved exploded. I like to think she did, even though she probably just quietly returned to hell. Beloved had become Sethe's slavemaster and sent her after Bodwin like a dog and these powerful women stopped her dead in her tracks and finally rid 124 of Beloved for good. That is what being a good neighbor is all about.
Now to the best part.
I am so proud of Denver. I personally identify with her because I know what it is to be a lonely child. When she walked off those porch steps, she became my hero. She was no longer going to be held down by the chains of the past and she made her life the way she wanted. There was a visible change in her as she sought out a job and food to help her mother who was suffering at the hands of Beloved. Denver is easily my favorite character in the book because of this radical transformation.
All these characters were created by Toni Morrison for a very specific purpose: to warn people against lingering on the past and being paralyzed in the present. Morrison has proved that no matter what atrocities have plagued your past, you can move on and live your life the way you choose to. It may require some help, like Sethe getting punched in the jaw, but we must not be afraid to look for it. I could not have chosen a more wonderful book with such a strong cast of characters to complete my high school career with and these lessons I will take with me as I go on to bigger and better things. I will never forget the child I was, but I will not let it hinder the man I will become.
In Beloved most of the characters experience some type of trauma in their life. Sethe goes through multiple traumas, such as: being a slave, being raped, and having to kill one of her very own children to prevent her daughter from having to be taken captive into slavery. Paul D also experiences trauma watching his friend being killed, seeing the love of his life being taken from him, and also going through slavery. Both of these characters try pushing their trauma away, to the back of their mind ,but experiences like those can’t be forgotten. Paul D and Sethe learn that no matter how much they suppress their memories, they will always resurface and come back with full force. As an example Sethe it is distancing herself from her community, giving Beloved all her attention to the point she no longer cares about anything else. Paul D’s trauma shows when he can never fully open his tin can of a heart completely to others. The best way to deal with trauma like what they have experienced is by facing it, and especially for Sethe to see that despite the dreadful things they have seen, and the things that have been done to them they are still worthy to be loved and love others. At the end of the book Paul D and Sethe realize they can lean on each other for strength, and that it isn’t them against the rest of the world anymore.