zBlogging the Literary Life - AP College English

Whats up with this?

I just wanted to take a moment and talk about how sex is emphasized in alot in the books we read and why it seems to be so important.  In LIA there are numerous sexual encounters with different people.  In reality, alot of the encounters are forced like Joe and Ms.Burden with no love, while in consenual relashinships there is no love like Rev. Hightower and his wife.  Sex seems to be a double edge sword that society uses to gauge relashinships.  Why does this happen?  Is it important to understand it?  And is this relateable to our lives today?

Paul D's Self-Ascribed Self-Identity

Paul D is, in my opinion, one of the more interesting characters in Beloved. But, what does he think of himself? I quote from the end of Part I (p. 193):

The roaring in Paul D's head did not prevent him from hearing the pat she gave to the last word, and it occurred to him that what she wanted for her children was exactly what was missing in 124: safety. Which was the very first message he got the day he walked through the door. He thought he had made it safe, had gotten rid of the danger...

Does he feel incomptenent? Unable to protect his own? "Protector" is a quality traditionally ascribed to men; men want to be able to protect the ones they love. Is Paul D's inability to do so crumbling his sense of worth?

How do you define freedom?

I just want to post and appreciate what I think has been one of the most beautiful passages from the book so far and ask after reading this what your reactions are, if it helps you to see Sethe or Paul D. in a new way, and maybe to reflect on what freedom means to you.

Page 191:

Listening to the doves in Alfred, Georgia, and having neither the right nor the permission to enjoy it because in that place mist, doves, sunlight, copper dirt, moon--everything belonged to the men who had the guns.  Little men, some of them, big men too, each one of whom he could snap like a twig if he wanted to.  Men who knew their manhood lay in their guns  and were not even embarrassed by the knowledge that without gunshot fox would laugh at them.  And these "men" who made even vixen laugh could, if you let them stop you from hearing doves or loving moonlight.  So you protected yourself and loved small.  Picked the tiniest stars out of the sky to own; lay down with head twisted in order to see the loved one over the rim of the trench before you slept.  Stole shy glances at her between the trees at chain-up.  Grass blades, salamanders, spiders, woodpeckers, beetles, a kingdom of ants.  Anything bigger wouldn't do.  A woman, a child, a brother--a big love like that would split you wide open in Alfred, Georgia.  He knew exactly what she meant: to get to a place where you could love anything you chose--not to need permission for desire--well now, that was freedom."

A Loving Murderer

At the end of Part 1, after hearing many snippets and different points of view about the day when Schoolmaster came to 124, we finally get to hear Sethe's explanation for what she did.  Her explanation is complex but in simple words her reasoning is that after knowing what freedom feels like she thinks that death would be better for her children than going back to Sweet Home and that made what she did actions of love.  Paul D.'s response actually surprised me.  On page 193 he thinks to himself, "This here Sethe talked about love like any other woman; talked about baby clothes like any other woman, but what she meant could cleave the bone.  This here Sethe talked about safety with a handsaw.  This here new Sethe didn't know where thw world stopped and she began.  Suddenly he saw what Stamp Paid wanted him to see: more important than what Sethe had done was what she claimed.  It scared him."  Then on the next page he basically tells her that she was wrong to do it, that it didn't make their lives or hers better than it would've been, and that what she did made her an animal.  Do you agree with Paul D or Sethe?  Though it may be impossible to imagine yourself in such an instance, I guess I'm asking what would you have done in Sethe's position?  Do you think what she did "worked"?  Does what she did make you see her as an animal?  What do you think about Paul D criticizing her in the way that he does?

Paul D and Setha's Baby?

In chapter 14 of Beloved, Paul D surprisingly asks Setha to have a baby with him. However, Setha decides that having a baby with Paul D would not be a good idea.  What is perplexing about this part of the chapter, and worth noting seem to be a few questions:

1. Why does Paul D decide to ask Setha to have a baby with him and what does this show about his development?

2.  Why does Setha reject having a baby and what does this show about how she is dealing with her own personal history?

It seems to me that Paul D does not realize that his views are changing and that he is developing until he surprises himself by asking Setha to have a child with him.  Paul D has always felt that it is better not to get attached to anyone.  Yet, he takes a step towards attachment.  In addition, around this point in the book, Paul D's "tin heart" is said to open.  Perhaps his exposing his past and facing his history has enabled him to take steps towards moving on in his life.  On the contrary, Setha is not really dealing with her past head-on and has been so scared by the loss of three children that she is unable to open up and take a risk with Paul D.

Does anyone else have any thoughts about this section or the development of Setha and Paul D's relationship?  What does their relationship mean to each of them individually?

Generations and Identity

One way that Morrison has shown the struggle for identity and the effects of slavery is through Sethe's mother, Sethe, and Denver. All three of the women had very different lives. Sethe's mother was free then a slave, Sethe was a slave then free, and Denver was always free. We don't know much about Sethe's mother, but we do know that she went through the horrors of the middle passage and then into slavery. She, physically, was never able to escape slavery.

Sethe did not have the same African identity as her mother. She lived her entire early life within the institution of slavery and never knew anything else until she escaped. Even when she is free, her life of slavery and her mother still haunt her (through Beloved, and the baby ghost, and her daughter's general unhappiness).

Denver never knew slavery, at least directly. She was born free, but still suffers from isolation and loneliness. While she should be happy in comparison with the lives of her grandmother and mother, she is miserable and isolated. The effects of slavery haunt Denver, even though she was never a slave. Being isolated, she struggles to have an identity. To me, Denver seems to have the biggest identity problem. She was not African, and she did not live under the institution of slavery. As the third generation, the institutions that shaped her mother and grandmother do not shape her, but she still suffers their consequences.

Demonic Beloved

Beloved has an unnerving obsession with Sethe.  When Denver tells Beloved not to let Sethe know who she (Beloved) actually is, Beloved has a complete shift of character.

She says, "Don't tell me what to do.  Don't you never never tell me what to do."
Denver says, "But I'm on your side, Beloved."
Beloved says, "She is the one.  She is the one I need.  You can go but she is the one I have to have."

Clearly, in this scene, Denver is proclaiming her allegiance to Beloved over her mother, yet Beloved is does not care.  She possess one single desire, and will cast aside anything, and anyone that gets in her way of getting Sethe.  Creepy.

What do you think Beloved means when she says, "She is the one I need...have to have"?  Why does she need Sethe?  Is it vengeance?  love? ...?

Corny Sex

So I was originally going to post this as a comment to Mike's post but I had too much on it and couldn't think of anything else to write about.

This is in reference to the passage on pages 32 and 33 about Sethe and Halle having sex. The thing that surprised me most about that scene is that of all things that could be used as sexual imagery, Morrison chooses CORN. I don't really see the connection there but she made it work pretty well. I think it's significant that she writes the scene from an unbiased perspective ("the pulling down... the ear yielding," instead of "the yielding of his/her ear," etc) so that it seems distinctly mutual, as if one person is not dominating the scene, in sharp contrast to the rape scenes depicted in other parts of the book (including the "twelve white men" who raped Sethe's own mother) that definitely do not feature mutual participation. I'm probably going way too deeply into this, but since it's the blog I feel like I should: maybe the use of corn as the symbol is because corn first needs to be peeled from its sheath almost like Sethe needs to come out of her own shell and face her past. But I could be really wrong.

Seduction

So. I thought this book couldn't get any weirder. And then Beloved seduced Paul D. with her supernatural powers. It was pretty clear that Paul D. did not want to "touch her on the inside" but something weird happened and then there he was, touching her and calling out her name. Why does Beloved do this? Is it a bizarre attempt to get Sethe's attention? Beloved obviously cares for Sethel so why would she get busy with her lover? And isn't Beloved supposed to be pretty young? I had to put down the book after I read this scene. It just completely baffled me.

Damn is she creepy

So we turn to p. 88-89 in Beloved and Beloved and Denver are talking to each other. Up until this point in time, Beloved is all happy-like. But then Denver says to her, "Why you call yourself Beloved?" and Beloved responds with the creepy response, "In the dark my name is Beloved." After that, they have a very creepy conversations about it. We came up with a few theories:
1. The dark refers to death/being in a coffin/being burried under ground.
2. Being in a ship on the middle passage.

Does anyone have any other theories?