I just finished Beloved, which I really enjoyed, and have a few lingering questions...
What do you think Morrison is saying about community in Beloved? Sethe, the outsider, is reduced to a gaunt wreck. "This Sethe had lost her wits, finally, as Janey knew she would—trying to do it all alone" (pg. 299). Is a part of Morrison's theme that people cannot survive without community? And does Sethe deserve to be ostracized from the community because of her perceived pride? She does take it into her own hands to kill one of her children, and it is prideful to make oneself judge of life and death, but she apparently intended to kill all of the children and then herself, and only out of love, because she felt being devastated by slavery was worse than death. She also attempts to live alone with her children, but that's her only choice: she has been rejected by the community, and by Paul D once he finally learns what she has done.
On pg. 300, Denver is struck by the image of a coinholder in the shape of a disturbing-looking black boy, with "At Yo Service" inscribed below it. I think this is intended to make us question our ideas about the Bodwins, who had appeared to be morally unimpeachable abolitionists. Are they as guilty of racism as the slaveholders? If so, this would be another case of Morrison exposing cracks in an ideal, a technique of hers that Bernie mentioned in class earlier this week. The seemingly ideal ex-slave community is actually fragile, with Sethe quickly ostracized, the seemingly ideal situation at Sweet Home under Mr. Garner (it's ridiculous to a call a slave-driven farm ideal, but Sweet Home under Garner is held up as enlightened, better-than-average slavery) might actually be hardly better than another plantation for the slaves, as Paul D asks at one point if they were only men because Mr. Garner declared it, and now these seemingly ideal abolitionists might just be paternalistic, condescending folks helping slaves only because they pity these people that are, in their minds, inferior.
One last point about the novel: I liked the ending. Morrison ties her strands up conclusively, without having to resort to some sort of far-fetched twist or dramatic revelation. Denver is venturing out into the world, Paul D and Sethe are reunited, with the possibility of Sethe coming back to her senses and to the present to realize that she is "her own best thing," and the community as a whole came together to drive out the ghost of slavery, Beloved, so that there can be some sort of future—a "tomorrow," as Paul D puts it. But what did you think of the last two pages? "It was not a story to pass on," Morrison writes, after she has just passed the story on. Beloved (slavery) is too painful to remember, but it's important for the story to be passed on. Is this how the last two pages should be read (as dear SparkNotes, for one, claims)? And do you think Morrison made a good choice in closing the book this way, with a vague, poetic metaphor?
Bernie also mentioned that he'd like to get some posts on the blog about India. I'm not sure how to tie the trip to Beloved in a way that's not too painfully ridiculous (though they do have a caste system that continues to haunt the country), but it'd be cool to get some blog threads running about the trip.
So if anyone has any ideas about Morrison's attitude towards community, the "At Yo Service" coinholder, or the ending, or any questions about India, post!
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