Final Reflection: Who has power in "Beloved"

       



 Sethe has power over Paul D and her children, but she has less power than white people. For example, Paul D asks Sethe about getting a job and Sethe gives him back some advice about getting a job given his qualifications. An example of Sethe having less power than white people is when she talks about the times when she was a slave. American society during the 1870's was messed up. I think this was the worst racist time. Racism has not gone away. For example, If we think about the speech that was given at summit prep high school, about Islamaphobia, we see that racism is still out there but it is more hidden.

Beloved Ft. Frederick Douglass (Expert Lens)

Frederick Douglass was ex-slave and soon a successful writer with his book, Narrative life of Frederick Douglass in 1845. Due to his successful writing, he played a huge roll in influencing many future writers such as Toni Morrison. Douglass wrote his autobiography in order to portray the harsh life of a slave without attacking anyone. In his autobiography, he talks about these songs that many slaves sing similar to Paul D where these songs help tell stories of hardships yet give them power or a will to survive. Paul D was constantly seen as a spiritual man who sang these songs of his struggles as a slave. He introduces himself not by his name but through song which allows one to connect with his spirit and see who he is as a person. Unlike Frederick Douglass, Toni Morrison was not afraid to publish songs in Beloved even when Douglass stated that it would anger many white Americans due to the fact that it was a testimony against slavery.

Throughout African history, songs were used commonly and on an everyday basis for example, cooking, cleaning, and caring for children. Sometimes, there were cases where Spanish Conquistadors would search for tribes to capture in Africa. Some tribes would sing a war song as tradition which would give their position away but the Spanish Conquistadors would let them finish because of how beautiful it was. These songs allowed them to express their emotion, spiritual freedom, and stories. Now how has songs helped in slavery? Well songs have allowed slaves to cope with the pain of slavery but in addition to pass secret information of freedom to one another for songs were passed through generations and family groups.

Mother Daughter Aje (Expert Lens)

"The Mother-Daughter Aje Relationship In Toni Morrison's Beloved" describes the relationship of Sethe and Denver through an old spiritual human called Aje. When one daughter inherits her mother's spiritual energy and physically, it becomes a love and hate relationship between Sethe and Paul D. Denver started to feel agitated towards Sethe for not paying attention to her and Beloved instead Sethe spends more time with Paul D. Having Paul D in the picture allowed the Aje to work because inorder to create an Aje spirit. There were discussions about the mother "killing" their daughter, either spiritually, mentally, or physically. In the book, Sethe "kills" her daughter by keeping her "where they'd be safe." What that means i where Sethe tried to protect Denver from the outside and greater world of pain. Sethe is so overprotective and attached to her daughter that Denver would have a difficult time leaving her mother in the future. Sethe doesn't want her daughter to experience what she had in the past, as the common saying, "those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it" (George Santayana) and because of this, she keeps Denver away from any threat from white oppression.

In African Mythology, there are common beliefs of having one god but there are spirits and elements that also exists. The sun, moon, and earth are seen as spirits, but in other cultures such as Greek mythology these are gods. Having a clear distinction on how the African Culture sees the world around the, where spirits can affect you spiritually and mentally. Spirits are similar to building blocks for one's soul where the earth shows power and compassion, strong yet caring for others. The sun being a strong spirit where it symbolizes a pure and bright energy. Lastly the moon is the peace and silence of the soul where it controls the chaos of the body. Having all three of these spirits allows you to enter heaven when you die. However in Beloved, Sethe, Paul D, and Denver all seemed to only have one of these spirits that emulate out through their personality. 

Moving on from the Past

Let It Go!

Toni Morrison demonstrates that although slavery is over African-Americans are still mentally chained up from the effects and memories of slavery.  Sethe is still trying to mentally escape the memories of her past. Going through all the hardships it is a struggle to keep moving forward and letting go of what happened. Sethe is torn up with guilt and fear. Eventually with Denver's help she is closer to becoming free. In the end Paul D comes back and Sethe and him can continue their lives together. The lesson learned is to not beat yourself up to much from the sins of your past because you can’t change them. In all people make mistakes and to move on with our lives we must focus on the present and future.  Sethe dwells too much on the past and drowns in her guilt that she can’t move on to a brighter future for herself. Sethe learns to be forgiving of herself and tries to move on from the past.  Even though killing your own children isn’t justified ,but from all that she went through I believe Sethe deserves another opportunity to leave her past behind her. In the end Toni Morrison adds the irony to this book that although we should let go of the past she still needs to tell this story because people may learn from it.

In the novel Sethe is represented as the ego which is the decision making component of our personality. The ego focuses on the reality and focuses on reason. Sethe usually looks at things realistically because she has gone through so much she wont bring her hopes up with a fantasy. When Paul D hears the news that she killed her baby, Sethe know that he will leave. She lets go of the hope that people will stay with her in her house for very long. She comes to the logical conclusion that people will abandon her every time ,because what she has done. The ego handles the realistic way of compromising with the Id. The ego also focuses on realistic ways to avoid pain and gain pleasure. Often the ego is weak relative to the headstrong id ,but the ego can point the id in the right direction. As Sethe is the ego then Beloved is the id. Sethe tries to realistically compromise with Beloved and please her needs like spending time with her. Although Beloved takes advantage of Sethe they no longer can compromise and balance each other out.

Sethe goes through moral anxiety that the id and superego create for her and tries to use defense mechanisms to stop fearing the violation of moral principles. In Sethe we see the id, when she tries to kill the white man who tries to give Denver a job. Sethe the superego which is on morals is telling what she did was wrong. Sethe does have good morals, but when she lets the id take control she loses it and the superego makes her feel guilt.

Circularity in Relationships

Circularity in Beloved

In the passage the “Circularity in Beloved” by Philip page recognizes the symbolism of a circle or cycle and what it represents in different stages of the novel. There are different relationships that form the circle of a family but also can break it. In the novel we see the community as a whole form this circle of relationships. Baby Suggs gathers everyone and has them join together shareing and expressing their feelings. Although they can be bonded together they can also exclude people such as Sethe from the circle. There is also times where there are circles of the cycle of life such as a rebirth. Phillip states that Beloved is a representation of this circle of being reborn and a cycle of life. The circle also comes back to the idea of the past and going back from the past and to the future and then to the present. The memory’s of Paul D and Sethe going around from different stages of their lives. In all this whole novel is a circle going back from different parts of their lives and concluding to the present and future.

One of the key elements that Philip discovers are that of the relationship and ties between the characters. He states that “As with the community circle, these family groups can be both healthy and destructive. Clearly, the loss of family is a large part of these characters' tragedy, and their attempts to retain or remake a family reflect their desire to become spiritually and psychologically whole. However,the novel also dramatizes the fact that one potential family may destroy an-other.”

In this quote I believe that Philip states it perfectly on how relationships play out in the novel. Communities are created and then torn down. Everyone desires and needs that close relationship with a significant other but in a way can also fear it. Baby Suggs is a perfect example of how she lost many family members such as her sons and daughters due to slavery. Ultimately she joins the community and holds a sanctuary for the people that are hurt like her. In this case the community healed her.  In many cases there is a joining and breaking relationships throughout the novel. Paul D and Beloved both enter as breaking and completing a circle in the empty space in 124.  As Paul D first comes to 124, he breaks a tie that Denver had with Sethe and the ghosts company. It is first rough but later the shadows of them in a circle holding ands represents a start of a new life. Although when Beloved enters their new lives the tie between the trio is broken again. Paul D leaves breaking out of the circle and therefore causing pain to Sethe. Sethe, Beloved, and Denver then become a trio and go ice skating together having a good time. Ultimately that circle is then broken once again and another so on. In the novel it seems like endless breakups and makeups.

Beloved a Symbol to Everyone

Figurations of Rape and the Supernatural of Beloved

In the passage Figurations of Rape and the Supernatural of Beloved , by Pamela E. Barnett which includes several pieces of evidence of where rape and the supernatural clash together. It is a very interesting passage that makes the reader realize how much rape and sexual recurrences are brought up. The careless and dehumanizing way that people are abused and abuse others. Throughout the novel several characters primarily Sethe and Paul D try to leave the past as it is and forget the terrible traumatic experiences recurring.

In the novel Barnett makes a clear statement from the beginning saying, “link between haunting and rape that invigorates the novel's dominant trope:the succubus figure. The character Beloved is not just the ghost of Sethe's dead child; she is a succubus, a female demon and nightmare figure that sexually assaults male sleepers and drains them of semen.” In this quote she is stating that Beloved is not only a haunted image of Sethe’s dead daughter reincarnated ,but symbolizes the hardships of Sethe’s past.  She states Beloved as a “succubus figure” which mean she is a female demon known to have sexual intercourse with men. When Paul D is in the cabin he is sexual assualted by Beloved which brings back terrible memories of Sweet Home and when he was imprisoned. Paul D is also forced to leave 124 being pushed away from Beloved. Beloved also sexual assaults Sethe in a way that reminds her of how the Schoolteacher and the two school boys raped her. It sucks away Sethe’s vitality leaving her weak and helpless. As Sethe grows weaker Beloved grows stronger. Beloved is a symbol of all the hardships that people went through in slavery. Beloved brings back the memories of pain,death, and torture that went on,  putting Sethe and Paul D in fear. Although there all these bad memories coming from Beloved there is also some good things she represents, that Barnett fails to realize. She completes an empty space for Sethe as a daughter relieving guilt and companionship and a sister for Denver.  She is also a figure of a lover and a mystery to Paul D. Eventually, Beloved can represent different things to everyone.

A big theme of this novel is how the characters in the novel are now traumatized by the rape and assault that they lived through in slavery. The characters go through faces of shock or denial. Halle that went through a traumatic experience of Sethe being raped,she was in shock putting butter milk on his face. The strongest symptoms of trauma are that there are recurring flashbacks and strained relationships. Although these feelings are normal they prevent,  such as Sethe and Paul D from moving on with their lives. There is also a post-traumatic stress disorder which is a person that goes through traumatic experience and relive these memories and nightmares. Those nightmares may come and go or be there for times and suddenly experience them daily. They also may avoid things that bring them bad memories, feel unaffectionate, aggressive, and violent. This relates to how Beloved is this recurring nightmare to Sethe and Paul D and are forced to relive these recurrent traumatic experiences.

Lesson of transitioning to Childhood to Adulthood

Childhood transition to Adulthood
                                         

In the beginning of the novel Denver is isolated from society and depends on her mother. Denver is kept away from society because Sethe killed her baby girl and Denver is the only one left to Sethe. Her other brothers Howard and Burglar readily left afraid that Sethe might come after them to. Denver sticks by her mother and creates company of her own. In the novel it states, “Denver's imagination produced its own hunger and its own food, which she badly needed because loneliness wore her out. Wore her out. Veiled and protected by the live green walls, she felt ripe and clear, and salvation was as easy as a wish”(p36). This quote represents how she is lonely and is only amused by her own imagination. She hopes that she won’t be abandoned or alone anymore. Many people have left her life and townspeople avoid her that the only people she has is the ghost and her mother. But in the end of the book she tries to kick Beloved out and help her mother from Beloveds tyranny. She gets the town people to join her and Beloved disappears. The main focus is that Denver doesn’t need to depend on  any one now because she knows who she is and can handle herself.  This relates to the transition of adulthood and how people that we depend on eventually end up depending on you. Denver gets a job and can support herself and help her mother. In my life transitioning to adulthood is a struggle because you have to think about things that you have never thought about before. But like Denver we must all go through hardships to find who we are and make our own lives.

In my lens I realize that Denver is like the superego in the novel. The superego is the values and morals of society and tries to stop the id impulses from taking over.  In the novel Denver tries stopping Beloveds aggression and gathers townspeople to exorcise this demon.   The superego also values ideal self of behaving as a member of society. As Denver reaches out to the community she becomes a contributing member of society. There is also the conscious in the superego as punishing the ego through guilt. Sethe may represent the ego and how Denver believes that Sethe should be guilty from what she has done. But ultimately Denver believes that what is in the past should stay in the past.