Myrtle in the Kitchen

"Sethe had the amazing luck of six whole years of marriage to "somebody" son who had fathered everyone of her children. a blessing she was reckless enough to take for granted, lean on, as though sweet home really was one. As though a handful myrtle stuck in the handle of a pressing iron propped against the door in the whitewoman's kitchen could make it hers. As though mint sprig in the mouth changed the breath as well as its odor. A bigger fool never lived"(28).

Back when slavery was allowed in the United States, a common idea for African Americans was to run away to the North to escape the harsh life of slavery. Sethe had children of her own but with a man who “fathered everyone of her children”(28) but a “bigger fool never lived”(28). Sethe and her husband had attempted to run away from their plantation, but Sethe was caught causing them to be separated and even after Slavery had ended, the father did not go back to search for her. The idea of freedom was stronger for African Americans who went through slavery that when the opportunity arose, they will take it and not look back.  

Throughout History, Myrtle has been used to symbolize love and marriage. The use of myrtle in this passage is to signify the idea of marriage and love that Sethe had but soon was lost and left to rot by “the door in the whitewoman’s kitchen”(28). In the case for Sethe she had the idea of a perfect family where she had a man who fathered all of her children and they even had the idea to run away in hopes for a better life. She mentions that myrtle would be left propped against the door of a whitewoman’s kitchen because it is something she could not take for herself. Back when slavery was in the southern states, slaves who worked in the household could not steal food from the kitchen or they would be severely punished so the idea that Myrtle flowers were in the kitchen meant that Sethe’s marriage was always forbidden.