responding and reflecting #2

While reading Beloved, my view on this era of American history has changed, specifically, my view on life for African Americans after slavery was abolished. An example would be the fact that "He [Paul D] was sent there [prison] after trying to kill Brandywine"(125). Before I read Beloved, the idea of freed slaves being imprisoned never crossed my mind. Another part of Beloved that challenged my historical view of the time period was relationship between native Americans and African Americans. In another part of the book, Paul D and other prisoners manage to escape, and come across a sick Cherokee camp who help free them of there chains. This was interesting, as from my research, the Cherokee tribe had the most slaves of all native American tribes. This made me wonder if some native Americans viewed African slaves differently than other groups of natives. Another scene in the book that changed my view historically was when Baby Suggs preached the black community in a place called the "clearing". There, she "told them that the only grace they could have was the grace they could imagine" (103). I never knew the details about the transition for former slaves after slavery was abolished. Former slaves had to get used to a totally new life after being freed. Even though they were freed, there was still severe amount of racism towards them regardless of there freedom. this part of the book sheds light on how freed slaves felt emotionally at this time in history. When I learned about slavery in history class, I was shown merely the numbers and statistics. Beloved showed the emotional side of the people affected by slavery both before and after it was abolished. Beloved showed me the day to day life of former slaves and the constant problems they faced.

critical lens #2

In Revisions, Rememories and Exorcisms: Toni Morrison and the Slave Narrative by Cynthia S. Hamilton talks about the style of storytelling Beloved uses in order to explain the life as a slave in the 1800's. Hamilton also compares Toni Morrison's writing style compared to traditional slave stories of the past. She describes how the story is told from the point of view of multiple characters, and how they define themselves through there individual experiences throughout the course of the book. Hamilton describes how this form of storytelling also hinders the individual characters chance to grow. She then compares this to Beloved, how having multiple characters explain there pasts helps the reader understand the story in the present. She also describes how Toni Morrison writes her slave story without following "generic formulation of the classic slave narrative". She goes into detail about how the traditional way of writing slave stories focused on the "dominant middle class sensitivities and sensibilities of the period". This means that past slave stories could were restricted by what was considered politically correct and appropriate for the time, which is not the case for Morrison's Beloved. I agree and understand Hamilton's claims and views towards Beloved and how it was written. The fact that Beloved is told from multiple perspectives is both a positive and a negative. It shows the life of a slave from different viewpoints, instead of simply having one perspective. In most previous slave stories, the main character is that of an escaped slave. However, having multiple viewpoints does make the story itself complicated and difficult to follow. I also agree that Toni Morrison's writing was not limited by what is or was politically correct. This allowed her to tell the story of slavery more freely without being restricted by what society considers appropriate.  

close reading #2

"The Cherokee saw the chains and went away. When they returned each carried a handful of small axes."(132) This quote describes how a tribe of Cherokee natives helped Paul D and other escaped slaves out of their chains after escaping a prison in Alfred, Georgia. Historically, the Cherokee tribe owned slaves. In fact, they owned more slaves than any other native american community. By 1860, the Cherokee tribe owned 4,600 slaves. This quote seems to contradict the historical facts towards the relationship between native american tribes and African slaves. These facts may show that this particular scene in beloved could be considered historically inaccurate. This kind of situation may have happened during that time in history, since both Africans and native Americans have been historically oppressed by Europeans. This means that the two groups could be sympathetic towards each other and help like in the book Beloved. However, from a historical viewpoint, this situation seems unlikely. Like I said before, The Cherokee tribe owned the most slaves out of all native american communities. This event in the book would have to take place after the end of the civil war, when slavery was abolished. "what they found was a camp of sick Cherokee for whom a rose was named" (131) When Europeans began to settle in America, they carried many non-native illnesses that native Americans were not immune to and became sick very easily. This happened very often when the original colonies were being formed. This quote shows that diseases were still spreading through native american tribes during and after the civil war in the 1800's when this scene in beloved takes place. These two quotes are relative to my historical lens as it shows the impact the civil war, slavery, and non-native people in general have on native american tribes, like the Cherokee. 

The effect of Violation(Critical lens #2)

In the article "Rape", it says that Sethe was psychologically damaged from the assault at Sweet Home. Of course, I agree. She experienced PTSD and this influenced her future decisions. Even in the present tense of the book, we can feel the aura of Sethe's mental pain. She makes her decisions not only for herself but also for Denver. She has an extremely sensitive motherly instinct and this causes her to overprotect Denver. Though some may argue this is simply for Denver's good, then why are they living in a haunted house? If she wants the best for Denver, why don't they have a better house? Secondly, I'd argue that Sethe has PTSD, like Paul D. When Paul D enters the house, he brings his issues with him, which he "shares". On a psychoanalytical lens, Sethe is feeling jumpy and sensitive. The article also states that Paul D's PTSD stems from what he saw at Sweet Home. To avoid his own injury, he stood witness to Sethe's pain, her breastmilk theft. Now, he regrets not doing anything for her- which causes his trauma. Unlike Sethe, he doesn't allow this trauma to influence his decisions. He acts out of what is good for his new family, Sethe and Denver. On a psychoanalytical lens, Paul is inflicted with PTSD, but still mentally stable. In general, the rape has made an extremely negative impact, of course, on Sethe. But it also negatively afflicted Denver. Her mom overprotects her and this will hurt her. Denver will rarely be able to make independent decisions, atleast without her mother. On a historical level, this also shows us the context. Sethe, a black woman, was held down both physically and socially, by the Sweet Home boys, who were primarily white. On a psychoanalytical level, this shows us how Sethe feels pressured and always feels like she is held down; with Paul D coming into the picture, she can no longer hold the mother-daughter, single strong bond that she used to have. In this way, Paul D might actually be hurting Sethe.

Critical Lens Experts

Theres no such thing as Supernatural

The article, “Figurations of Rape and the Supernatural” by Pamela E. Barnett.

Talks about how beloved is a reminder of everyone's past. When anyone speaks to her, like Paul d and sethe memories flood their mind of rape. Sethe,  and Pauly D try to block all the negative  memories, of rape, torture and lynching, but beloved's  presence brings them back to life.

For example, Beloved feeds off the , “memories” of Sethe's past who she only willingly shares with beloved and no one else.  Beloved is in some way a supernatural presence appearing out of nowhere. Barnett's s interpretation of Beloved in spot on. Every time someone interacts with Beloved she uses them as a, “catalyst” of bad memories and in a way she does feed off them. Beloved brings back the horrors that Paul D and Sethe had to experience in their old plantation, "Sweet home." For example when Paul D is approached by beloved in the barn she seduces him and has sexual interactions with him. During these occurrences he feels like a, "puppet being pulled by a string", as he is filled with bad memories regarding his past as soon as Beloved touches him. These memories make Paul D feel miserable and feels him with pain. He does go along with Beloved's intentions but only because he felt like he was being pulled into it. She is making them feel vunerable.

Although I don't entirely believe that she is a complete supernatural being, that came to feed off the family's bad luck and experience. She does use these memories for evil intentions. With people opening up with her and telling Beloved what they have come up against, they are really exposing themselves and Beloved ends up using these interactions for her own agenda. In a way, she uses these bad memories to bring down Sethe's  family and tear them apart from one another. In reality her goal is to get Sethe for her own and take Paul D out of the picture. That is the reason she acts the way she does with him, to hurt him and make him go away.

Beloved  feels like she needs to do this because she wants to fill her emptiness, that need for a mother and the care that one gives. Its almost as if she is actually needing to fill that void, that's the supernatural part about beloved. Her need for a motherly figure and attention. Thats all beloved wants, she's not a bad person, she's just acts immaturely, not on purpose but out of instinct. Beloved is not dangerous, she's just a kid, with kid motives and ideas.

close reading #1

page 31

"Halle and me want to be married, Mrs. Garner."

-write about how marriages were handled for slaves at the time.
-how was the slave marriage in the book handled.
-whether or not it was historically common

"Halle and me want to be married, Mrs. Garner." In this quote, Sethe asks Mrs. Garner if she and Halle can get married. In this time in history, it was somewhat common for slave owners to let two of there slaves get married, and for a number of reasons. A series of lists made by George Washington in the summer before his death, indicates that roughly two thirds of the mount Vernon slaves were married. Since marriages between slaves was not officially legal, how the marriage between two slaves was handled entirely by the owner. Some slave owners believed that if a slave was married, he would be less likely to escape and leave his wife behind. even if two slaves were married, there owner could still sell them or their children separately. most slave males wanted to be married to a slave from another plantation, so they would not see their wife suffer on a daily basis. Since marriages between slaves were not protected by the legal system, slave owners were able to sell slaves regardless if they were married. This gives the idea that allowing slaves to be married was a way to have more control over them. Slave owners also wanted there slaves to bear children, often times promised freedom in exchange. Slave marriages were more about practical uses for the slave owner than the love between two slaves. Slave marriages also benefited the slave owners with newborn children. This meant that the children would grow up and slave owners would had more slaves to work on the fields. Slaves were able to teach there children there own values which were different from the slave owners personal beliefs that were forced on the slaves. The slave parents helped teach there children how to survive life as a slave.  

 

Close Reading #2

The Supernatural

"Beloved went on probing her mouth with her finger , "make him go away" she said,"she might be mad at you if he leaves. Beloved inserting a thumb inside her mouth along with her forefinger pulled out a black tooth.There was hardly any blood but Denver said, "oooh didnt that hurt you?" Beloved looked at her tooth and tought. This is it, next time would be her arm, her hand, her toe. Pieces of her would drop, maybe one at a time, maybe all at once. Or one of those mornings before denver woke and after sethe left she would fly apart."

The idea of the supernatural scares people and believing in that idea can end up making you do and say unethical things. This is exactly what happened to beloved. Since sethe and her family didn't really know where beloved came from, appearing out of nowhere, and not even beloved herself knew what occurred to her in the past, they believed that she is, well at least Sethe, she is a reincarnation of Sethe's dead baby. This family is very culturally supernatural and you notice it throughout beloved. In this text we see the scary thought of the supernatural being talked about, by beloved. Her teeth falls out and she automatically believes that she will start to, “fly apart” and begin to lose her lips, and her body will give up on itself. She believes it, “had started” when her tooth came out. 

Beloved actually believes that she is cursed and she will one day fall apart. That's the reason why she reacts this way, all anxious and scared as she starts thinking of the worst. Her thoughts speak for herself. She thinks this way because she feels that she herself comes from the supernatural with her idea that she is gonna fall apart soon and she has been given limited time to live with sethe, executing her inner plan. Since beloved herself doesn't know anything about herself, the supernatural ideology suits her well. Beloved  being frightened with this occurrence shows us her human side, that even though she acts different, and sometimes not completely ethical, like in this passage, about to drop to, "pieces" she is just as scared as a person would be. She portrays the same emotions as everyone else. She doesn't really understand that teeth fall apart all the time and tooth being,"black"tells her that her time is coming to end. But in reality its black due to the bad maintenance of her teeth.

responding and reflecting

"Windows suddenly had view. And wouldn't you know he'd be a singing man." (48) Paul D began to sing while working in the house. During the time in American history, slaves would often sing during there hard labor for multiple reasons. The slaves originally sang to boost moral of the other slaves, but later used there songs to send hidden codes. For example, one song, Follow the Drinking Gourd, "when the sun comes up and the first quail calls, follow the drinking gourd. for the old man is a-waiting to carry you to freedom, if you follow the drinking gourd." The song, when decoded, said to escape in winter and head north to Canada, which was slave-free, where they would find a guide. The guide being represented by the old man. there were two kinds of coded songs were signal and map songs. in a signal song, the singer or group of singers communicated in code about a certain event, like an escape. A map song, lyrics would contain elements of a map in order to direct slaves to the underground railroad in order to escape. An example of a map song would be Follow the Drinking Gourd. Since slaves couldn't read or write, songs were the perfect way to secretly pass information without being noticed. slave owners interpreted the songs on a literal level, while slaves understood the secret meanings behind the words. With the increasing use of the railroad, slaves had an easier time escaping, and could spread coded messages much farther. Originally, I believed that slaves only sang to boost moral. At the time, singing actually had more uses besides boosting moral. slave songs help the slaves survive both emotionally due to moral and often times physically through hidden messages, and all under the noses of the slave owners.


                                              

critical lens

In Truth in Timbre, written by Peter J Capuano, he talks about how Toni Morrison describes slavery in Beloved, and compares her writing to Frederick Douglass's 1845 Narrative. He describes how Narrative relies heavily on facts due to the year it was published. Morrison's Beloved was published much later, which meant that Morrison could focus more on the emotional aspect than Narrative. He compares how Douglass portrays slave songs to how Morrison does, saying how Douglass establishes the relationship between slaves and there songs, while Morrison goes into deeper detail about this relationship. Capuano further explains how Morrison's book depicts slave songs as a way for slaves to assert there humanity.

In 1845, Frederick Douglass's narrative was to show people how slavery was like. In his book, he describes both his life as a slave and his escape. however, he left out the specific locations he was in during his escape. this was because in 1845, slavery was still legal. if he exposed how he escaped, he could be captured and brought back into slavery due to the fugitive slave act. Toni Morrison's Beloved was written in 1987, long after slavery was abolished. this allowed Morrison to give more detail in her book than Douglass. at this point, the civil rights movement during the 60's, and even though there was still signs of racism, African Americans have equal rights.

Capuano's article on Beloved describes how Morrison uses songs to show the constant struggle and hardships slaves had to endure. Capuano described Beloved as "tak[ing] the reader beyond the horrifying facts of Douglass's Narrative and into the more profoundly emotional turmoil of a post-emancipation community." I agree, as Morrison's Beloved has much more emphasis on the emotional side of slavery. "Morrison shows how song defines and affirms slave 'personhood' in a world where slave humanity is constantly challenged and denied" Morrison shows how slaves can still hold on to something that reminds them that they are not merely slaves to be bought.

                                                  

Close reading

Our own self interest...

“Think about it,” he said. And suddenly it was a solution, a way to hold on to her, document his manhood and break out a girls spell-all in one. He put the tips of sethe's fingers on his cheek. Laughing, she pulled them away, lest somebody passing the alley, and see them misbehaving in public in Daylight, in the wind. Still he'd gotten a little more time, bought it, a fact and hoped the price would wreck him. Like paying for an afternoon in the coin of life to come.”(151)

In the beginning of the novel Pauly D shows his discontent with Sethe and his poor choice for sticking with her and making her fall in love with him. He lost his attraction to her. But he can't run away now. So he decided to stick around and rekindle the fire he had for her. By taking her out and having a good time, “misbehaving in public” and in a sense being young again. Paul D refers to this evening out as a, “coin” to a life that will come. He calls it this because after the day out with Sethe he's happy and he's seeing things better. This evening out Paul D notices that he's still very fond of her and still has these emotional feelings to her. He feels hopeful now, and with this hope he is seeing a better future for him. He just wants to be happy at the end of it all without having to change his current situation. They both feel young again, because it wasn't really the idea of living the rest of his life with Sethe's but actually the idea that their life would become boring. Paul D notices that he and Sethe's are in the same page when it comes to making their relationship better and you see this occur in future events of Beloved. As long as both of them are trying, things have the possibility of working out good, and Pauly D has just found that out. This is the , “solution” to his problem, and although it is a selfish thing that he has been feeling like this and has not talked to Sethe's about how she's feeling instead of just worrying about himself. He has the right to find his own happiness and that's how life works. Many people do things because it's in their own self interest.


Paul D is going back and forth about his relationship with Sethe because he believes that Sethe isn't the same women as she was before. H e wants to feel excitement, happiness, passion, and that seems to have run out in their relationship. Yet he doesnt know anyone else he can find that with. Hes in a way clinched to Sethe due to all the things that they have been through. Staying with her is the only possible choice in his head . So he might as well make it better. Taking her to an exiting place and allowing everything else to fall into its place

Responding and reflecting #2

Jealousy game

Jealousy is everywhere, it haunts us and sometimes even controls our actions. Jealousy comes from not receiving enough attention or desiring the attention of someone else. Its a strange feeling that everyone has experienced in their lives In the book we see jealousy play out as Beloved asked Denver to drive away Paul D because she doesn't like him. In reality Beloved is jealous of Paul D and all the attention he receives from Sethe. Beloved desires that attention from Sethe because she feels like she loves her more and deserves her more. She craves this attention  because she never got in through the 18 years she was left alone and motherless. She is trying to make up for lost time. This is the reason why she can't stand him. Beloved wants him out of the picture, as she can possibly plan for something sinister in the future. For a while Beloved gets what she wants, Pauly D leaves once he finds out that Sethe had killed her baby, words that Paul D couldn't believe and comprehend. Beloved won Sethe, but not for too long

In addition ,beloved is not the only character that shows jealousy, Denver also somehow wanders into that category. As beloved becomes closer with Sethe, she is also becoming closer to Denver. Something Denver loves. She sees Beloved as a sister she never wants to lose. So far that, "she keeps beloved by her side," (142) from the moment Sethe leaves to work and comes back. Denver has no control of being able to hang out with beloved when Sethe comes back from work because Beloved is all around her.(143) Denver enjoys being seen be beloved, she loves it, because she is also receiving the attention she believes she needs. The attention from the sister she never had. In a way she is completely obsessed with Beloved, making that relationship unhealthy, and denver seem more like a lunatic. Denver hopes to be with Beloved forever, regardless of anything else, thats her plan. Shes in love with beloved.

Being jealous makes you angry and i know exactly how that feels. When i was smaller my little brother Alexis was born and my mom of course gave him all the attention. This made me angry because i was a spoiled little kid and my mom used to give me all the attention. I loved her attention. With my little brother in the picture that was going away. I wanted him gone, but i wasn't evil, so i wasn't going to cause anything. I just got closer to my mom by giving her my time . She responded negatively and told me to stop being annoying and to grow up. Even though at the time it was cruel to hear that i learned later that she was right. Its not okay to have jealous. It destroys you inside, and makes you do things you would never imagine yourself doing. That's precisely what's occurring in Beloved, this jealousy this is going to end up driving her crazy.