Close Reading: The Permanence of Pain

Page 62-63, Beloved by Toni Morrison

Close Reading: The Permanence of Pain

Sethe dropped the shoes; Denver sat down and Paul D smiled. He recognized the careful enunciation of letters by those, like himself, who could not read but had memorized the letters of their name. He was about to ask who her people were but thought better of it. A young colored woman drifting was drifting from ruin. He had been in Rochester four years ago and seen five women arriving with fourteen female children. All their men -- brothers, uncles, fathers, husbands, sons -- had been picked off one by one by one. They had a single piece of paper directing them to a preacher on DeVore Street. The War had been over four or five years then, but nobody white or black seemed to know it. Odd clusters and strays of Negroes wandered the back roads and cowpaths from Schenectady to Jackson. Dazed but insistent, they searched each other out for word of a cousin, an aunt, a friend who once said, “Call on me. Anytime you get near Chicago, just call on me.” Some of them were running from family that could not support them, some to family; some were running from dead crops, dead kin, life threats, and took-over land. Boys younger than Buglar and Howard; configurations and blends of families of women and children, while elsewhere, solitary, hunted and hinting for, were men, men, men. Forbidden public transportation, chased by debt and filthy “talking sheets,” they followed secondary routes, scanned the horizon for signs and counted heavily on each other. Silent, except for social courtesies, when they met one another they neither described nor asked about the sorrow that drove them from one place to another. The whites didn’t bear speaking on. Everybody knew.

This passage was included once the wandering woman was introduced into the story. This woman was found walking out of a river, fully-clothed, and she sat down on the steps of 124 to take a rest. Sethe, Paul D, and Denver find the woman sitting by their house and do not question her intentions or motivations. She says that her name is “Beloved”, which is ironic because Sethe carved the word “beloved” into her dead baby’s gravestone. Beloved hangs around the house and is offered a bed to sleep in, which she accepts.

Morrison intentionally includes an interesting except about Beloved and the cultural divides that permeate a post-slavery society. This passage specifically talks about the way that Sethe and Denver choose to treat the stranger Beloved. They mention that Beloved is a colored woman and she doesn't seem to have an end location in mind as she wanders. Paul D resists the urge to ask Beloved where she is from or “who her people are” and this passage examines why he chooses to hesitate before asking her such a question. Then, he goes into a stream of consciousness that flashes back his past experiences as a slave living in Rochester. He notes that women and their children passed through his area but without men. He explains that although the war was over, “nobody black or white seemed to know it,” meaning that the issue of slavery, which was the original reason why the North and South had began the war, had not resolved.

Similarly to how I explained the way that slaves treat each other in my Responding and Reflecting Blog Post, we can explicitly see how much reverence and support the slaves provide for each other despite their past (and current) hardships. After slaves had been “freed”, Paul D describes how they aimlessly wander around towns and villages with no motivations. He expresses the intense remorse that each wandering fugitive slave has - whether they are running away from a painful past, traveling towards a better future, or a combination of the two.

I think there is an interesting cultural similarity and understanding within this small excerpt of Beloved. Paul D expresses that both fellow colored people and whites acknowledge that they will not ask wandering black people about whether they intend to go. For many of them, this question is pointless, because they do not have a specific place to go. People were drawn to the numbness and apathy of “wandering” to find nothing in particular.

I believe that this excerpt has thousands of interpretations. Pain can be an incredibly hard thing to deal with, especially when a community around you doesn't show support and strength. Slaves had experienced some of the most inhumane actions and injustices against their race. Luckily for the wandering slaves, most individuals all had the common understanding that they had all gone through the unthinkable or even possibly caused it. The slaves were lucky enough to have people that they could confide in when find a loved one or looking for a place to spend the night. Through their communal despair and anguish, they understood each other and could consequently respect the space they needed to repair themselves.

Responding and Reflecting: The Impact of Slavery on an Individual's Compassion

Text: Beloved by Toni Morrison

Critical Lens: Post-Colonial Lens

Sethe, the protagonist in the novel Beloved, reinforces many of the psychological and physical scars that her disturbing past has caused her. Sethe was a victim of the institution of slavery, an important and atrocious aspect of America’s history. She lived on a plantation called “Sweet Home” as a young woman where she met her husband and had three children. Sethe does not have pleasant memories from living on Sweet Home. Throughout the first few chapters, Morrison alludes at some of these experiences through flashbacks and reminiscences.

Already in the novel, I have noticed several cultural patterns within Sethe’s community. Sethe describes that when she lived at Sweet Home, the men who lived there all wanted to be romantically involved with her. When she arrived at Sweet Home, she said that for a whole year the men allowed her to choose one of them, even though they were desperate to have companionship. She describes them as having intercourse with calves (yes, cows) as an alternative to taking advantage of her or raping her. In chapter 2, Sethe recounts when she would cook for the men working at Sweet Home. While they were working in the fields, she would bring them “bacon and bread” but they would never take it from her hands. She describes them as “not wanting to take anything from her” (figuratively and literally), which is why they would wait to take the food until after she was out of sight.

I believe that the situation that these characters were in influenced them to act so respectfully towards Sethe. They had experienced cruelty, fear, and vicious acts of evil. They understood how it felt to be inferior and exploited. When Sethe entered the plantation, the men only knew that she would begin working in a vulnerable and abused working environment with them as well. The men could have easily exploited her just as the masters of the plantation were. But, they showed her utmost respect by giving her space to make her own decision about who she would like to marry. Their own experiences within the practice of slavery affected the way that they see each other. They become their own “family”, so to speak, after all they had gone through together.

It’s heartwarming to know that when in times of cruelty and wickedness, humanity still continues to show affection and compassion for one another. Faith, strength, and hope are necessary qualities that an individual needs to have to be able to endure what slaves had to endure. I hope that these qualities continue to remain prevalent as I continue reading Beloved and I get a deeper insight into the impacts that slavery has on a broader culture and on the individual.

The critical lens I chose for the blog was historical lens. I chose this lens because history has always been interesting to me and historical events have always been easy for me to remember. I was always interested in learning about World War 1, World War 2, the great depression, and the old west. Topics covered by this lens show how day to day life was like so we can compare it to now and see the many differences and similarities. Another lens I considered was the feminine lens as it often ties into the historical lens. Both show how society towards women was like at that time in history and how it has changed today. I am hoping to see some historical aspects I am familiar with and historical aspects that are new to that i never thought of before.

Why I chose the Historical lens

The critical lens I chose to read Beloved through is the new historical lens. Out of all the different lens I chose the new historical lens because it was the lens I knew the best and it would be the most interesting lens to look through because you get to look through that time period of when the book is based and when the author wrote it. I have looked through different novels and other different things using the historical lens and have had success in understanding some of the deeper meanings of the novels. I have also used this lens many times in history class and in english class. I believe that this lens is the best way to fully understand what was going on in that time, which would then lead to understanding what was going on in the book. Another lens that I considered was the postcolonial lens because I understand what that one is about and it would help go deeper into the book because it is about slavery and that is what the postcolonial lens looks at. I am hoping to get a better understanding of the historical lens and of the book Beloved. Using the historical lens will help me understand the lens better and will make me better at using it overall. Using the historical lens in this book will help me gain a better understanding of slavery and what happened in that time period and why the author wrote this.

Post-Colonial Lens: Why It Speaks to Me

I believe that culture is the element of life that gives character to the world. Culture is what and how people shape their identities. Culture is how people live their lives.

Culture can be defined as “the beliefs, customs or arts of a particular society, group, place, or time.” Culture can mean how people live, what they believe in, or why they live a certain way.

For example, I live in a 21st century culture surrounded and completely immersed into the world of technology, which is sort of why I’m writing this blog right now. But I have also been greatly influenced by other cultures in my life, which is one of the reasons why I’m so intrigued by this concept. I believe that an individual’s culture can entirely shape the way that they see the world and the way they see themselves.

The “Post-Colonial Lens” emphasizes the way that certain groups of people can “take over” or dominate another. The process of colonization could be graciously described as one culture infusing into one another, but it’s never that simple. Imperialism is truly about an innate desire for power, greed, and money; what some people would consider to be the natural flaws of the human race. The “Post-Colonial Lens” explores the theme of colonialism, focusing on the short and long term impacts of oppression on a minority race. Personally, I’m looking to specifically examine how the cultures and lifestyles of both the colonizers and the colonized change after Imperialism has done it’s damage.

I intend to major in either Anthropology, Sociology, or another branch of Social Sciences in college. These majors all share common themes of culture and world studies, which parallel with this critical lens perfectly. As I read the novel “Beloved”, I hope to get a better understanding of this lens and explore what colonialism means in terms of slavery.

Feminism is Not a "Lens" to Me...

...because I can't just turn it off and on again. To me, it's not a perspective, it is my perspective.

When I first started thinking critically about what I read, it was through the scathing reviews of the blogger Farla who would go chapter by chapter through a book and point out things she either liked or hated. Between books, the amount of focus given to aspects like character development or worldbuilding varied, but she always made sure to include a mention of how well the book did in its portrayal of women. I learned the "Farla" lens before ever hearing of the standard, school-taught lenses. How would I translate my way of reading into the categories of my school?

While there was no lens available that fit well with worldbuilding or characterization, the feminist way of looking at a book was one both I and the school system could agree on. I chose the feminist lens so I could stick with one I naturally use; it's not that I don’t want to challenge myself, but I have a feeling that I’ll need the motivation and interest I have for this lens to propel myself through Beloved (it’s not what I would choose to read if I was given the choice). I foresee my greatest difficulty will be in separating what is faithfully portrayed period-typical biases and the cultural views and sexism of the author, but I look forward to being able to explore new regions of a perspective I already enjoy.