Group 3 pages 157-324

Group 3   pages 157-324

As the novel Beloved comes to a close, Toni Morrison enables the reader to grasp a deeper understanding of what slavery was like, as well as the early stages of emancipation through her method of articulating, simultaneously, both historical and literary elements throughout the text. Many similar themes from the first half of the novel are further expanded upon by Morrison as she continues to describe the brutality, fear, love, protection, and dehumanization that comes with not only being a slave, but also how these themes continue to be apparent even for freed slaves. She addresses these themes in her novel to show how previously enslaved African Americans will continue to be haunted by their past due to the psychological damage the institution of slavery caused for the entire race. The reason why Morrison starts all three sections of her story with “124 WAS” is to show how confining slavery is and how “unforgetting” remains a true reality even for those who are born free despite their past. The dialogue in this text allows the reader to attain a more comprehensible understanding of the true black experience within the brutal and evil nature of the slavery institution.

One major difference that is prominent in the second half of the novel is the emergence of Beloved, a supernatural reincarnation of Sethe’s dead baby. One of the most horrifying parts of the story is when Morrison takes the reader through the proses of Sethe killing her baby in order to “save” her from experiencing the brutality of the institution of slavery. One of the scary realities is that this part of the story is based off true events. The narrative provides readers with a more empathetic reaction to a mother killing her child, rather than the typical reaction most readers would get without the internal monologue Morrison provides that gives the reader more of an accurate understanding of the given situation. Morrison attempts to describe the horrifying death by writing, “a nigger woman holding a blood-soaked child to her chest with one hand and an infant by the heels in the other… she simply swung the baby toward the wall planks (p. 175)”. This is just one small snippet of the appalling act that Sethe feels she is forced to do.

One of the main points of discussion in class the other week was how or why would Sethe do this to her own child; is it for love or protection? In the last section of the book we are able to see Sethe’s, Denver’s, and Beloved’s thoughts behind Sethe’s decision to kill her child. Sethe talks about when she had to burry Beloved, all she wanted to do was lie down there with her, and just forget about everything else. Sethe’s reason for all her suffering and why she killed Beloved was because her “love was too thick” (Morrison 239). Denver even says, “I know she killed one of her own daughters… I’m scared of her because of it” (Morrison 242). She fears for both her safety and Beloved’s, which shows how slavery was able to affect an African American girl who was never part of the institution. Beloved offers a very interesting approach to how she feels. We know that she is a supernatural being, but she seems to believe that Sethe belongs to her. To Denver it seems that, “Beloved was making her [Sethe] pay for it”(Morrison 295). The truth about these mysterious relationships is revealed in this narrative and ends with a confusing resolution that has a deeper meaning. One of Morrison’s last messages in the novel regarding Beloved and slavery all together is, “So, in the end, they forgot her too. Remembering seemed unwise” (Morrison 324). This sentence stands out, but it is hard to understand its importance without Morrison’s ability to combine the art of literature and the impact history in a very comprehensive manner.

Another character that we are able to learn a lot more about in these reading is Stamp Paid. We see that he is a well respected man and knows all the black families in Cincinnati and has helped most of them out; he is very involved in the community. Stamp Paid, who feels comfortable going up to any house and walking right in, comes to 124 and is unable to go in because of the presence of the evil past that can’t seem to escape 124. Stamp Paid is obviously a different man now considering the impact slavery had on him when he killed his wife, and wants to help Denver and Sethe because of his fondness of Baby Suggs. In the end, a large portion of the town comes together to help Sethe and protect her family from Beloved. Also, the story of when all the slaves at Sweet Home are trying to run away from schoolteacher’s brutality is told to us, and gives us more incite into the difficulty of slavery. Each and every story that Morrison writes describes the horror that Sethe, Baby Suggs, and others had to go through, and she shows us how it effects someone like Denver who has never been a slave, is lonely and incapable of feeling what a complete family is truly like.

Beloved is filled with themes, symbolism, and stories containing the disgusting cruelty of slavery. Even though this story is not completely true, fiction has something to tell us about reality, and Morrison gives us a look into the wide range of possibilities of what slavery was like. The things that Sethe, Baby Suggs, and all the other members of Sweet Home had to live through offer us insight into what the African American Experience was like both in slavery as well as early emancipation.