ENG 3407, Gothic Lit, Fall 2019

“My mama worked for these here people to pay for her passage. But then she had me and since she died right after, well, they said I had to work for em to pay it off. I did, but now I want me some velvet.”

From the passage, I learned that Seth was never given the liberty her mom worked for. Seth is on the run for her life (literally), away from slavery. Unlike her mother, Seth has a more progress in getting away and wants velvet. I think the velvet symbolizes a fresh start, because the Amy, woman she encountered, described velvet as a world just born; clean and new.

I think the haunting effects of slavery is the constant risk of being betrayed/captured and ending up in a possibly more worse situation.

God damn it! Hush up!” Paul D was shouting, falling reaching for the anchor. “Leave the place alone! Get the hell out!”

Paul D first encounters the ghost when he walked into “the door straight into a pool of red undulating light that locked him where he stood.” the ghost intensify when he touches Sethe’s beast hence its outburst.  The ghost becomes violent, shaking the entire house. Paul D tries to fight back, shouting loudly and smashing up parts of the house in the process. The rumbling stops the ghost’s presence can no longer be felt,  Paul D had vanquished the ghost or so they thought. Paul D was the only man left from “Sweet Home” and the ghost felt as though he may be there to take Sethe and Denver’s attention.  Paul D’s presence somehow allows this breakdown or violent out burst by the ghost its seems to intensify when men are around, only men have left because of if.  When Paul D asks why they don’t leave, Sethe is adamant she will not run from anything ever. Paul D was meant to be portrayed as a holy savior by getting rid of the ghost.

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“Because of the Thirty- mile woman Sixo was not the only one not paralyzed yearning for Sethe. nothing could be as good as the sex with her Paul D had been imagining off and on for twenty five years … looked at this way, minus the polished eyes, her face was not so attractive” (Morrison 30).

Like every dog they’ll want a new toy but once you give them the toy they use it up and look at it as if it was repulsive and wasn’t worth the chase. In other words this is what Paul D did with Sethe. After he chased her for twenty five years, pretended to be her protector as if he was her friend, and she finally put her hurt into his hands he satisfied his own needs and disposed of her in his memory. Paul D wanted to know what Halle had and had to test the waters, he wanted to see the hype about, why Sixo walked Thirty miles to see this woman they call “thirty-mile” woman and when his needs was satisfied he didn’t need her anymore and Sethe saw his doggish was after too. She knew that Paul D was more interested to see what was in the quality of the ears of corns and wanted to examine it. Rather than admitting she was a little hurt by this she has a flashback of what her mother,  Baby Suggs, told her about men; “A man aint nothing but a man” and she was so right. Paul D appetite was fed and Sethe independence was lingering.

“They were not holding hands, but their shadows were”(Page 56). This particular passage shows the characters want for being a normal family that goes to carnivals and holds hands, having fun. This brings light to the character Sethe being hopeful, wanting nothing more than to be free to be in love and showing her child Denver there is more to life than slavery. But seeing as though it comes across as the want to hold hands it shows fear of not being allowed to hold hands. Slavery makes these characters unable to do the things in life that whites in this novel do. To me this shows the haunting of no future and being afraid to not only not have a future but perhaps to have it torn away from Sethe like some of her children were.

“Down in the grass, like the snake she believed she was, Seth’s opened her mouth, and instead of fangs and a split tongue, out shot the truth.”(pg 39)

The starting of this scene gives us a chill where we see that Sethe wants to bite Amy as she thought Amy was a “whiteboy” who would try to harm her. When Sethe was hiding she had a whole plan she was going to follow of biting this person and eating it up. As soon as the person came close she realized it was a female and maybe Sethe got a little sympathetic. She seemed to be so strong and had strong hatred for a “whiteboy” but when she saw it was a white female she came out with the truth. This shows me the character of Sethe and her personality. It shows even though the era had a huge gap and discrimination in race she was still good at heart for other females,I would say. She could’ve probably harmed Amy but instead she spoke the truth.

This can also be a horror moment when she thought it was a male who has done so much harm to her family and she did not know what to expect so she had a reaction ready to be taken part.

“He told the story to Paul F, Halle, Paul A and Paul D in the particular way that made them cry-laugh. Sixo went among trees at night. For dancing, he said, to keep his bloodlines open, he said. Privately, alone, he did it” (Morrison 30).

Sixo was a man who was persistent and emotionally closed off to his brothers. Knowing very well that his “Thirty Mile Woman” was fourteen years old and soon to be wed, Sixo devised a plan in order to see her, despite the long distance between them. One could imagine that the man in the car who was trying to whip Sixo was either the “Thirty Mile Woman”‘s husband or father. Perhaps to save the horror of humiliation when telling the story to his brothers, the story was told in a way that made them “cry-laugh”. This shows a lot about Sixo’s character because his pride means a lot to him and does not want the almost whip lash to effect his image of him to his brothers. During the nights, Sixo has a keen to roam around frequently. It seems that Sixo does this as a way to cope and reminisce about his “Thirty Mile Woman” and the haunting of a “almost beating”. The almost beating haunts him because the emotional and physical pain can carried with Sixo forever Although traveling the long ways to his little lady friend gives the impression of that it was worth traveling for so long, getting whipped was definitely not.

“All of this was advertisement, read by those who could and heard by those who could not, and the fact
that none of it was true did not extinguish their appetite a bit.”(57-58)

This passage is quite interesting because it portrays the fact that many slaves could not read, so their hype surrounding the carnival was based on hearsay that was rarely true. In addition, it shows Paul D as someone who did not mind that the attractions he was anticipating were a lie, perhaps being blissfully ignorant, or somewhat optimistic. This may actually relate to the feelings of real slaves at the time where they would attempt to find light among the darkest of situations. The slaves would have to blindly believe many of the things that were passed on around them as fact considering they were not as able to find out the answer themselves. At the same time, belief gave them hope that everything will be okay and gave them incentive to keep living day by day.

“You want to fight, come on! God damn it! She got enough without you. She got enough…..The quaking slowed to an occasional lurch, but Paul D did not stop whipping the table around until everything was rock quiet…. it was gone”.

In this scene, Paul D is seen as a fierce heroic figure as he stood firmly and fought back against the ghost. I can relate this to the scene in “Dracula”, when Arthur was driving the crucifix deep into Lucy’s heart as she squirmed, he stood like an figure that of Thor. Paul D did not show any signs of cowardliness and the up roaring of the house had suddenly stopped. The ghost presences could no longer be felt as everything was quiet. In my opinion, he was untouched by what the ghost can do because maybe he endured much worst in his past.