Monthly Archives: April 2015

Homework, Week 10

Marrage of Sethe and Halle

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I felt like if Halle and Sether didn’t get married, the whole book would have went in a totally different direction. I felt that the whole book revolved around Sethe being married to Halle. I thought this was a important scene because if Sethe and Halle didn’t get married they wouldn’t have kids. Sethe having kids led to a series of events later on in the book. For example, it led to having her milk stolen. This event led to Halle going crazy because he was there to witness it and he couldn’t do anything. If they weren’t married, there wouldn’t be any milk to be stolen, and that she wouldn’t have been scarred from what happen, and even whipped from the school teacher.

Another example if Sethe never got married with Halle, they wouldn’t have children. I felt like her children has a important role in the book because most of the things accruing in the book, it revolves around them. For example in the beginning of the book there was a gravestone of Sethe’s dead daughter, and engraved on it was, Beloved. Then later in the book Sethe, Denver, and Paul D encountered a women whose name was also Beloved. Coincidence? I don’t think so. If Beloved wasn’t born, she wouldn’t have forced out Baby Suggs and her two sons to leave the house because she was haunting the house. Another example if Sethe never married Halle, they wouldn’t have had Denver. Without Denver, Sethe would have never had met Amy Denver.

In the book on page 175, second to last paragraph, it said “Inside, two boys bled in the sawdust and dirt at the feet of a nigger women holding a blood- soaked child to her chest with one hand and an infant by the heels on the other. She did not look at them; she simply swung the baby toward the wall planks, missed and tried to connect a second time, when out of nowhere– in the ticking time the men spent staring at what there was to stare at– the old nigger boy, still mewing, ran through the door behind them and snatched the baby from the arc of its mother’s swing”. If Sethe never got married and had kids, this event would have never happened because she never wanted them to grow up experiencing the world from what is now.

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Discussion

Finishing Beloved

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As you finish reading Beloved for Wednesday’s class, share your questions, concerns, and ideas here: I had asked everyone to follow certain recurring ideas in the novel–motifs–so that we could talk about how they shape the story and our understanding of it. Add a comment here about one or more of those motifs, looking at different examples from the novel. For example, in our first discussion on Beloved, we looked at two passages that dealt with memory, and then added another in our last class when we thought about Paul D’s rusted tobacco tin in his heart. Is there a consistent point your motif raises, or does it leave more questions or concerns?

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Glossary

Malice

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Malice (noun) –

(1) desire to inflict injury, harm, or suffering on another, either because of a hostile impulse or out of deep-seated meanness

(2) Law. evil intent on the part of a person who commits a wrongful act injurious to others.

These vocabulary words was written in chapter thirteen of “Beloved” by Toni Morrison.

Paul D looked up from the stew meat.”You come upstairs. Where you belong,” she said, “… and stay there.”The threads of malice creeping toward him from Beloved’s side of the table were held harmless in the warmth of Sethe’s smile.

When I first came across this word, I noticed the beginning of the word starting out with “mal”, usually this mean something bad. I had another experience with another word with the same beginning “malevolent”, and as seen from another student, this word means to harm another person.  I learned that there is a similarity between this two words.

According  to this scene, the narrator was stating that there was evil sense or harmfulness coming from Beloved side of the table. However, due to Sethe’s smile, warmth and comfort, he knew he was safe.

Source: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/malice

 

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Homework, Week 10

Claimed.

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I believe that the pivotal passage in Beloved occurred on pages 192-193 when Paul D finds out what exactly happened in 124 and what Sethe has done in the house.

Some quotes that were pivotal:
“I stopped him,” she said, staring at the place where the fence used to be. “I took and put my babies where they’d be safe.”
“It occurred to him that what she wanted for her children was exactly what was missing in 124: safety”
“This here new Sethe talked about safety with a handsaw”

This is where the story actually begins, with the killing of her own daughter in order to protect her from going back to the Sweet Home under the watch of the schoolteacher. Without this killing, there wouldn’t be a haunted house that confined both Sethe and Denver. Sethe may not have lost her daughter, her two sons, and Baby Suggs.

In a way, I feel that the author Toni Morrison is telling the readers that no matter how hard Sethe tried to run from the Sweet Home and cruelty of slavery, she will never be able to be a true free woman. She is still confined with the past even though she is no longer a slave. She is still confined by the haunted house.

Sethe knows this now and that is why she refuses to run anymore because she knows that no matter how far she runs to, she will always be confined to her past and to her love for her children.

Another pivotal quote:
“Your love is too thick”
“Suddenly he saw what Stamp Paid wanted him to see: more important than what Sethe had done was what she claimed.”

Throughout the story, we see the characters trying to claim something. They could never claim anything because they were slaves, they couldn’t even put a claim on themselves. Paul D, Denver, and Beloved wanted to claim Sethe’s love for themselves. They’ve never known what it feels to hold a claim on something and they each have this thirst to finally claim something.

Sethe went to ultimate measures to claim hers.  She wasn’t willing to give away that claim to the schoolteacher. And now, beloved will always be hers only, and no one else’s.

This was a pivotal part of the story because it’s what drives all the events that happens afterwards while also explaining the turmoil of slavery.

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Glossary, Week 10

Hillock

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Hillock is a noun

According to the Merriam Webster dictionary hillock is a small hill or mound.

The word is used in chapter 10 of my reading, the narrator in reference to Paul D and his journeys stated, “when he was lost, and found himself without a petal to guide him, he paused, climbed a tree on a hillock and scanned the horizon…”

Paul D in his quest for freedom was trying to travel north during spring time.  He was told to follow the trees and flowers.  When he got lost he climbed to higher ground to see which direction had trees and flowers.

 

 

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Homework, Week 10

Killing of Sethe’s Daughter

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In chapter 17 of my reading the narrator described the moment when Stamp told Paul D about what Sethe had done to her children.  “Stamp looked into Paul D’s eyes and the sweet conviction in them made him wonder if it had happened at all, eighteen years ago, that while he and Baby Suggs were looking the wrong way, a pretty little slave girl had recognized a hat, and split to the woodshed to kill her children.”  Sethe later explained to Paul D that once she recognized the hat she knew it belonged to School Teacher from Sweet Home who had beat her badly in the past.  She apparently would rather her children die than return to Sweet Home with School Teacher and the others to live a life of slavery.  She was successful in killing only her first daughter.  The killing of this child set off a sequence of events which makes up the plot of the story.

The passage quoted above is a pivotal moment in this novel by Toni Morrison.  This is because the major plot of story surrounds the death of Sethe’s daughter who is regarded as the baby ghost haunting 124.   The story began with a description of some of the supernatural happenings at 124.  The effect these events have on various characters is presented at the beginning of the story.  According to the narrator 124 was spiteful.”  “Full of baby’s venom.” “The women in the house knew it and so did the children.”  Sethe’s children Howard and Buglar eventually had enough of the baby ghost antics and left home.  Baby Suggs on her dying bed felt it was about time they did and did nothing to stop them.

Without the killing of this baby there would not have been a baby ghost to haunt 124. As the story progressed and Beloved showed up Sethe began to speculate that this was the dead baby reincarnated.  Denver was sure this was her sister but did not mind having her around and fear that one day she would leave.  She was more fearful of Beloved leaving than her concern that Beloved could harm her mother.  These are major events that make up the plot.  These events are present because that baby was unfortunately killed by Sethe.

If the death of the baby had not occurred and the subsequent haunting of 124 the plot would be completely different.  Because the story was set during the period of slavery, the experiences of Sethe, Baby Suggs and Paul D lives as slaves could be developed into a plot.  Morrison’s plot would include life of the characters living as slaves and the brutality, shamefulness and lack of humanity that they encountered as they were treated less than human and more like disgusting animals.  The plot would conclude with the outcome of each character whether or not they eventually had good outcome such as a better life despite the painful memories of slavery.

 

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Homework, Week 10

Amy Denver

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The pivotal moment for me in “Beloved” was when Amy Denver found Sethe. Without Amy Denver stopping to help Sethe, Baby Denver and Sethe would both be ghosts. Amy was a white girl living in poverty she too had a master but had a good heart. Good enough to help a nigger. She tried to heal Sethe’s wounds and used her hands to deliver the baby. Both in fear looking over their shoulders they knew what had to be done. If hunters didnt get them the snakes wouldve so they had to move fast.

Sethe was going to have her baby no matter what happened in the unknown dark woods. A baby must come of out the mothers wound eventually. Luckily they lived to tell their survival story. After the arrival of Denver, Sethe was able to continue her journey to her children. After crossing the water Sethe had a new life, a new home, a new found freedom with her crawling baby girl, her 2 boys, and Denver. Sethe knew without the help of that white girl her life would’ve been over, that’s why she named her daughter Denver, in honor of Amy Denver’s generosity. To always remember why she was alive.

Sethe and Baby Suggs were haunted by spirits. If Sethe and her unborn child weren’t saved the “Beloved” would have a new meaning. She and her unborn child would’ve been the ghosts haunting the family instead of Beloved.

That’s why I think Sethe meeting Amy Denver is the pivotal moment without Amy, Sethe and her unborn child would be dead. Without Amy stopping to assist Sethe’s swollen weak body, they would’ve been the ghosts haunting 124 and we would be reading the haunting of 124 instead. Also Sethe wouldve died without knowing what happened to her children. She wouldve died not knowing that Halle didnt make it home. She wouldnt have seen her baby girl crawling and sharing her last moments before the baby’s death.

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Week 10

Home Work ( Beloved)

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I think that the pivotal scene of the novel” Beloved” is the scene that Sethe was holding her dead daughter to her chest with on hand and holding the heels of Denver on the other to swing to the wall of the shed. The two boys were lying in the dirt at the feet of Sethe and soaking with blood. This scene was happened when the schoolteacher, one of his nephew, slave catcher and a sheriff came to the house 124 on Bluestone to catch Sethe and her children who escape from the farm of Kentucky.  The paragraph is found on page 175 of old edition.

Inside, two boys bled in the sawdust and dirt at the feet of a nigger woman holding a blood-soaked child to her chest with one hand and an infant by the heels in the other. She did not look at them; she simply swung the baby toward the wall planks, missed and tried to connect a second time, when out of nowhere- in the ticking time the men spent staring at what there was to stare the old nigger boy, still mewing, ran through the door behind them and snatched the baby from the arch of its mother’s swing.

I think this scene is pivotal because if the schoolteacher and his nephew were not coming to the house of 124 to catch Sethe and her children. She definitely would not kill her child and the whole novel would be different. She would live her life as others forget her past experience as a slave and might be living happily and freely with her children. If this event hadn’t happened, her two sons probably would not leave her and Denver would have friends and would not isolate herself in the house and the neighbors also would not abandon her and Denver. Baby Suggs was a preacher and was respected by the neighbors for her great heart. But after Baby Suggs died and the dead of Sethe’s daughter, Denver and Sethe seemed to isolate themselves in the house and neighbors seemed to abandon them.  Sethe would not also feel guilt for her dead daughter and would not try to fulfill the needs and demand of Beloved that she believes is her daughter who she killed.

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Homework, Week 10

No Headstone Name

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In chapter one, when the narrator talks about the preacher calling Sethe’s baby Beloved, the name they have chosen to engraved on her headstone. I feel that if this scene was never taking place, us as reader would have a different effect on the story. Later on as we read the story when Paul D, Sethe and Denver go to a carnival, they find a girl named Beloved. If we never knew that Sethe dead daughter name on the headstone was named Beloved, readers may not compare them as easily. However, theres a chance readers can still relate Sethe’s daughter and Beloved who was found. Many reader may find it just being a coincidence or many questioning the novel even more. Due to fact, Beloved mention things Sethe that she should not know about such as the Diamond earrings. It would be weird knowing a girl you invited in to your house know things about you then she should not have known.

The family, especially Denver find it strange of how close Beloved had a bond with Sethe, wanting to know everything about her. I felt that when they knew the girl name was Beloved they found a connection and some kind of comfort. This may not have happen if the two names were the same. From us as reader knowing the name are same, it is easier for us to make a connection. From the information that is providing for us in the novel, we are able to use context clues to try and figure the plot in the story.

When Beloved state points as in Chapter 8, she states,

Denver scooted a little closer. “What’s it like over there, where you were before? Can you tell me?” “Dark,” said Beloved. “I’m small in that place. I’m like this here.” She raised her head off the bed, lay down on her side and curled up. Denver covered her lips with her fingers. “Were you cold?” Beloved curled tighter and shook her head. “Hot. Nothing to breathe down there and no room to move in.” “You see anybody?” “Heaps. A lot of people is down there. Some is dead.”

Beloved talks as if she was dead, as if she was in coffin, buried, underground and was able to escape. These statement makes a reader think and question the story a lot. Just as when she knew about the diamond earrings stated above. Another situation in chapter 12, when Beloved went missing inside the cole house. How come Denver was not able to find her as if she was gone or even a ghost? I think know Beloved name plays a big role in the story. Without it there would be a bigger problem to this novel with the details that have us hanging now.

 

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