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draft, Project #2

Robbed (Project #2 Draft)-Part Dos

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Robbed

I am broken.

For the very thing that I had that was near to me, has been lost,

It was the very thing I gave birth to,

It was a source of nourishment,

A place for my youngin’ to satisfy her need,

It was my mine,

IT BELONGED TO ME!

 

But where has it gone?

To the mouths of the white girls,

To the mouths of the white boys,

What about my youngin’?

What will she have?

I kept it safe for her,

I made sure I took care of myself,

I did everything a mother was supposed to do.

 

Now, what can I give to you my child?

I have nothing to offer to you,

My bosom is empty and my heart is empty,

If I had, I would have given you the world,

But sadly I have nothing to give to you, my sweet child.

Forgive me, for one day I will repay you.

 

This poem is about Sethe getting her milk robbed from her while she was a slave at Sweet Home. In Beloved, “those boys [the nephews of the Schoolteacher] came in there and took her milk
they held her down and took it
Schoolteacher made one [of the boys] open up her back and when it closed it made a tree
they used cowhide on her and took her milk
they beat her while she was pregnant and they took her milk” (Morrison 19-20). As I wrote this poem, I wrote it as if Sethe was describing her anguish for her milk getting robbed and the remorse of not having it to give to Beloved. I also wrote it as if Sethe was going to restore the bonding between herself and Beloved, since Sethe did not have any milk to give to Beloved.

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draft, Project #2

Beloved Project 2 Part 1

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In the novel “Beloved” by Toni Morrison, each character faces their own hardship and struggles to get to the point where they are at. There are many moments in the story that can impact the story in a major way, it would change how each character would live. One of these moments that would majorly impact how the story would be written is when the schoolteacher comes into the Garner house after Mr. Garner had passed away.

After the schoolteacher comes into the Garner house, he brings his two nephews with him and soon after they steal Sethe’s milk. We learn of that when Sethe is talking about it with Paul D years after it had happen.

“
The milk would be there and I would be there with it.” “Men don’t know nothing much,” said Paul D, tucking his pouch back into his vest pocket, “but they do know a suckling can’t be away from its mother for long.” “Then they know what it’s like to send your children off when your breasts are full.” “We was talking ’bout a tree, Sethe.” “After I left you, those boys came in there and took my milk. That’s what they came in there for. Held me down and took it. I told Mrs. Garner on em. She had that lump and couldn’t speak but her eyes rolled out tears. Them boys found out I told on em. Schoolteacher made one open up my back, and when it closed it made a tree. It grows there still.” “They used cowhide on you?” “And they took my milk.” “They beat you and you was pregnant?” “And they took my milk!”

In this scene Sethe is talking to Paul D while she is making dough and Sethe starts talking about how important it was for her to give milk to her daughter Denver. Then she goes back into time to explain to Paul D what had happen to her when the schoolteacher came into the Garner house with his nephews. Sethe tells Paul D that she was taken to a barn with the schoolteacher and the two nephews where they held her down and raped her there.

This scene is important because it starts a big spiral of misfortune for Sethe for many years to come. After this happens to Sethe, she starts to lose many things that are important to her and this kind of thing that happen to her in such an early age would have effect on her and those around her. This would not have happened if the schoolteacher did not come into the Garner house and took advantage of the fact that he was in control over those that lived there.

Soon after this happen another impactful scene would appear in front of Sethe. The schoolteacher tried to take Sethe and her children to be taken as slaves. Sethe would respond to this by trying to kill her children, so that they would not have to live being a slave.

“
Right off it was clear, to schoolteacher especially, that there was nothing there to claim. The three (now four—because she’d had the one coming when she cut) pickaninnies they had hoped were alive and well enough to take back to Kentucky, take back and raise properly to do the work Sweet Home desperately needed, were not.”

In this scene Sethe was able to see the schoolteacher before the schoolteacher saw her and quickly gather her children into the barn. In the barn Sethe decided that it was better for her children to die then face the life of living as slaves. The schoolteacher finds Sethe in the barn after she had killed one of her children, while the other three had escaped and he quickly notices what Sethe had done. The schoolteacher could not take Sethe as a slave after noticing what she had done to her children because she was sick.

This scene is important because after experiencing being raped by the schoolteacher’s nephew Sethe yet again was faced with another hardship. To have to pick whether you like your children live as slaves or kill them so that they wouldn’t have to experience it, that is something that not one person would want to do. Sethe having to make this choice just tells how much her children were part of her life and the value they represent. If the schoolteacher never came into the Garner house, Sethe would have been living with her children in a peaceful life instead of having to make the choice of whether killing her children or letting them live as slaves.

After having to live with all this that happen to Sethe, the moment when she learned that her husband Halle, whom lived with her at the Garners did not abandon was an emotional moment for her.

“There is also my husband squatting by the churn smearing the butter as well as its clabber all over his face because the milk they took is on his mind [. . . ] I don’t want to know or have to remember that. I have other things to do: worry , for example, about tomorrow , about Denver, about Beloved , about age and sickness not to speak of love.”

In this scene Paul D tells Sethe about her husband Halle who she thought abandon her when they lived at the Garner house. Sethe learns that Halle did not abandon her, but that Halle went crazy because he was in the barn when Sethe was raped by the schoolteacher’s nephews.

This scene is important because Sethe thought the entire time that her husband abandoned her. Sethe was worried about Halle a lot because she did not know what had happen to her since she never got to see him. When she learned that he went crazy because of what he saw, she could come to the fact that Halle did not survive after seeing what had happen to her and did not blame him anymore for not being able to save their children. It also let a lot of burden off her mind because she did not have to think about what condition Halle was in anymore. Sethe also realizes that instead of letting out her emotions, she had been living with them all the time all stuffed up inside of her.

If the schoolteacher had never came into the Garner house after Mr. Garner had passed away these moments would have never happen to Sethe. Not getting her milk stolen would have never scarred or would have it have made Halle go crazy. Sethe would also never would have been presented with the choice of killing her children or letting them be sold as slaves. The schoolteacher not coming into the house would have changed a lot of what the story would have become.

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draft, Project #2

Sethe’s Tormentor (Project #2 Draft)-Part Uno

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In Beloved, the main character, Sethe, is living in Ohio, a free state for blacks, with her daughter Denver. Sethe escaped the harsh brutalities as a slave, however, she continued to relive the bad memories she endured as a slave at Sweet Home. As Sethe lived her new life at 124, she tried not to mention the past to Denver, but it would always come up through the daily activities of her life or when Beloved, her deceased daughter, would ask her to retell stories of her life. As for Beloved, her ghost came back to ignite Sethe’s bad feelings of the past. Beloved caused Sethe to feel depressed for killing her and the attempted murder of her other children (Morrison 175-179). However, the memory that really haunted Sethe’s conscious was when “those boys [the nephews of the Schoolteacher] came in there and took her milk
they held her down and took it
Schoolteacher made one [of the boys] open up her back and when it closed it made a tree
they used cowhide on her and took her milk
they beat her while she was pregnant and they took her milk” (Morrison 19-20). Therefore, if Sethe’s milk was not stolen, her husband, Halle, would have escaped with Sethe and their children and help Sethe give birth to Denver while they were escaping to Ohio; she would not have gotten post-traumatic stress from that harsh ordeal, which would eventually cause her to kill Beloved for fear that the pain she endured would also happen to Beloved, and Beloved’s ghost would had never return to torment her for killing her.

When Sethe’s milk was stolen, it devastated her. The milk that she was going to use to nurse Denver after she left her womb was taken from her as if someone had rapped her (Morrison 19-20). The worse thing about that event was that her husband, Halle, “saw them boys [the nephews of the Schoolteacher] do that [steal Sethe’s milk] from her and let them keep on breathing air” (Morrison 81). Halle watched the whole ordeal but he could not do anything about it. “It broke him [Halle],” affected his psyche, and caused him to smear butter all over his face (Morrison 82-83). Sethe, Halle, and their children had planned to escape with Sixo and Paul D to Ohio but Halle was never seen after Sethe’s milk was stolen (Morrison 265). Since Sethe was pregnant, Halle was going to help Sethe and their children with their escape to Ohio but Sethe “did it. She got them [her children] out. Without Halle too. Up till then it was the only thing she ever did on her own
Each and every one of her babies,” including herself came to Ohio (Morrison 190). “She birthed them and got em [her children] out
she did that. She had help, of course, lots of that, but still it was her doing it” (Morrison 190). Furthermore, If Halle did not disappear, he would have helped Sethe to give birth to Denver and Amy Denver, the whitegirl, would not need to help Sethe during Denver’s delivery (Morrison 99-100).

Secondly, the pain that Sethe acquired from her milk getting stolen caused her to get posttraumatic stress disorder. “She’d gone wild, due to the mishandling of the nephew who’d overbeat her and made her cut and run” (Morrison 176). So, she swung her “baby [Beloved] toward the wall planks, missed and tried to connect a second time
 while “the two [Howard and Buglar] lied open-eyed in the sawdust,” and the “third [Beloved] pumped blood down the dress of the main one [Sethe]” (Morrison 175-176). In this scene, Sethe could not deal with the violation of her milk being stolen, so, it gave her a reason to take the life of Beloved and attempt to kill her other children as a means of saving them from the harsh brutalities of slavery. However, Sethe’s actions caused her other children, Denver, Buglar, and Howard to be afraid of her (Morrison 216 & 242). During Beloved’s funeral “neither Howard nor Buglar would let her [Sethe] near them, not even to touch their hair” (Morrison 216). They were afraid that Sethe would do the same thing to do them as she did to Beloved, so they eventually ran away (Morrison 245). As for Denver, she continued to live with Sethe because “she loved her mother but she knew she [Sethe] killed one of her own daughters, and tender as she was with her,” Denver was always living in constant fear that “the thing that happened that made it all right for her mother to kill her sister could happen again,” so, she was always watching her mother’s every move, less she be killed as well (Morrison 242).

Thirdly, since Sethe’s milk was stolen and she killed Beloved as a means to save them from the harsh brutalities of slavery, Beloved’s ghost returned in Sethe’s life to torment her for causing her death. When Beloved first came to 124, she was “feverish” from the cholera she had and she was “poorly fed” (Morrison 62 & 64). At first, Sethe takes her in and helps her to get better without knowing that it was her daughter (Morrison 61-65). Sethe believed that Beloved was a harmless child and that she was a good friend to Denver. However, Denver began to realize that Beloved was her deceased sister that came back to take revenge on Sethe, especially after she saw Beloved choke Sethe’s neck (Morrison 119). As Beloved’s health began to improve, she began to become more “demanding” (Morrison 283). Although, Sethe was fond of her presence (Morrison 63) and her eagerness for Sethe to tell stories of her life (Morrison 69), Beloved began to suck the life out of Sethe by her constant need to get everything from Sethe (Morrison 283). Whether it was food, clothes, or attention, Beloved “got it, and when Sethe ran out of things to give her, Beloved invented desire” (Morrison 283).

“Then the mood changed and the arguments began
 Beloved accused her [Sethe] of leaving her behind
And Sethe cried, saying she never did, or meant to—that she had to get them [her children] out, away, that she had the milk all the time and had the money too for the stone but not enough
Beloved was not interested. Sethe pleaded for forgiveness, counting, listing again and again her reasons: that Beloved was more important, meant more to her than her own life. That she would trade places any day. Give up her life, every minute and hour of it, to take back just one of Beloved’s tears” (Morrison 284).

However, Beloved did not accept Sethe’s forgiveness, instead she was being very disrespectful by slamming things around the house, wiping the table clean of plates [Beloved was eating a lot of food], throwing salt on the floor, and she broke a windowpane (Morrison 285). As Beloved gained more weight, Sethe lost weight and became neglectful in taking care of her own self. Instead of combing her hair or washing her face, Sethe “sat in a chair licking her lips like a chastised child while Beloved ate up her life, took it, swelled up with it, and grew taller on it” (Morrison 295). Finally, Beloved attempted to kill Sethe with an ice pick but failed at it and disappeared (Morrison 309).

In conclusion, Sethe’s milk getting stolen was the most pivotal scene in Beloved because it brought an aftermath of pain and grief that followed Sethe from Sweet Home to Ohio. First, Sethe’s milk getting stolen, made her husband, Halle, get depressed and disappear from Sethe when they were supposed to escape to Ohio together with their children. Second, Sethe was dealing with post-traumatic stress from her milk getting stolen, which caused her to kill Beloved and lastly, Beloved’s ghost returned from the dead to torment and take revenge on Sethe for killing her. All of these events could have been avoided and she could have had her whole family together at Ohio. Instead these events broke Sethe’s family apart and caused Sethe to live in constant remorse for the killing of her daughter, Beloved.

 

Works Cited

Morrison, Toni. Beloved. New York: Vintage Books, a division of Random House, Inc., 1987. Print.

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draft, Project #2

Beloved – Project 2 – Part 1

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Throughout Beloved we see many instances in which the story could have changed, had certain scenarios not taken place. The scene that I felt to be a crucial point in the story is when Sethe got her milk taken from her. This specific moment changed her journey, and also, changed the course of life for many of  the other main characters.

We first learn about Sethe’s milk being stolen somewhere in the beginning of the book. She reveals this moment to Paul D, also a former slave of Sweet Home, who comes to find her at 124. When Paul D arrives to her house at 124, she is living with her daughter Denver. Besides Sethe and Denver residing in the house, so does the ghost of her dead child who is referred to as Beloved, which was the name that was marked on her gravestone. Paul D’s arrival signals the first shift in the story, as Sethe is happy to see him, and gains comfort from his presence.  He is also reminded of the longing that he had harbored for her back at Sweet Home.

Sethe invites him to stay for dinner, and the night, even at the annoyance of her daughter, Denver, who is very much accustomed to having Sethe all to herself.  Sethe reveals to Paul D that she will not leave 124 because she is tired of running, and then she proceeds on telling him about her milk being stolen. She also tells him her milk being stolen.

“After I left you, those boys came in there and took my milk. That’s what they came in there for.  Held me down and took it. I told Mrs. Garner on em. She had that lump and couldn’t speak but her eyes rolled out tears. Them boys found out I told on em. School teacher made one open up my back, and when it closed it made a tree. It grows there still.” (Morrison, 16)

This is a big revelation in the book on two accounts: the first being that we learned that she had a really traumatic experience that ties into her escape from Sweet Home, and also what happens to Halle. The second being that in telling this to Paul D, she allows herself to mourn and revisit a painful experience. She is also able to share her pain with someone who knows what means to suffer as she has.

Paul D comforts her physically after she tells the story by coming up behind her and carrying her breasts. Symbolically,  that may show that he was  trying to carry her burden for her in that moment. The intimacy between Paul D and Sethe not only makes Denver feel unsettled and worried, but also, upsets the ghost of Sethe’s baby girl who begins to show her anger by shaking the floor boards in the house and hurtling furniture at Paul D, which then leads them to fight, and he chases the spirit out of the house.

” God damn it! Hush up!” Paul D was shouting, falling, reaching for anchor, “Leave the place alone! Get the hell out!” A table rushed toward him and he grabbed its leg. Somehow he managed to stand at an angle and, holding the table by two legs, he bashed it about, wrecking everything , screaming back at the screaming house. “You want to fight, come on! God damn it! She got enough without you. She got enough!” (Morrison, 19)

In that moment the ghost leaves, and Paul D decides to remain at 124.

Paul D later tells Sethe that her husband, Halle, had witnessed her milk being stolen and that witnessing that atrocity had sent him over the edge, and that he lost his mind.

“The day I came in here. You said they stole your milk. I never knew what it was that messed him up. That was it, I guess. All I knew was that something broke him. Not a one of them years of Saturdays, Sundays, and nightime extra never touched him . But whatever he saw go on in that barn that day broke him like a twig.” (Morrison, 68)

This moment is an essential turning point in the book because we can see that with this revelation, many others things might not have come to be. Either this could have been her relationship with Paul D, how sensitive and lonely Denver is, how Baby Suggs died, why Halle didn’t  try and stop the boys from taking her milk and prevent her from suffering that painful  moment, but most significantly, would she have murdered her own baby had Halle been there to prevent her from taking such a painful and desperate decision. Sethe takes this revelation and puts it away with the rest of the pain that she harbors in her mind and heart.

“There is also my husband squatting by the churn smearing the butter as well as its clabber all over his face because the milk  they took is on his mind [. . . ] I don’t want to know or have to remember that. I have other things to do: worry , for example, about tomorrow , about Denver, about Beloved , about age and sickness not to speak of love. (Morrison, 70)

In this moment there is a great deal of reveal for Sethe. In a way she realizes that Halle didn’t just abandon her and the children, but that what he saw broke him, and that if that alone broke him then he wouldn’t have possibly survived the rest of what happened, and also, she doesn’t have to wonder what happened to him any longer as she assumes that he must be dead. This bit of knowledge can bring her some closure. She realizes that she never had a choice to give into the pain and anguish of it all, but instead, she had to continue because of her children, and that life had to go on.

We can take this particular scene in the book and think of how it intermingles with so many other parts. Had Sethe’s milk not been stolen, Halle would not have seen and gone crazy, at least not in that particular moment. They would have left Sweet Home together and Denver, who might have been named something else, would maybe not have come prematurely or would have been delivered by her husband instead of Amy Denver.

The most important fact that might have changed was the death of Sethe’s daughter. Would Halle let her do such a thing?  School teacher came to reclaim her and bring her back, but rather than have her children endure any pain and suffering of becoming a slave, she killed her baby. When Beloved returns, she ends up wanting all of Sethe’s attention and does all she can to alienate Paul D and Denver from her.  Sethe’s quest to make Beloved happy almost ends her completely, but Sethe is able to recover again with love and a new beginning with Paul D.

The pivotal scene that I chose could have very well changed the whole course of the book, and maybe in turn Sethe’s choices would have been very different along with  everyone else’s path as well. If Paul D would have come to 124, Halle could have been there with his wife and they would not have begun a romantic relationship, Denver might have grown into a different woman with her brothers and sister present and Beloved would have lived. Sethe would have moved on with her life and had her family, and could  have found peace much sooner.

 

 

 

 

 

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draft, Project #2

Project # 2 (Part 1) Draft

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In the story “Beloved,” by Toni Morrison, there are many outstanding moments that are important to the information the author wished to convey.  However, the most pivotal moment in the novel is the killing of Sethe’s first daughter.  Had this moment not occurred the main idea of the plot could not be developed.  Also, the title would most likely be different.  This is because the title “Beloved,” is the name the dead baby acquired after her reincarnation.

As the story progressed readers know and understand the dead baby is Sethe’s child but are not readily given information as to how the baby died.  On page 92 of my reading the narrator gave an indication of the events that led to the killing of the baby as stated by Sethe, when she tried to give her boyfriend, Paul D, what she thought was a logical explanation for killing her baby.  The narrator stated, “simple: she was squatting in the garden and when she saw them coming and recognized Schoolteacher’s hat, she heard wings.  Little hummingbirds stuck there needle beaks right through her head cloth into her hair and beat their wings.  And if she thought anything, it was No. No. Nonono. Simple. she just flew Collected every bit of life she had made, all the parts of her that were precious and fine and beautiful, and carried, pushed, dragged them through the veil, out, away, over there where no one could hurt them. 
.By the time she faced him [Schoolteacher], looked him dead in the eye, she had something in her arms that stopped him in his tracks.  He took a backward step with each jump of the baby heart until finally there was none.”

It was accidentally that Sethe happen to see Schoolteacher before he saw her.  Because she was sitting or bending down in the garden she was able to see his hat floating above the fence as he approached the house.  Bells went off in her head she did not need a visual of his body.  She could never mistake the man who had beat her so badly before she escaped.  She knew his presence meant only one thing, a return to slavery for her and her children.  In a frenzy and on impulse she grabbed what was dear to her, her children and somehow managed to get them all to the woodshed.  Once there she decided to do whatever it took to keep them safe.  In her mind they would all be better off dead than alive as slaves.  Schoolteacher was shocked when he saw her holding the baby, he moved away from her when noticed what Sethe had done to her own.

The killing of the baby sent a series of events that form the plot of the story.   Sethe had experienced slavery in some of the worst ways.  She knew what was waiting for her if she allowed Schoolteacher to take them back.  She knew what it was like to be beaten, classified as an animal and having reservations about loving anything, even her children, because they could be taken away and sold as her master wished.  Because she knew all these things as soon as she recognized that hat she sprang into action.  She kept saying no repeatedly because after escaping slavery and experiencing the joys of freedom and allowing herself to love her children, psychologically she could not visualize herself and her children living as slaves again.   She moved very fast, like a hummingbird, that was how quickly she gathered all her children.  They were the only thing that mattered to her in life.  Somehow on her own she was able to carry, push, pull and drag her children to the woodshed.  On impulse she decided death would be a better option, death would be safer.  She tried but succeeded in killing only her first daughter.  This is the daughter that after her death set off a series of events that changed the life of Sethe and her family.   She took to haunting the house and later reincarnated in the flesh and using the only word Sethe could afford to have inscribed on her headstone as he name, “Beloved.”

Paul D arrived at the house at Bluestone Road and was happy to see Sethe again.  He became content there and decided to stay with Sethe.  He successfully got rid of the baby ghost and life at the house seemed to be back to normal for Sethe and Denver.  Things began to gradually change for the worst after Beloved appeared out of nowhere.   Her presence caused problems in Sethe’s relationship with Paul D.  Others began to wonder what was going on at the house and who the new arrival was.  Stamp Paid was no exception, he was the man who helped Sethe escaped slavery.  He was not content with Sethe’s boyfriend Paul D living at Bluestone Road without knowing her brutal past.  He took it upon himself to inform Paul D of the unfortunate events that occurred years before at that house, in the wood shed.  It was a newspaper clipping with her picture that Stamp Paid used as evidence when he confronted Paul D.  Paul D was shocked by the news and was in denial.  In an effort to further elaborate on the unfortunate events that day the narrator explained Stamp Paid thoughts on page 89 of my reading `by stating, “Stamp Paid looked at him
.He was going to tell him that, because he thought it was important: why he and Baby Suggs both missed it.  And about the party too, because that explained why nobody ran on ahead, why nobody sent a fleet footed son to cut ‘cross a field soon as they saw the four horses in town hitched for watering while the riders asked questions.  Not Ella, not John, not anybody ran down to Bluestone Road, to say some new white folk with the look just rode in.  The righteous look every Negro learned to recognize along with his ma’am tit.  Like a flag hoisted, this righteousness telegraphed and announce the faggots the whip, the fist, the lie long before it went public.”

Stamp Paid felt compelled to explain to the shocked Paul D why nothing was done to prevent Sethe from reaching her breaking point that day.  He felt he had to let Paul D understand that he and Baby Suggs had a feeling something was wrong but did not pinpoint what it was until too late.   He wanted to offer an explanation about why no one in town sent a warning to Bluestone Road.  No one sent one of their sons who ran fast to take a shortcut to the house with a warning.  He wanted to tell him Baby Suggs had given a big party the day before and exhaustion could have contributed to the inattention the town gave the new arrivals.   After all, it was a time in slavery when strangers who rode into town stood out and everyone heard of their arrival quickly.   Strange white men who had a certain way of carrying themselves were viewed with more suspicion than usual.

As shocked as Paul D was about Sethe snatching up her children and taking them to the wood shed where she succeeded in killing one and attempted to kill the others, Stamp Paid felt deep down, just by the look on Paul D’s face that he was also shocked that no one warned Sethe and the other occupants at Bluestone Road that these men were coming.   The author elaborated that not Ella or John made an effort to send a warning because we have come to know Ella and John as being absolutely against slavery and did everything they could to protect Negroes.  They made it their duty to know what was going on so they could help in any way they could. On that particular day they failed Sethe’s family, the same family they so valiantly helped to escape slavery.  Stamp Paid felt he was obligated to offer an explanation as to why Ella, John and the rest of the town did not warn the family.  He wanted to make him understand that although the men had the look that indicated they were slave catchers asking questions to track down escaped slaves in order to recapture and probably beat, torture and quote passages from for the bible to support the need of Negroes to remain in slavery, no one came with a warning, no one helped Sethe that day to hide herself and her children before it was too late.

The quotation mentioned above is important to what is considered the most pivotal moment in the novel.  This is the moment where the arrival of the slave catchers led to Sethe killing her baby.  This baby was killed violently.   The author revealed later that Sethe used a handsaw to cut her throat.  It was angry baby who after haunting Sethe and her family for years returned as Beloved, who professed outwards, love for Sethe but was plotting to harm her in revenge for the suffering she experienced.  Beloved is the character that drives the main plot of the story.  Without her initial death this would not be possible.  Therefore, the quote in paragraph one is indeed the pivotal moment in the novel.

Paul D was unforgiving of Sethe’s killing her child.  On page 93 of my reading he stated, “What you did was wrong Sethe
.You have two feet, Sethe, not four.”   And the narrator went on to say that, “right then and there a forest sprang up between them, trackless and quiet.”   Upon realizing the news Stamp Paid told him was true Paul D could not support the decision Sethe had made and he told her exactly how he felt.  To him it was the wrong decision.

He tried to explain to her that as a human being she had made the wrong choice.  He tried to make her see that her way seemed animalistic.  He made it clear that nothing she said would make him believe killing was the best way to keep her children safe.  After they had that conversation their relationship ended.  It was as if Paul saw her as a monster or an animal, she was no longer the woman he had always admired and loved.  He could no longer continue their relationship and the distance was evident to both of them even before the conversation ended.

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draft, Project #2

Project 2 Draft

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In the novel “beloved” by Toni Morrison, the characters face many hardships and go through many tough times. There is one moment though, that I feel had a major impact on all the following events and without said scene, the story would be very different. The scene I’m  referring to is when Schoolteachers nephews take Sethe’s milk.

The scene is described near the beginning of the story. Sethe mentions the tree on her back, and when pressed to explain herself, the following conversation ensues.

“…The milk would be there and I would be there with it.” “Men don’t know nothing much,” said Paul D, tucking his pouch back into his vest pocket, “but they do know a suckling can’t be away from its mother for long.” “Then they know what it’s like to send your children off when your breasts are full.” “We was talking ’bout a tree, Sethe.” “After I left you, those boys came in there and took my milk. That’s what they came in there for. Held me down and took it. I told Mrs. Garner on em. She had that lump and couldn’t speak but her eyes rolled out tears. Them boys found out I told on em. Schoolteacher made one open up my back, and when it closed it made a tree. It grows there still.” “They used cowhide on you?”  “And they took my milk.” “They beat you and you was pregnant?” “And they took my milk!”

When asked about the tree she mentioned, Sethe starts talking about her milk and how important it was to get it to her daughter. Paul D seems confused at first about the change in topic, “We was talking ’bout a tree, Sethe.” She then explains how they held her and took her children’s milk, and when they found out she had told Mrs. Garner what happened, Schoolteacher had her whipped, even though she was very pregnant by then. Paul D is shocked to find out she was whipped while she was pregnant, but what bothered Sethe more was that her milk was taken. Her milk that she had for her little girl.

Soon afterwards she escapes, but without Halle. She has no idea why he hasn’t come as planned, until Paul D explains later in the story.

“He saw.” “He told you?” “You told me.” “What?” “The day I came in here. You said they stole your milk. I never knew what it was that messed him up. That was it, I guess. All I knew was that something broke him. Not a one of them years of Saturdays, Sundays and nighttime extra never touched him. But whatever he saw go on in that barn that day broke him like a twig.” “He saw?” Sethe was gripping her elbows as though to keep them from flying away. “He saw. Must have.” “He saw them boys do that to me and let them keep on breathing air? He saw? He saw? He saw?” … “It broke him, Sethe.” Paul D looked up at her and sighed. “You may as well know it all. Last time I saw him he was sitting by the chum. He had butter all over his face.”

Halle was in the rafters of the barn when the nephews came in and took Sethe’s milk. He was there witnessing the entire thing and was completely powerless to stop it. This drove him crazy, and kept him back when his wife escaped.

Sethe runs away tired, pregnant, barefoot, and alone. Without Halle to help her she nearly dies in the woods, luckily Amy Denver finds her, and nurses her back to health and helps deliver her baby. But the tree on her back, and her husband not being there, make the escape all the more traumatic.

She finally makes it to Baby Suggs, and starts getting better. She spends twenty-eight days with her family, new friends, and freedom. The rape of her milk, the beating, delivering in the forest, Halle still gone. These things don’t leave her mind, and when the Schoolteacher shows up at 124, she loses it. She knows what he is capable of, and she goes ahead and tries to “save” them from what she clearly believes is a fate worse than death.

If her milk hadn’t been taken, Halle would have been fine, and escaped with her. Delivering in the woods would still have been an ordeal, but with Halle there and no tree on her back, it wouldn’t have taken such a toll on her. Without that she would never have been able to kill her child.

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draft, Project #2

Project 2 (Part 1) – Draft

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In “Beloved,” by Toni Morrison, one significant event that occurred was Sethe killing her baby daughter. This is a central event within the story because its action is what held the story together. Many of the following events were a result of that action. Sethe killing her two year old daughter was an important scene in the book because it displayed her love for her children, its action lead to 124 being haunted by the child ghost, and it helped with the development of Beloved’s character along with others.

Shortly after escaping Sweet Home, the four horsemen, schoolteacher, one of his nephews, a slave catcher, and a sheriff, came to claim Sethe along with her children. Sethe quickly ran to the shed where she planned to kill her children to protect them, but only succeeded in killing one. Once the horsemen witnessed what she has done they thought, “Right off it was clear, to schoolteacher especially, that there was nothing there to claim. The three (now four—because she’d had the one coming when she cut) pickaninnies they had hoped were alive and well enough to take back to Kentucky, take back and raise properly to do the work Sweet Home desperately needed, were not (Morrison 175).” The horsemen, especially schoolteacher, came to realize that their trip had been in vein. They thought they would’ve claimed more slaves, but from what they’ve seen, Sethe was not well enough to take back to Sweet Home. This quote signifies that the schoolteacher desperately needed slaves for Sweet Home who were alive and well, but after Sethe’s actions he felt that there was nothing for him to claim there. Sethe killing her child showed her love for her, and for the rest of her children. If she had never done what she did, schoolteacher would’ve taken them all back to Sweet Home. Sethe so desperately wanted to protect her children from the life that she grew up in, which is why she killed her daughter. It was the only way she could’ve protected her.

Resulting in the death of Sethe’s child, 124 was haunted by the ghost of it. It often shook the house and threw things around. When Paul D arrived and acknowledged the ghost, he chases it off. ”
‘Leave the place alone! Get the hell out!’ A table rushed toward him and he grabbed its leg. Somehow he managed to stand at an angle and, holding the table by two legs, he bashed it about, wrecking everything, screaming back at the screaming house. ‘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 (Morrison 22).” Paul D shouts at the ghost after it started to shake the house. He demands it to leave the house and Sethe alone because she’s got enough problems without it. As he swings the table, the shaking of the house slows down, and eventually stops. This quote shows the ghost of Sethe’s child who shakes the house, maybe because of its anger towards Sethe or Paul D. The ghost that haunts 124 is an effect of Sethe killing her child. If Sethe hadn’t killed her, the house wouldn’t have been haunted.

Denver was a lonely child who had no company, except the ghost inside 124. She thinks, “Beloved is my sister. I swallowed her blood right along with my mother’s milk. The first thing I heard after not hearing anything was the sound of her crawling up the stairs. She was my secret company until Paul D came. He threw her out. Ever since I was little she was my company and she helped me wait for my daddy (Morrison 243).” Denver knew that Beloved was her sister. She knew that her sister was the ghost that haunted 124, and kept her company secretly over the years. Denver believed that her father was coming to get her, and her sister waited with her. This secret relationship that Denver had with her sister was due to the fact that her sister was the ghost that haunted the house.

From the time that Beloved spent with Sethe and Denver, Sethe comes to realize that she is her daughter and wants to explain why she killed her. Sethe thinks, “How if I hadn’t killed her she would have died and that is something I could not bear to happen to her
 I’ll tend her as no mother ever tended a child, a daughter. Nobody will ever get my milk no more except my own children (Morrison 236).” In other words, if Sethe had not killed her child she would’ve died a slave, and Sethe couldn’t bear to see that. Now that her daughter is back she gets another chance to redeem herself by tending her daughter like no mother ever tended a child. Also, she declares that nobody, but her children will ever get her milk. This quotation shows that Sethe killing her child protected her from being captured by schoolteacher and taken to Sweet Home. Sethe’s love for her child is displayed in this quote. Killing her child allowed her this opportunity.

After Sethe lost her job, and she couldn’t feed her children or herself anymore, Denver decided to leave the house to work. Once Ella heard about Sethe being whipped being whipped by Beloved and Denver sought help she thought, “The daughter, however, appeared to have some sense after all. At least [Denver] had stepped out the door, asked for the help she needed and wanted work (Morrison 302).” As Denver realized she needed to get out of 124, to get help to save her family, she stepped out the door seeking it. Her character has developed significantly since the arrival of Beloved. She was once intimidated to leave her house, but is now willing to do so. The cause of Denver’s ability to step out the door of 124 was because of how Beloved has changed since her first arrival. The death of Sethe’s child, allowed Beloved to come into the story, and allowed Denver mature.

The death of Sethe’s child is a central scene in the story. If it had never happened, the story would’ve been different. This also contributed to many other events throughout the book.

Works Cited

Morrison, Toni. Beloved. New York: Vintage, 1987. Print.

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draft, Project #2

PROJECT #2 PART 1 (DRAFT)

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Beloved by Toni Morrison is a novel about Sethe’s life and how her past comes back to haunt her in many ways. Sethe as a person has endured many forms of suffering during her slave years. Throughout the story, we see many scenes that contribute highly to the storyline itself. These scenes may even bring up a symbol that will be brought up to the end of the story. Going back to Sethe’s suffering, we see one form of suffering that really carried on throughout the story. That suffering is the moment her milk was stolen from her. Milk played a huge symbol in this story and without the scenes that bring up this major symbol, this story would probably be completely different.

The scene I’d like to bring up is a scene that happened in the beginning of the book. On Chapter 1 Page 19 (Red Book), we see a scene that depicts Sethe’s suffering regarding her milk. In this scene, we hear what happened to Sethe after running away. “After I left you, those boys came in there and took my milk. That’s what they came here for. Held me down and took it. I told Mrs. Garner on em. She had that lump and couldn’t speak but her eyes rolled out tears.” To simplify this, Sethe was beaten down and her breast milk was forced from her. This quote is very important because it starts off the whole milk topic in the story. After reading this part, we also see that Sethe was treated poorly and inhumane. In other words, she was treated as a cow and not as a human being. This scene is important and without it, the story would be different. For starters, we wouldn’t take milk into account when reading this story. It would just be something that happened and not something major. This scene also brings up the topic of her suffering and how that suffering scarred her. Lastly, as I mentioned before, this scene was a starter that brought about a chain reaction throughout the rest of the story.

Moving on, we go further into the story. The time milk was taken from Sethe by the nephew of school teacher still lingered in the mind of Sethe. It was very traumatizing for her which now brings up a scene in Chapter 7 Page 83 (Red Book) of the story. “There is also my husband squatting by the chum smearing the butter as well as its clabber all over his face because the milk they took is on his mind. And as far as he is concerned, the world may as well know it. and if he was broken then, then he is also and certainly dead now.” In other words, the incident where milk was taken from Sethe was very traumatizing to not only her but to her husband Halle as well. It was something that both of them couldn’t even take off their minds. It wouldn’t be surprising if many people knew about this incident. This incident hit Halle really hard and he became a Halle we didn’t really know. The single thought of milk drove Halle insane. Unfortunately, Halle was never seen again after the butter incident which of course would hit Sethe, his wife at the time, pretty hard. After reading this, we can already assume that Halle is dead. The thought of being a widow is something that she couldn’t really take. This stuck to her even after leaving Sweet Home. This scene is one of those pivotal scenes because without Halle’s disappearance, Sethe wouldn’t have had a broken heart. She wouldn’t have also recalled this scene many times after thinking about Halle. This scene also enabled Sethe to grow in a way. If it wasn’t for Halle’s disappearance, Sethe wouldn’t have moved on to start rebuilding her family from scratch with Paul D. Going back to the original milk robbing scene, if that scene hadn’t happened, the scene discussed on this paragraph would have not happened which essentially is a novel changing scene.

Later on in the story, we see a Sethe that is more caring towards everyone especially Beloved and Denver. She loved her children which is her duty as a mother. She wanted to give whatever she had to her baby however, we saw earlier in the book that her milk was taken from her which scarred her. This however didn’t stop her from wanting to provide love for her loved ones. This brings up our next quote which can be found on Chapter 8 Page 118 (Red Book). “There was no question but that she could do it. Just like the day she arrived at 124-sure enough, she had milk enough for all.” To restate this, there was without a doubt that she could provide for her children especially due to the fact that she had enough milk for all her children. As I mentioned before, Sethe wanted to provide for her children. Regardless of what happened and what could happen, she wanted to give no matter what. Based on this, we can probably see a development in an obsession towards this one goal. Now what exactly does this have to do with the scene we read on Page 19 (Red Book)? The answer to that is we can see that she shows signs of growth and development since the day her milk was taken from her. She prepared herself to give up everything just to provide her children with her nutrients. In addition to that, Sethe was now able to do something she couldn’t do back then as a slave and that was to feed her children with her breast milk.

In conclusion, that one scene from Page 19 (Red Book) played a very important role in the story. It enabled Sethe character to grow as a woman and not as the cow she was depicted as during her years as a slave. This scene resulted in crucial events, the most important being the Halle incident because it resulted in the major move into 124 with Paul D to rebuild the family she lost as a slave.

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