Muslin
1. AÂ cotton fabric made in various degrees of fineness and often printed,woven, or embroidered in patterns, especially a cotton fabric of plainweave, used for sheets and for a variety of other purposes.
“I set you down on the little table and figured if I got a piece of muslin the bugs and things wouldn’t get to you.”(Pg 109 in PDF)
Reading this it seems like muslin is some pant or bug repellent. I guess she was going to use it to cover Denver to keep the bugs off her.
She
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?” Â “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.
In âBeloved,â 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 Belovedâs 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, âRight off it was clear, to schoolteacher especially, that there was nothing there to claim. The three (now fourâbecause 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).â The horsemen, especially schoolteacher, came to realize that their trip had been in vein. They thought they wouldâve claimed more slaves, but from what theyâve 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 Setheâs 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 wouldâve 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 couldâve protected her.
Resulting in the death of Setheâs 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 sheâs 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 Setheâs 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 hadnât killed her, the house wouldnât have been haunted.
Denver was a lonely child who had no company, except the ghost inside 124. She thinks, âBeloved 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).â 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, âHow if I hadnât 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).â In other words, if Sethe had not killed her child she wouldâve died a slave, and Sethe couldnât 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. Setheâs love for her child is displayed in this quote. Killing her child allowed her this opportunity.
After Sethe lost her job, and she couldnât 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, âThe 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).â 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 Denverâs ability to step out the door of 124 was because of how Beloved has changed since her first arrival. The death of Setheâs child, allowed Beloved to come into the story, and allowed Denver mature.
The death of Setheâs child is a central scene in the story. If it had never happened, the story wouldâve been different. This also contributed to many other events throughout the book.
Works Cited
Morrison, Toni. Beloved. New York: Vintage, 1987. Print.
Introduce: Denver
In the story Beloved Denver comes off as a shelter person very antisocial, sad, depressed and soft spoken. Throughout the story you watch how Denver character change for the better.
 Quote:
Sethe took two swift steps to the stove, but before she could yank Denver’s collar, the girl leaned forward and began to 9cry.
“What is the matter with you? I never knew you to behave this way.”
“Leave her be,” said Paul D. “I’m a stranger to her.”
“That’s just it. She got no cause to act up with a stranger. Oh baby, what is it? Did something happen?”
But Denver was shaking now and sobbing so she could not speak.
The tears she had not shed for nine years wetting her far too womanly breasts.
“I can’t no more. I can’t no more.”
“Can’t what? What can’t you?”
“I can’t live here. I don’t know where to go or what to do, but I can’t live here. Nobody speaks to us. Nobody comes by.
Boys don’t like me. Girls don’t either.”
“Honey, honey.”
“What’s she talking ’bout nobody speaks to you?” asked Paul D.
“It’s the house. People don’t–”
“It’s not! It’s not the house. It’s us! And it’s you!”
“Denver!”
“Leave off, Sethe. It’s hard for a young girl living in a haunted house. That can’t be easy.”
Interpret: Denver was very sad to the point where she broke down in tears in front of a stranger she doesnât know. This shows that she is overwhelmed with the way she was forced to live. Sethe lifestyle affects Denver a lot. She felt isolated or held hostage because sheâs the only child her mother had left. She wasnât able to have a regular life as other people her age would.
Analyze: The Author started of the paragraph with: Sethe took two swift steps to the stove, but before she could yank Denver’s collarâŠ..
Denver had a build up of emotion which was let out by her mother action when they were cooking. She expressed how she felt right there and then.
Apply: In the story Beloved, Denver comes off very jealous and shy in the beginning. She dealt with jealously when it comes to Paul D and Sethe. She also dealt with jealously when it came to Beloved and Sethe. Denver played an important role through the book she knew who beloved was before Sethe. When Sethe got sick she looked for work gained a job and cooked for her mother. She was a changed person by the end of the book from the shy girl who wonât say much and was shelter in the house. She learned her way around she became more confident and independent.
As Sethe comes to realize that Beloved is her daughter, she 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.” In other words, if Sethe had not killed her child she would’ve died a slave, ad Sethe couldn’t bear to see that. 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 was the only way to protect her from becoming a slave.
Sedition
: the crime of saying, writing, or doing something that encourages people to disobey their government
“And if she thought anything, it was No. No. Nono. 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. Over there. Outside this place, where they would be safe.”
When Sethe sees the schoolteacher approaching, all she could think about is no, no and no. She refuses to let the schoolteacher take everything that is precious to her away from her. She collected all the parts of her, Beloved, Denver, Howard, and Buglar and tried to keep them safe by bringing them to a place where the schoolteacher can no longer reach them.
Sethe says that her rationale for doing what she did was ‘simple’. As if it was the only rational and reasonable thing to do. To push them over to the other side where it is safe. The only safe and rational place to Sethe is death. Once her precious, beautiful, and fine children die, they cannot be harmed by the turmoil of slavery, abuse of the schoolteacher anymore. Outside of the story, outside of slavery, readers would think that no matter what killing your own children is crazy and inhumane but Sethe makes it simple and rational.
This quote gives readers an insight of how inexplicable slavery is and how it dehumanizes a person beyond belief whether it is the slave owners or the slaves. It makes people do unimaginable things such as killing your own children because you love them too much. In order to stop her children from experiencing the pain that she’s experienced, she’s will to kill them to bring them to a better place.
Introduce: In Beloved, the main character Sethe is presently living at 124 with her daughter Denver, however, she continue to relive the bad memories she endured as a slave at Sweet Home. Although, she tried to not mention the past to Denver, 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, she ignited Setheâs bad feelings of the past, causing Sethe to feel depressed for the things she did that haunted her very conscious. Therefore, because Sethe was dealing with posttraumatic stress disorder from the harsh sufferings of slavery, Beloved used Setheâs anguish to torment her even more. (I rarely use quotations from the text for my introduction)
Quote: One of the harsh sufferings Sethe went through, is when she was tied down at Sweet Home by men for her nursing (breast) milk. âAfter I left you, those boys came in there and took my milk. Thatâs what they came in there for. Held me down and took it. I told Mrs. Garner on em. She had that lump and couldnât 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.â âThey used cowhide on you?â âAnd they took my milk.â âThey beat you and you was pregnant?â âAnd they took my milk!â (Morrison 19-20)
Interpret: In this quote, the owners of Sweet Home hold down Sethe, so that they take her milk. As her milk was being stolen, the schoolteacher was taking notes of this as if she was a lab experiment. Furthermore, her husband, Halle, had to witness this while he could not do anything about it.
Analyze: When Setheâs milk was stolen, she was violated. Sethe was helpless and there was nothing she could do because she belonged to the owner of Sweet Home. This traumatic scene played a negative effect to Setheâs psyche, causing her to kill her daughter, Beloved, and attempt to kill her other children, Denver, Buglar, and Howard, to spare them of the harsh life of being a slave.
Apply: (1)âGrowled when they (Sethe and Beloved) chose; sulked, explained demanded, strutted, cowered, cried and provoked each other to the edge of violence, then over. She had begun to notice that even when Beloved was quiet, dreamy, minding her own business, Sethe got her going again. Whispering, muttering some justification, some bit of clarifying information to Beloved to explain what it had been like, and why, and how come. It was as though Sethe didnât really want forgiveness given; she wanted it refused. And Beloved helped herâ (Morrison 296-297).
(2) âDenver thought she understood the connection between her mother and Beloved: Sethe was trying to make up for the handsaw; Beloved was making her pay for itâ (Morrison 295).
Beloved was angry for what Sethe did to her, so she brought her torment by constantly fighting between herself and Sethe. Also, Sethe could not forgive herself for killing Beloved, so Beloved feed into Setheâs misery, causing Sethe to feel more miserable for killing her.
This method is great but I am unsure if I am doing this right. Am I supposed to be writing my draft of part 1 in the format of the five-step method? As for my rating of this method, I believe it is helping me to organize where and how to use the quotation in my essay. However, this method does not help you to formulate a thesis statement.
Reckon (verb) : to think or suppose
(Merriam-Webster. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/reckon)
From Beloved. (Red book page 311. Paragraph 4)
“Used to be voices all round that place. Quiet, now,” Stamp said. “I been past it a few times and I can’t hear a thing. Chastened, I reckon,…”
Stamp Paid said there used to be voices in the place but now it’s quiet. He reckons (thinks) it had been chastened.
example: Because of the traffic, he couldn’t make it to the meeting, I reckon
One scene that I found to be pivotal was Sethe killing her child. In my opinion, this is what held the book together. The reason behind Setheâs murder was a good intention. She wanted to protect her children and herself from schoolteacher and the rest of the men. She feared they wouldâve taken her along with her children back to the slave life she didnât want her kids to experience. This action actually showed the amount of love she had for her children.
âI didn’t have time to explain before because it had to be done quick. Quick. She had to be safe and I put her where she would be. But my love was tough and she back now.â
âHow if I hadn’t killed her she would have died and that is something I could not bear to happen to her. When I explain it she’ll understand, because she understands everything already. 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.â
After Sethe comes to realize that Beloved is her daughter, she wanted to explain to Beloved why she killed her. She knew that her daughter wouldâve died anyway at the hands of someone else, and couldnât handle the sight of that. Now that she has her daughter back, she wants to make up for those lost years. Sethe claims that nobody except her children will ever get her milk. All of this shows the amount of love she has for her children, which is why she ended up killing her daughter.
Also, the baby ghost that haunted 124 would not have been there if Sethe hadnât killed her daughter. This caused Sethe and Denver to live in isolation because no one visited them. The years of isolation kept Denver inside of 124, until she was forced to get out after her mother lost her job.
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