To recap a little from the Welcome, Sethe, and Denver post's:
1) Morrison creates a parallel between characterization and agency/identity in Beloved.
2) This parallel is also representative of African American agency/identity within history.
So far it as be analyzed and discussed that:
1) Sethe represents both the familial past, and the historical past (slavery, prescribed agency).
2) Denver represents both the familial future, and a historical shift (nearing Civil Rights, creation of self-agency).
Moving right along... Beloved doesn't fit neatly into agency or timeline for many reasons. Perhaps we should dive right into the elephant in this post. Spoiler Alert! Beloved is a ghost! Now... this is perhaps the most interesting facet of Morrison's agency parallel in correlation with the characters. How does being ghostly affect agency? What comment does it make on Beloved's history? Her presence? Her parallel?
There is no doubt that Beloved's presence is disturbing to most... She is violent and brutal with Paul D, and an object of obsession with Denver. She controls and manipulates all those around her, especially Sethe, in an unique and unnerving way. But why?
Beloved is more than a representation of a body, or spirit. She becomes a metaphor about how the past does not remain the past. When Sethe tries to kill all her children, and only Beloved dies... Her ghost represents the part, the spirit, that hasn't died... Almost as if Beloved was refusing to fade. Which of course becomes evident when her presence and obsession begins to kill Sethe toward the end of the book.
So what does it all mean? I think Beloved's presence, in relevance to agency and history, is signifying that the past always weighs in on the present. In this case, her death is on Sethe's hands, and will eventual consume Sethe again. Denver, who spent a great deal of time obsessed with Beloved, can only truly be herself (and free) when she has left her behind. Beloved's departure from the story, and the family is no coincidence... She simply disappears. I think there's a correlation there behind accepting, and carrying the past without letting it be consuming.
To sum it up: I think Beloved's role within the novel is summed up by Sethe's last words "She was my best thing." Here, I have interpreted that to mean that the best thing Sethe could do was kill that sort of presence, so that the future had a different path for Denver.
The last post, the wrap up, will discuss how it all comes together. It was also point to agency in another work of literature that are connect to Beloved. The last posting will be marked (4:3).
Jackie,
ReplyDeleteYour idea of leaving the past behind you/not allowing it to be consuming contradicts your interpretation of Sethe's "She was my best thing" quote. When explaining the quote, you state that Sethe had to kill that sort of presence to make a new life for Denver. By killing her best thing, she is not leaving the past behind her. She is in fact doing the opposite; She let the past consume her so much, she panicked and killed her child.
Jackie- I really did not like Beloved's character but unfortunately there would be no novel without her haha. She brought back the horrible memories of slavery to Sethe which eventually took a physical toll. I cannot judge Sethe regarding whether her killing of Beloved as an infant was the right thing to do because Beloved herself had not lived long enough to create an identity for herself. But on the other hand, the horrors of slavery consumed Sethe so much that she tried to envelope her children in her sorrows leading to Beloved's death. What I think is very interesting is why she targetted Paul D in a sexual way. If we were to take out that fact from the novel, I wonder if that would change our definition of Beloved's identity and agency in 124.
ReplyDeleteAlso something else that you inched toward was how Denver let go of Beloved and now she is advancing in society as a working woman providing for her home. That really sheds light on Beloved's role in Sethe's and Denver's agency. Rather than Beloved having her own identity, from beyond life, she was shaping those of her family.