Around and Around, a Critical Lens Experts Blog by Sierra Nelson-Liner

Whilst reading Circularity In Toni Morrison’s Beloved by Philip Page, there were many aspects of the passage that resonated with me. The first was the repeated or “circular” actions of the written form of the story. For instance, each character dives a little deeper into a memory but keeps circling around and around not entirely reaching the heart of what the memory means. This form of repetition within the memory and remembrance is very interesting because it reveals a sort of defense mechanism, such as a mix of repression and displacement, which further brings the reader into the mind of the characters. The audience can’t immediately know what is going on because the characters themselves are trying to sort through their own fractured memories. This allows the readers to make a better connection to self on such a severe and traumatic subject as slavery. This led Philips to decide that Beloved itself is a collection of memories that often highlight certain emotions. This can also lead to paradoxes such as the intent for the story of Beloved in the end of the novel. Toni Morrison states that Beloved is not a story to pass on; when in reality the story did get passed on, and had to be. The characters in Beloved had to face their memories. We as readers have to face what occurs in the story, and even the possible connection between our own history and our generation's part in slavery. This circulatory system of pushing forward and revealing the truth is vital to Beloved and to the real world.     

The second thing that resonated with me was what Philips described to be the possessiveness in Beloved of "being ‘mine’ or ‘yours’ as part of the vocabulary of love.” This was often repeated between Sethe, Denver, and Beloved. As each character moved towards love as a possession they moved closer and closer to obsession and farther and farther away from love. Philips went as far as to compare this unhealthy level of possession to that of slavery. This is interesting to think about because all throughout the character’s lives that were previous slaves they were owned, and once they escaped they still reflected almost natural forms of greed and obsession. By making love a possessive aspect of their lives they were reflecting what they must have trained their minds to think. Possibly that all of the orders and restrictions that came to their family lives as slaves they didn't know any better to fix once freed. This interestingly enough underscores what the purpose of freedom is, and the value and strength of family in Beloved. As it was, the desire of the characters was to be free and find a safe place to call home. This cannot be achieved through obsession.

The Jungle of Our Past, a Close Reading by Sierra Nelson-Liner

 

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“Whitepeople believed that whatever the manners, under every dark skin was a jungle...But it wasn't the jungle blacks brought with them to this place from the other (livable) place. It was the jungle white folks planted in them. And it grew. It spread. In, through and after life, it spread, until it invaded the whites who had made it.”

-Beloved 234

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As Stamp Paid came up to 124 he gave an insight into the true impression white people have had on African Americans. He alluded the situation to that of an ever-growing and untamed jungle. Toni Morrison used diction such as “ screaming”, “red gums”, “unnavigable” to try and convey the incivility of the relationship between slaves and their masters (234). The metaphor explains that whitepeople impressed upon the blacks that they were, to the core, savages and animals. In response the slaves believed they were forced onto this belief and let it spread throughout themselves changing who they were. It was the whites that tried to show them that they were kind-hearted and justifiable for their actions. In turn, Toni reflected that this power was actually feeding the jungle in the white slave owners, turning the “screaming baboons” and “red gums” into features of the white people. The allusion to the jungle is very clever. It is something that is so immense and untamed; much like slavery. As years upon years of slavery grew the hardships and the way of life it presented in society grew with power. The reference to the jungle also reminds me of The Jungle by Upton Sinclair which expressed unfair working conditions of immigrants in the industrial revolution. (I remember a particular scene about the meat processing systems which can be found here under the subheading the Jungle.) Slavery was truly a time where there was a disconnect between the morality of society.
Furthermore, from the psychoanalytic standpoint, the societal views of slavery are very interesting to analyze. As whites were dominant they felt powerful and that fed into their dehumanization of slaves. An attempt on teaching segregation to a class of young students was performed with Jane Elliott's Blue eyed/brown eyed experiment found here. In the simulation students with brown eyes were told they were better than blue eyed people. This is the closest case study I have come across thus far that isn't abusive, but really gets the message across for what it could be like to be completely neglected. As Beloved itself if a traumatic read, it is the first novel that begins to capture the true essence of what it meant to be a slave. What it meant to live in a jungle called "life".

Anyone Is Capable - Response & Refection #2 by Gennesis Ayala

Rape is an unfortunate situation that I have been aware and warned about since a young age. I was taught that rape is an action that was committed by men towards women, but Beloved has taught me otherwise. While reading Beloved I was surprised and saddened to learn that rape can happen to anyone and can be committed by anyone. I have heard many stories of cases of rape, all committed by men and the victims were women. I have never been told of a story where a man was the victim or a woman was the offender of a situation of sexual abuse until I read Beloved.

While Paul D was in prison for trying to kill someone, he witnessed a fellow inmate “taking a bit of foreskin” instead of getting a “gunshot to his head” (127), meaning that the inmate was forced into oral rape so the prison guard wouldn’t shoot him to death. This shows a man being sexually abused by another man. This is an unfortunate event that Paul D had to witness and a cringing passage that made me rethink of what I thought I already knew about rape. Another passage that made me rethink my knowledge of rape is when Beloved demands that Paul D touches her “on the inside part” and calls her by her name (137). Although that did happen, Paul D is “convinced he didn’t want to” (148). If Paul D was convinced that he did not want to have sex with Beloved, then this leads to the thought that Beloved may have raped Paul D since it was against his will. These passages have allowed me to see that rape does not only come from a male towards a female, but can also come from a male towards another male or a female towards a male. Although it wasn’t shown in the book, I now believe that sexual abuse can also be committed from a female to another female. Beloved has allowed my knowledge on sexual abuse to expand and recognize that sexual abuse can be committed by anyone and anyone can a victim, despite a persons gender.

The Ultimate Sacrifice - A Response and Reflection by Madison Schmidt

Motherhood plays a incredibly complicated role throughout the entirety of Toni Morrison's Beloved. Baby Suggs, arguably one of the strongest mother figures, is not only a good mother to her son Halle, but an amazing mother figure and example to her daughter in law, Sethe. For her own children, Sethe is also an extremely strong mother figure, in her very own way.

Sacrifice is a huge theme that goes hand in hand with motherhood in this book, as it does with motherhood in general.
                               
In the same way Baby Suggs makes a huge sacrifice leaving her child, Halle, on Sweet Home working for her freedom, we later find out that Sethe has made the ultimate sacrifice for her own children, shortly after arriving at 124. Upon settling in, and finally having a home base for herself and her family, Sethe feels able to embrace the fact that her children are finally hers to love fully.

During the time the book it set, the Fugitive Slave Act is in place, making it so that slave owners can find and reposes escaped slaves - like Sethe. When a 'slave-catcher' comes for Sethe, along with the schoolteacher, his nephew, and a sheriff, she does the unthinkable, in fear that if she and her children are taken back into servitude, they will never know freedom. Living through so many horrors on the plantation, Sethe does not want her own children to have to go through her same experiences. She can not bare the thought of letting white people "dirty [her children] so bad [they] couldn't like [themselves] anymore," - Sethe simply could not bear the best part of her - her children - being anything but clean (251).

A mother's worst crime, the murder of her own children, committed out of maternal instincts of love and protection. One of the most shocking, twisted revelations we are faced with in the entire book, upon which the reader is left stunned. Part of us feels angry and disgusted at the fact that any mother would take the life of one of her own, and part of us is sympathetic with what she has done to protect her child from a life she knows to be too cruel. The attempt to kill her children and her success in killing Beloved is something that is terribly hard to grapple with. It takes a huge toll on Sethe at the time, and a huge, confusing toll on the reader as well.

Knowing how awful living a life of servitude is, especially for women, the act of murdering her baby girl is truly in efforts to prevent a life of suffering. What she does for her daughter shows just how terrible her experiences on Sweet Home were, so much so that she would choose death over them for Beloved. On a much lesser scale, I hope to be the type of mother who would sacrifice everything for my children. While I would never murder a child, let alone one of my own, personally, I see where Sethe was coming from.

The Sad Truth - Response and Reflection by Gennesis Ayala

Through out my years at school, I remember being taught about the unfortunate treatment of slaves. Learning about the terrible facts on African Americans is something that has always disturbed me. It’s sad to believe that we once had a large and unfair racial divide in our country. However, all though I was taught about the behavior towards African Americans during this unfortunate time, I was never taken into detail on the treatment of women during that time, especially African American woman. Beloved has opened my eyes to see the world through the eyes of slaves, specifically Sethe, a female slave in the 1800’s.

I have always believed that women were treated differently than men, especially during the slave era, but reading Beloved has allowed me to really see the treatment of women during that time. The book had broadened my perspective on woman and had me asking as to why men felt so superior than women? The book brings in more reasons for why I believe women are portrayed as objects to men. The flashbacks that Sethe has are real experiences she’s faced in the past which go into detail of the disturbing and cringing obstacles which she was faced with almost everyday. When I was taught about slavery, I don’t remember learning about the rapes and the extreme discomfort many of the slaves had to face. I remember only being taught about the difficult labor and violence that slaves faced. Beloved has broadened my perspective by teaching me about how most slaves were accurately treated during this time, especially woman.

Beloved has allowed my beliefs on the weakness of gender equality to become stronger and broader. The book has allowed me to learn about and visualize the discomfort of woman in the past and has made me see that what I believed in is a lot less worse than what the book actually described.

Critical Lens Expert - Motherhood in Toni Morrison's "Beloved"

Sandra Mayfield's "Motherhood in Toni Morrison's Beloved: A Phsycological Reading" highlights important aspects of Sethe's character as a strong female personality in Beloved. At the beginning of the article, her interpretation of Sethe's confusion with her origin fascinated me. The way that Morrison portrays Sethe's relationship with her own mother - only having really known her as a hanging body branded with a tattoo - creates an association between motherhood and death for Sethe, according to Mayfield. While she had a "near-perfect" example of a mother in Baby Suggs and to some extent in Ms. Garner (Mayfield argues), she had not known the mom who gave her life, leaving her understandably lost. It was interesting to think of how the obscurity of her past and her relationship with her own mother may make her ponder the reason for her existence and drive her every move as a woman and a mother. This was an idea I hadn't previously given much thought. I did, however, find it incredible interesting and useful in analyzing her complicated and twisted relationship with her own children. 

Specifically, this gave me a lot of insight into why she is so attached to her own daughter, when time and time again she has been warned how dangerous it can be to love anything so much (by Paul D in chapter 4 and again by Elle in a flashback in chapter 9). After reading Mayfield's understanding of Sethe's past and more specifically her relationship with her own mother, I have more of an understanding for her attachment to Denver. I feel as though Sethe has kept her memory of her own mother locked away, and completely invested her life in being, for her daughter, what she lacked from her mother.

 The discussion about how her situation at Sweet Home helped form her hardworking, forward-looking character was something I also found very insightful. In the article, Mayfield touches on how many black mothers who suffered from living during the era of slavery, were also able to unveil an extremely creative side of themselves through their experiences, using examples from essays and books. This idea is incredibly applicable to Sethe in Beloved. While her experiences were nothing short of terrorizing, her motivations to move away from the small plantation owned by the Garner family emphasize her strong-woman character. Some of the moments most monumental to the life of a mother - her marriage and her care after the birth of her children - were disregarded by those around her. Nonetheless, she held hopes of a better life and held her head high in the lowest of times. After being dehumanized in the taking of her milk and beating of her back and feet, Sethe makes what Mayfield describes as a "miraculous escape." Her strong nature as a woman and mother is undeniably what allows her to push forward.
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Another Thought

"Slavery had much more to do with sexism than it did racism, and that the legacy has lived long after the days of literal slavery have come and gone." After reading this point Mayfield briefly made, my mind began to race. Her thought is short and to the point, and I was left wanting more of an explanation.

I feel as though the quote to the right speaks volumes to what Mayfield was beginning to express about sexism and slavery. While technically we no longer live in a society where a certain group of people are belittled and looked down upon by our men, as it was during slavery,
however in a way we really do.

The Purpose of Beloved, A Reflection By Lindsey Bogott

Now that I have finished Beloved I can firmly say that this novel has changed my perception on slavery and broadened my sympathy for the African-American race. I am not sure how Toni Morrison did it, but the way she incorporated several layers of psychological emotion to make it feel like a typical, complicated human being made the historical side of it feel more relevant and real. What I especially thought was fascinating and clever was how she used Beloved to be the linkage to the past. Without Beloved, the readers would lose the historical significance of the novel that allows the readers to grasp what is really going on. Because of this, I found that the Maya Angelou quote that I had previously reflected on is basically the sole purpose of the novel, to reflect on the past in order to move on from it.

The past is always a haunting reminder, especially if something tragic occurred like in the case for Sethe. Yet for Sethe, Beloved was her haunting reminder (literally), acting as a leech, only leaving when she thought she had sucked all the blood away. The character Beloved is so abstract, yet that is why I love her. For such a long time I did not understand her or her purpose until I was nearly to the end of the book, reading the poems, that I finally understood her symbolic purpose. Even though she is technically dead, Sethe, and the other characters, keep her alive because they think about her so often, it feels as if she never left. The more they think about her, the more they think of the way she died and the events that led up to her death. Beloved forces them to reflect on their past, makes them weak again so that they can build the strength to get out of their pit of despair and move on.

Everybody needs a Beloved in their life because everyone has gone through an event in their life that haunts them or holds them back from achieving. While Morrison’s profound novel was to shed the light on how it was to be a slave before and after the Emancipation, which she did an exceptional job at, it was also to express the fact that we all just need to move on and learn from our mistakes. In a sense by reading Beloved we are also forced to reflect on slavery and the conditions of African-American life, and now that we have, we can teach others to do the same then work together to make a brighter, more positive and safe future for everyone.