Beloved is a novel
in which the past is inextricably intertwined with the present and the future. Some
say in metaphorically that “your past may come back to haunt you,” but in
Beloved this metaphor is brought into physical terms. When an escaped slave
named Sethe must murder her infant daughter to keep her from the clutches of slavery,
that baby comes back with a vengeance: “124 was spiteful. Full of a baby’s
venom” (1). These intriguingly confusing opening lines depict the physical phantasm
of the tale. However, there is yet another ghost: the memory of slavery. Slavery’s
lingering effects can be seen in how each occupant of the town is said to be
broken in some way. Sethe’s experiences, however horrible, are the norm there.
For Sethe, that
past acts like an anchor, weighing her down so she is stuck in stagnation. For
her one act of love for her children and defiance toward slavery, the community
ostracizes her. While the others in that community too have experienced the
horrors of slavery, they shun Sethe for killing her daughter to keep that child
from what Sethe believed to be a worse fate than death. She is stuck in this
miserable situation with no one but her daughter and the ghost of her baby,
almost reminiscent of Sweet Home, in which at least they were all together.
When Paul D, who
represents the future, appears in front of Sethe, she is shocked. Soon she is
happy, for she is with someone who has experienced what she has, so they have
an understanding without Sethe needing to explain anything. Paul D believes
that he Sethe, and Denver can start anew and become a family. But Denver does
not not want this, as she is as stuck in the past as Sethe is.
Eventually, Denver
accepts Paul D, and thus metaphorically accepts that there may be a future for
her and her family. She is even to become the “project” of a rich white family.
However, looking to the further here, although rose tinted, is speckled with
problematic holes. That white family, while said to be a progressive one, has a
coin bank reminiscent of the one we see in Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man. Therefore, everything is not as perfect as it seems.
The ending isn't "perfect" in its resolution of all the issues involved in the "haunting" of this household, as you say--and Morrison would be doing a disservice to her novel's historical narrative to imply that somehow the historical haunting of slavery can be so neatly eradicated. Denver is poised to make her way as a free black woman in the era of Reconstruction: she faces all kinds of struggles that relate to events before she was born (which the "At Yo Service" coin bowl indicates succinctly), and this is not going to be easy for her. But we see her move beyond the psychological/emotional paralysis that kept her from "leaving the yard," and this is a significant step. She's no longer being defined solely by what took place 18 years ago, when she was only 28 days old.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I think you have a really good idea here, I can't help but feel like you kind of rushed your post a little bit. You say Paul D represents the future, which makes a lot of sense-- they can start a new relationship together. However, you completely gloss over the fact that Sethe and Paul D already knew each other, meaning that the past and future are sort of intertwining. Also the way you worded that part implies there's another character that represents the past, at least how I interpreted it; but you never mention one. Also I get the meaning of the sentence " However, looking to the further here, although rose tinted, is speckled with problematic holes."-- their so called 'happily ever after' has problems. However, I found the sentence unnecessarily 'flowery' and doesn't flow right. All in all a pretty good post though
ReplyDeleteSorry I meant to say, "looking toward the future." Your right though, I rushed the post and forgot to include that Paul represents what Mr. Mitchell called, "the nexus between the past and the future."
DeleteI think the thought of the white family, who are fairly progressive, owning one of the caricature-coin banks is extremely intriguing/eerie. The way I see it, it's kind of a reminder that the main, scary part is over, but the horrors of racism haven't just been completely forgotten.
ReplyDeleteI think it's interesting how you say Paul D represents the future because I hadn't thought of him that way before. Previously I saw him as a kinder version of Beloved in that he also mysteriously comes back from Sethe's past. Paul D ends up being both a part of Sethe's past and future in this novel. He is also one of the only things in the book (especially the first two parts) that seems to consider the present. Their family is not only a new family to live together moving forward, but a remaking of a family that broke several years ago.
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ReplyDeleteGreat post, I'm not sure that Paul D. really represents the future though. It seems to me like Paul D.'s experiences are really similar to Sethe's but he just represents a different way of dealing with them. I thought maybe Denver was the one that really represented the future, especially since she got out of the situation and got her own job.
ReplyDeleteOnce Paul D arrives at 124, things that have been stagnant for years begin to change. For one, the ghost seems to have gone away. Also, Paul D believes that he, Sethe, and Denver can be a family, which is very much looking toward the future. One of the first things he does when he arrives at 124 is to convince Sethe and Denver to go to a carnival with him, although we get the sense that previously Sethe only left the house for work, and Denver never did.
DeleteI liked your inclusion of the fact that the "progressive" white family has such a racist object in their house, showing that while slavery has been abolished (the past), racists systems and mindsets continue to linger (the future).
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