March 25, 2022
- Interpret
Moving forward for the second part of discussion on Toni Morrison’s Beloved, I would like to change focus from the novel’s plot that I found significant to what I think is key through the end of the text and its importance as a whole. There are plenty of events throughout the telling of Beloved that make it impactful and as its horrors come to light, the trauma impacting the lives of the characters and how they react/interact to particular things revealed. I appreciated the disclosure of this novel being a sensitive text before the first part of discussion of the class and how this was delved into deeper during the last class, but as I think was the resounding opinion following this is that Beloved, if not considered to be foundational or groundbreaking to the literary world – it should be. Readers, and educators designing curriculums alike, should not shy away from Beloved because it is disturbing. The history of this country and the reality of events that were portrayed in the text that echoes what was perpetrated in real life is disturbing. As Toni Morrison mentioned in the clip, these are events that everyone, including those subjugated to these actions, want to forget – want to erase from history and from their own memory. However, these uncomfortable truths and reality of these horrors, need to be recognized and confronted. At the very end of the book, Sethe in her own way I believe, must do the same – confront the traumatic history of what was done to her and in-turn how its impacted not only her but the generations to follow – so that she can heal. Otherwise, I imagine the looming sense of horror, haunting the context of these characters lives, would never cease.
- Critically Evaluate
In “Unspeakable things unspoken”, Morrison creates the Afro-American presence and even more so, reclaims it in Beloved. In her critical theory, she mentions several passages, most frequently the middle passage and its roots towards Afro-American history in American literature, which otherwise would have remained “unspoken”. Using specific references from Beloved, she uses “Africanism” to denote the underhanded representation of black people in American culture and history. Beloved is a dark novel and I think with the use of Toni Morrison’s theory you can see why she portrayed such horror in every passage. Trying to give a clear representation of what was probably a common occurrence, minus the actual returning presence of Beloved, but more so the feeling of loss, torture, and depression from all that Afro-Americans experienced. It’s a harrowing depiction of slavery and its aftermath, especially recounting a real situation, which I can see why she was prompted to write the “slave story” that she originally did not want to steer to.
- Points of Discussion for Class
- Dismantling idea of the “Strong Black Woman”/Ideas of the strength and resilience of black women historically and the harm that these notions cause.
We briefly discussed in the first portion of Beloved, but I really was interested in how Toni Morrison mentioned this concept and how we saw it reflected in the novel (by Sethe, Denver, and Beloved individually)
- Significance in Sethe identifying Beloved as her best part
Clearly Beloved has immense value, but what does this say in regards to Denver, when Sethe states this
