One of the main dilemmas that has helped me understand Beloved, and probably will help me later in life is the ideas that everyone handles situations differently. I've already somewhat experienced this with death and how people cope to handle the pain. While it is the same with death, it is also very similar with trauma. Sethe would do anything to protect her children and by doing so she believes that she must kill them to ultimately protect them from slavery and the white men who have hurt her before. To people who live in the modern world, this may seem like a crazy idea or the wrong thing to do, but having no options she was desperate to do anything to protect her child so this is the way she decided to handle it instead of let them be taken by slave owner's.
As well as dealing with pain, it's also interesting to see how Morrison takes revenge, betrayal, and hate to the next level by allowing this demon to come back and haunt Sethe. This may also be another way that Sethe decides to deal with her difficult situation of stress and trauma. She believes that if she takes Beloved back in as her child her will make everything better, but Beloved merely comes back to haunt her mother for the murder that she committed on her own child. Beloved also acts as someone who Sethe would probably be afraid of in another life. In one of the Expert Blogs, I read about Beloved being a rapist for men who tortures them with attraction and ultimately takes all pride they have left to make herself stronger. While this may sound a little weird, it is exactly what the white men did to Sethe which caused her all this harm. In this book, Karma is real.
In conclusion, I believe that reading this book was a very powerful thing that was essential for all seniors in high school. It may seem disturbing and difficult to read, but it helped me and I'm sure many other students in the grade to understand the excruciating details about racism, slavery, and trauma that centuries ago were very real. Sethe never wanted anything but to protect her children; in the end it was all for love.
Although Beloved was a sad book, I like you took some good takeaways from it. You're looking at the brighter side at the book which is hard to see so it's very interesting. I'm glad you liked the book!
ReplyDeleteI really like the outcomes you realized after reading Beloved. I agree with everything you mentioned. I laughed when I read "In this book, Karma is real". But I found interesting what you said about the rape part that take away the strength and pride one once had beforehand.
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