Inheritance of the Scar

Right on her rib was a circle and a cross burnt right in the skin. She said, ‘This is your ma’am. This,’ and she pointed. ‘I am the only one got this mark now. The rest dead. If something happens to me and you can’t tell me by my face, you can know me by this mark.’ Scared me so. All I could think of was how important this was and how I needed to have something important to say back, but I couldn’t think of anything so I just said what I thought. ‘Yes, Ma’am,’ I said. ‘But how will you know me? How will you know me? Mark me, too,’ I said. ‘Mark the mark on me too.’ ” Sethe chuckled.

“Did she?” asked Denver.

“She slapped my face.”

“What for?”

“I didn’t understand it then. Not till I had a mark of my own.”

Following Sethe's mother's maternal drive, she found the need to slap Sethe. Her instinct was driven by fear of her daughter’s future. “As a result, a mother’s behavior depends not only on her situation when she becomes a mother, but also her life experience and that of her own mother.” (Maternal Myth)  It was an insult to hear her child wanted the same scar as her. Her intentions were not to have her child think that scars of slavery were a blessing. She felt the urge to protect her daughter from seeing that the scar she had was not special. It was a burdening recall of her past, not something to look up to. It was her motherly defense that had taken over her ego.

Sethe respected her mother greatly and she was honored to see the scar under her mother’s breast. This mark was a distinction, it represented her mother and distinguished her from anyone else. After seeing the scar, it seems so sacred to Sethe that she didn’t know how to react. She was a child, making her subliminal to her own thoughts. Unaware of her words and her efforts to want to be like her mother she said she wanted the mark too. As a child, she was driven by the desire to  be like her mother, wanting to be just like her - little did she know that the mark on her mother would be a distinction she too would have. She laughs about it now because she realizes how foolish she was as a child - thinking that a scar like her mother’s was praiseful. Although her experiences in life weren’t made up of pretty scars, they implemented an element of strength. This is where she realizes that that event sparked her superego. She has a tree on her back now from being whipped. It has a story of pain, labor, and shame behind it. A life she is happy to have left behind, but will never be forgotten.