Traumatic Experiences

Many crazy things happened towards the end of the book. Things I never expected occured, like when Beloved and Paul D got together, Sethe tries to kill the white man who offered Denver a job, and after Beloved had such a great on the household they never speak of her again once she disappears. Their behaviors changed suddenly as these events occurred.

It wasn’t only once that Beloved offered herself to Paul D, but twice. Although they both loved and adored Sethe, they both went behind her back. It was Beloved who forced herself on him. Her sex drive was what got in the way. She raped him and reminded him of the time he got raped by white men at Sweet Home. Remembering this horrific event made him feel inferior to Beloved’s force. Still his sex drive allowed him to ease his traumatic memory as Beloved forced herself on him and made him remember everything. He had no choice but to go through the experience again but in a more pleasing way.

Sethe’s fear of slavery interfered with her train of thought. She was very paranoid of the white man who came to talk to Denver. He was a reminder of her past at Sweet Home and also reminded her of traumatic experiences. This drove her to try to get rid of that man who came off as a threat to her. Her bad memories were taking over her decisions.

As the story comes to an end, so does Beloved. Nobody knows where she went. It seemed as if they didn’t care that she was no longer there. It was as if she was never there because they never spoke of her again. Paul D even admitted that he didn’t care, but he was the only one who spoke of her. Paul D had the urge to say something about her because he knew she was a bad spirit to have around. Denver and Sethe didn’t feel a need to speak of her because they saw they were better off without her. If there was one thing they could agree upon about Beloved, it was that she caused nothing but problems. “It was not a story to pass on,” narrated Toni Morrison.

Many of these events were influenced by the remembrance of Sweet Home. Their pasts have had such an effect on them that they influence their actions and the way they thought. In the end, Beloved was just a temporary curse.

Crashing Behaviors

 Reading half way through Toni Morrison’s novel, Beloved, a lot has happened. One thing that really stands out is that one shouldn’t trust in others too much. Sethe, for example, came out of slavery wanting to give a lending hand to anyone who came by her. She took in Paul D, took in Beloved, and still had to take care of her daughter. Her heart may be just too big, even after all the suffering in slavery. The horrible things that she had gone through never shrunk her heart. Paul D who has gotten very close to her said himself that Sethe was too generous with other people. He especially didn’t like the fact that she let in Beloved. There was a weird feeling he had about Beloved.

Taking note on characters and relationships, Beloved and Denver had a strange relationship. They both had different behaviors led by their drives. With all brothers and sisters gone, Denver was so happy to welcome Beloved into their home. Denver adored her, cared for her, and looked up to her as if Beloved was her sister. The way she acted with Beloved and protected her was driven by her id. Her id was driven by wanting to have someone close to her. On the other hand, Beloved was attracted to Sethe’s attention. She didn’t let anyone get in the way, not even Denver. When Denver tried to tell Beloved to not get so close to her mother Sethe, Beloved snapped telling her to not tell her what to do.

These mixed behaviors and drives are a crash. As Sethe helps others, such as Beloved, Beloved gets drawn closer to her, followed by Denver who wants to keep Beloved close to her, and then Paul D who wants to protect Sethe. Many of the drives among these characters are crashing amongst others.

Circling Around History

Indiana State University analyzes Toni Morrison’s story, Beloved through the context of

circularity. Morrison intertwines African American ways of writing resulting in a circular fashion of writing. Circularity is a technique that Toni Morrison has used in her previous works as well. According to Indiana State University, this novel is based on circularity. Circularity is described as never-ending.

The event in which Sethe leads to tell Paul D about killing her infant is like a storm. She goes around and around Paul D as she confesses her twisted love as
a mother. Furthermore, killing that child results in a baby ghost who leaves but then comes back as Beloved. There is event after event that seems to be reoccurring. There is no start and finish in this story. As readers finish the story one thinks that the story is over, but the truth is we are retold the history of the past. By retelling Morrison’s story of her past, her readers go through a cycle of remembering and recognizing the past. There is also circularity deeper in the family. “The generations of women repeat and dove-tail with each other.” The life of Baby Suggs is told as she would t
ake care of her children, and then it was Sethe who would dedicate herself to family. In the end, Denver is the one taking care of the family. The article describes how in time daughters replace their mothers but still live to fulfill the same purposes.

There was a lot to take in from this article. Circularity was certainly something I didn’t realize occurring in the story. Circularity doesn’t only happen in the specific events in the story, but it happens throughout the story. Many times we are tied back to events in a circular manner, resulting in a better understanding of the story. The most appealing part about this article was realizing that circularity was occurring outside of the book itself. The story circles around the world with everyone who reads it. I am happy I was able to be a part of this circulation where I was able to understand the true experiences of slavery.

Final Reflection: New Historical lens

After finishing reading Beloved and reading from a New Historical Lens I gained a lot more knowledge that I didn't have before. Reading the book through my lens was difficult because while I was reading I was also thinking about what I have to focus on and what specific things I need to learn from. But reading the book through my lens was helpful because I feel like I understood the book more in a deeper level than would have originally. Writing blogs was also helpful. I noticed Toni Morrison's perspective from writing the book and the history she used to convey her feelings and thoughts on slavery. I learned what slaves actually went through and how they felt. I learned how crucial their punishments were and how they were treated, which was not human.

Reading Beloved gave me a whole new perspective on slavery. Knowing that African American slaves were suffering and couldn't find a way out made me realize that a lot of things have changed since that time. Time has changed from having whites and blacks being separated and treated differently to now to having whites and blacks being treated the same and as actual human beings. I also learned that pasts and mistakes could be a good thing if you face them and move on and learn from the mistakes. Toni Morrison portrayed this in Beloved by sharing Sethe's and all the other main characters pasts and how they are living on with their lives with out actually moving on. With the main characters being haunted by their past it makes hard for them to move on. After I finished reading Beloved I had a knew perspective on how I see the history of slaves. Before I had an idea of how the slavery was, but now I feel like I have a stronger understanding of how and what African Americans went through in past years.

Singing slaves

While reading Beloved through a New Historical Lens I was surprised by the things the things that I have learned. One thing that I learned was that songs were used for slaves to communicate with each other. They also sang songs while they were working to feel better while working and focus more on their singing and forget about how hard the work they are doing is.

The songs that they sang was mainly about the slaves praying to God and asking him to save them from slavery. The songs that the slaves sang were was a way for them to express how they are feeling or what they are saying inside and turning it into music. All the songs that the slaves sing each have a different meaning to it. Some of the songs mean Freedom or things that they have heard or things about their owners, but the owners wouldn't know because the songs they sing is only meant for the slaves to understand. For example, a song named Wade in the Water gave the slaves a plan to escape, which was to get into the water when they escaped so that the bloodhounds won’t smell their scent. Another song named Drinking Gourd gave the slaves directions on how to escape and where to go by finding the Big Dipper and following that direction. All the songs that slaves sang all saved them and helped from slavery and into freedom.

African Americans made their own music at the time to communicate with each other and express their emotions and share that together. Now instead of playing instruments by yourself artist have access to all kinds of sounds from their computer or other different kinds of instruments.. By having this new technology people can make their kind of music and express their feeling in the music they make. Now a days there are variety kinds of music that express different kinds of emotions or feelings people have. The music from before and now hs been bringing people together with the emotions and thoughts they are feeling.