Thursday, June 30, 2011
Beloved -- Reader Response
Select a brief passage from Toni Morrison's novel Beloved that spoke to you in some powerful way. This could be a passage that you could identify with due to personal beliefs or life experiences. It could be a passage from which you learned something you find especially valuable, or even a passage that you found particularly problematic for some reason. Share this passage and explain how it spoke to you. Probe it for some deeper meaning that it contributes to the novel as a whole but also how that meaning is relevant to your life. In other words, how does the passage enrich your understanding of both the novel and the world around you?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Pp. 254
ReplyDelete"Tell me the truth. Didn't you come from the other side?
Yes I was on the other side.
You came back because of me?
Yes.
You rememory me?
Yes. I remember you
You never forgot me?
Your face is mine."
I am not sure if it is because my mind is naive and new to cultural literature, I am not sure if it is because of things I have dealt with in my own life, and I am not sure if it is because I'm an overly simplistic person... What I am sure about is this is the point in the book where I finally said, "Screw it I'm done with this book." The whole concept of slavery saddens me to begin with, (But really, that's how it should be) in my elementary school we barely brushed the topic. In a classroom led by a racist white teacher, imagine what I really learned. So I expected some sort of eye opener when reading this book. However, I didn't learn anything I hadn't already figured out for myself. I understand the pyshcological turmoil that these characters suffered from-- Sethe, never truly being free and going to extreme lengths to attempt saving her children. The idea of her murdered daughter haunting 124 until Paul D yells about it and then suddenly this spirit turns corporeal and crawls out of the water like Gore Verbinski was directing her to, well that is just too much nonsense for me. I have to try very hard to look past all of this top coating and look for the deeper meaning in the novel. Is this for entertainment? Is it directed at an audience who has lost and suffered? Neither appeal to me. I wonder if this is how people felt when they read Fear and Loathing and hated it, am I only focusing on the drugs? What ever the meaning may be, I believe I am missing the point.
Page 255
ReplyDelete“Beloved.
You are my sister
You are my daughter
You are my face; you are me
I have found you again; you have come back to me
You are my Beloved
You are mine
You are mine
You are mine
I have your milk
I have your smile
I will take care of you
You are my face; I am you. Why did you leave me who am you?
I will never leave you again
Don’t ever leave me again
You will never leave me again
You went in the water
I drank your blood
I brought your milk
You forgot to smile
I loved you
You hurt me
You came back to me
You left me
I waited for you
You are mine
You are mine
You are mine”
I felt that this passage was really important in order for the reader to make the connection that Beloved was Sethe’s deceased daughter. This passage states “you are my daughter” and “you are me.” By these statements, I was really able to see the meaning of Beloved coming back to the family. Also, later in the passage it states “I loved you, you hurt me, you came back to me, you left me.” I think that this particular part was referring to Sethe killing her child and the baby coming back in the form of Beloved.
Overall, this passage really spoke to me as a reader because it helped me to realize that the character of Beloved was meant to be the embodied spirit of Sethe’s deceased child that comes back to 124. It helped me to realize that when Paul D comes and scares out the spirit, that the spirit comes back in the form of Beloved. I’m not sure if this is what I was supposed to get from the reading, but that is the impression that I got after reading this passage. It was a turning point in the novel for me. I thought that this passage was very important towards the overall understanding of the novel.
On page 219-220, I read the passage spoken by Stamp to Ella, “Shouldn’t be no days! You know all about it and don’t give him a hand? That don’t sound like you, Ella. Me and you been pulling coloredfolk out the water more’n twenty years. Now you tell me you can’t offer a man a bed? A working man, too! A man what can pay his own way.” This passage is just one of the many that gave this book it’s texture; that texture of the late 1800s, where people from all different backgrounds are pulling together to help one another out. This passage is not a turning point in the book but it is one of the many examples that really shape its overall feeling. I find this passage especially valuable because it is really one piece of a puzzle that ties the book together. As I read this book I noticed several passages like this and concluded that one could add helping others as a motif. Helping others, I believe, is very important. This book spoke to me in a way that no other novels really have. As a history major I know times like that were very different with the destruction of slavery and both north and south recovering from the Civil war but helping others was almost a way of life. As we watched the movie in class Beloved showed up in Setha’s yard and they took her in, if a similar situation like that were to take place today I believe things would have turned out very differently. In a sense this book is almost a portal to the past and I believe Toni Morrison did an outstanding job constructing it. After reading this book I had to reflect on the values I read and the values we hold true today. The differences are almost night and day where back then people would go out of their way to help out others and today people don’t want to be evolved. I know that I sometimes am that way when I see a homeless person or someone asking for change but that is really what has developed into the norm. Looking at what times were like back then and today one has to wonder what values we will have in the future.
ReplyDelete“She had claimed herself. Freeing yourself was one thing; claiming ownership of that freed self was another.” I chose this passage because I believe that it helped me to understand one of the main themes of the story. It made me aware of the idea that the repulsive act of slavery robs a person of their identity. Most of the main characters seem to have some sort of identity crisis within the pages of beloved. Sethe’s struggle with identity comes to a head when she attacks a man at the end of the book because she thought he was her former slave master. The above passage is highly suggestive and could almost be defined as foreshadowing. Because even though Sethe has been free for the better part of twenty years she still has a latent fear of being returned to her identity as a slave. The theme of identity raised in this passage is also manifest in the character of Paul D. Paul D has spent most of his years wandering from place to place trying to determine what his purpose in life is. Similarly Denver also has problems with her own individual identity. Specifically the reader is meant to be aware of a different kind of identity crisis. Denver’s identity crisis arises from the isolation that her family suffers as a result of her mother’s infanticide. Denver’s identity crisis helps to connect two of the stories’ main themes: Isolation and loss of identity. In a way nearly the entire story is related to the theme of identity. The reader is required to speculate on the true nature or identity of the character known as beloved. This passage helped me recognize the importance of the loss of identity as it pertains to all of the main characters within the story.
ReplyDeleteWhite people believed that whatever the manners, under every dark skin was a jungle. Swift unnavigable waters, swinging screaming baboons, sleeping snakes, red gums ready for their sweet white blood. In a way . . . they were right. . . . But it wasn’t the jungle blacks brought with them to this place. . . . It was the jungle whitefolks planted in them. And it grew. It spread . . . until it invaded the whites who had made it. . . . Made them bloody, silly, worse than even they wanted to be, so scared were they of the jungle they had made. The screaming baboon lived under their own white skin; the red gums were their own.
ReplyDeletePeople belittle what they fear, from something as simple as a new food all the way to a race of people and everything in between. People will shove the food away without trying it saying it looks disgusting or weird. I've noticed from taking Capoeira, a Brazilian martial art that incorporates gymnastics, that people who refuse to try it, the flipping mainly, push it off as useless asking why they would ever need to do something like that. Yes, it is scary, but learning to do any gymnastic move builds strength and flexibility and confidence, but people who are afraid to try never see those benefits. People who fear something can't see the good in it. The most devastating thing we can prematurely fear is a person. Fear can lead to avoidance and hatred towards people blinding us from their good qualities. Prejudging people based on their race can, as the above passage states, cause people to hate and without knowledge of the judged race to create interpretations of the judged peoples that are far from reality. It's understandable that if a person is always called violent and savage, even if they are not to begin with, they will, out of resentment, start to act in those ways. If someone without instigation bullied me and called me any name there is no reason for me to be nice to that person. Their hatred of me would be the reason for my dislike of them. This same situation is portrayed in the novel Beloved and in the events of slavery. Black people, before they were slaves, did not have any strife with white people. White peoples belittled them, controlled them, and for fear of revolt beat them into submissiveness and from that steamed the slaves hate. Slave owners planted hatred with theirs. Slave owners even justified their hate. In Beloved schoolteacher would give people lessons on the animal characteristics of the slaves on Sweet Home. By dehumanizing the slaves he could justify his own cruelty towards them.
“What does a sixty-odd-year-old slavewoman who walks like a three-legged dog need freedom for? And when she stepped foot on free ground she could not believe that Halle knew what she didn’t; that Halle, who had never drawn one free breath, knew that there was nothing like it in this world”(166).
ReplyDeleteThis passage is from a flashback about Baby Suggs getting her freedom. This passage is meaningful to the novel because it shows the whole story, and clears up some confusion, about how Baby Suggs got her freedom. It’s necessary for this book to find out how she got freed, and the whole story of doing so. Baby Suggs had no idea what to expect and did not even feel that she would need this freedom. Until she had it, once she had this freedom there was no way she could go back. This freedom was so rare that she felt some other young person should get it, but once she got this freedom, she felt like she could live forever. By getting this freedom she is able to live her life with no more fear, and live in a house and sleep peacefully except for the ghost of Beloved. Freedom is the best feeling in the world. There are many ways to feel freedom, but the way it relates to me is after this semester I will done with Lincoln Land, which is pretty much the best freedom. In a lot of ways people do not realize freedom and how awesome it is until they get it. When I got an iPhone I thought it was the best phone ever, and then I freed it from Apple’s jail and now it is nine times better than before. I am able to do whatever I want with it now, and the freedom is fantastic. Some people do not know what to do with freedom, sometimes they waste it by doing boring things. Another port to freedom is retiring from work. People have to waste that by either going to work somewhere else or going back to school. I do not know why anyone would want to waste something as precious as freedom, but I see it happen and I know one thing, I will not waste my freedom, I will enjoy it.
"It's so hard for me to believe in [time]. Some things go. Pass on. Some things just stay. I used to think it was my rememory. . . . But it's not. Places, places are still there. If a house burns down, it's gone, but the place -the picture of it- stays, and not just in my rememory, but out there, in the world".
ReplyDelete"If it's still there, waiting, that must mean that nothing ever dies."
"Nothing ever does."
I find this passage interesting because I think it is very true that a memory will always live on. The memory can be remembered in a person’s mind or even a spiritual force. The thing about memories is that if something is done every day it becomes more of a routine than a cherished memory. But when a person dies are they just gone? Some think that their spirit is all around them; others think that after a person is dead that they are gone forever. I find it hard to believe that with all the miracles in this world that happen every day that a person is just gone forever after death. People remember them in their minds, the sound of their voice, the way they walked, what they liked to do for fun. All the little characteristics about a person live on in people’s memories. So how can a person be vanished? No more. It doesn’t make sense. Just like in the passage, when a house burns down, it’s gone, but it lives in a memory. I don’t think anything is really ever dead or gone. A person may not physically be here but there spirit is somewhere although we don’t know where. One day though we will soon figure out how life works along with the mysteries of everything known to demand.
"A man ain't nothing but a man. But a son? Well, now, that's somebody"
ReplyDelete- Toni Morrison, Beloved, Ch. 2 (pg. 27)
I picked this quote because I do not quite understand it, but I like a challenge and want to figure it out. To me the quote is saying that a man is just a man, but when you are a son then that is saying something. If one is a son then they have a last name to carry on and a father who taught them things so they too can teach their son cool amazing stuff. If one is just a man, then they have no name to carry they are just doing things just for them not for anyone else. A son is taught to always help out other people and be polite, where as a man is just taught to help himself out and no one else. If a man did help someone else out then it is because it is only helping them get farther on their journey. Another reason why I think the quote says that’s somebody is because when a family has a son then they are everything to that family. The reason for that is because a son has so many responsibilities. They have to carry on the family name, help out the family when the man of the house is gone, and also be there for the mom and sisters if needed. This quote has no important meaning in my life now, but when I get older and possibly have a son then this quote may have some meaning to me.
My passage is from page 255:
ReplyDeleteBeloved
You are my sister
You are my daughter
You are my face; you are me
I have found you again; you have come back to me
You are my Beloved
You are mine
You are mine
You are mine
I have your milk
I have your smile
I will take care of you
You are my face; I am you. Why did you leave me who am you?
I will never leave you again
Don’t ever leave me again
You will never leave me again
You went in the water
I drank your blood
I brought your milk
You forgot to smile
I loved you
You hurt me
You came back to me
You left me
I waited for you
You are mine
You are mine
You are mine
This passage spoke to me because as a mother Sethe was talking about her deseased daughter and how they relate. Sethe talking about “you are my daughter” meant to me that she knows and acknowledge her daughter Beloved. “I will never leave you again” and “don’t ever leave me again” shows remorse that she killed her daughter and still really cares about her. “You are my daughter” meant a lot to me because I’m a mother that lost a child before and my 5 year old daughter that is with me today. Children are a part of you. “ You are my face; you are me”
I found that the passage in Beloved by Toni Morrison on page 190 and 191 was powerful to think about. On page 190 the character Sethe is speaking, According to Toni Morrison: “I don’t have to tell you about Sweet Home-what it was-but maybe you don’t know what it was like for me to get away from there…”I did it. I got us all out. Without Halle tool up till then it was the only thing I ever did on my own. Decided. And it came off right like it was supposed to. We was here. Each and every one of my babies and me too. I birthed them and I got em out and it wasn’t no accident. I did that. I had help, of course, lots of that, but still it was me doing it; me saying, Go on, and Now. Me having to look out. Me using my own head. But it was mote than that. It was a kind of selfishness I never knew nothing about before. It felt good. Good and right. I was big, Paul D., and deep and wide and when I stretched out my arms all my children could get in between. I was that wide. Look like I loved em more after I got here. Or maybe I couldn’t love em proper in Kentucky because they wasn’t mine to love. But when I got here, when I jumped down off that wagon-there wasn’t nobody in the world I couldn’t love if I wanted to. You know what I mean?” (190-191).
ReplyDeleteThis passage embodies the feelings of Sethe under slavery and freedom. Sethe could love and did love under slavery. It was not the same under freedom. Under slavery you were owned and so was your lover, child, parent, etc. That meant to love deeply could be very risky. One of you could be sold. Never mind illness, fickleness, and other things. A person could be sold and separated. Sethe discovered a new love under freedom. She could love whom she wanted with the freedom of giving that love and keeping that love. This to me is very powerful and a new realization for Sethe. This was love with no restraints that were like those restraints under slavery. I could not image to lose a loved one because she or he was to be sold to another plantation owner. And not being able to do anything about it at all. It would be too horrible and tough to carry. To love under freedom is more satisfying and desirable.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete“Those white things have taken all I had or dreamed,” she said, “and broke my heartstrings too. There is no bad luck in the work but whitefolks” (Morrison 89).
ReplyDeleteToni Morrison, author of Beloved, describes in the novel the life of an African American family in nineteenth century America where slavery is common. This particular passage was the view Baby Suggs believed. She was a slave for a white plantation named Sweet Home, the whites deprived her from her eight children, and she devoted almost her entire life tending to the crotchety white people’s demands. Not only does this quote apply to Baby Suggs, it applies to many nineteenth century American slaves. The problematic passage provides an insight from an African American’s standpoint of the melancholy that prevailed during the time of slavery—a time where white people were the enemies of blacks.
Beloved is a tableau for slavery of the nineteenth century. For example, Baby Suggs loses her children, schoolteacher brutally punished Sethe for expressing her feelings about the rape she encountered, and the entire family ostracized from society. To them and every slave, the white people have inhumanely destroyed their lives. The bereft life of enslaved African Americans is relevant to my life in accordance to an item depriving me of my dreams—price tags. The black person’s perspective of white people during the time of slavery is like my perspective of price tags. They both deprive(d) one of dreams and ambitions, and they only provide(d) one with hindrances and lack of opportunity. With the economy in a down spiral, opportunities, for example attending college of choice, may not be out of reach to gilded people; however, the majority cannot afford this opportunity.
The lack of opportunities (slavery) that Morrison’s characters encounter within the novel provides an American history lesson; however, we have only learned the surface of the dismay. Indeed, slavery has been abolished for quite some time; however, there are still many discrimination issues. We have learned that race does not constitute the rights of individuals, but social class still affects one’s opportunities. The passage enriches my understanding how enslaved individuals viewed the enemy, white people, as the thing that stole their opportunities and dreams. The macroscopic insight the passage enriches my understanding that there is always something that will prevent one from achieving their ambitions whether it may be white people, price tags, or on a different note—lack of knowledge.
“Tell me something, Stamp.” Paul D’s eyes were rheumy. “Tell me this one thing. How much is a nigger supposed to take? Tell me. How much?”
ReplyDelete“All he can,” said Stamp Paid. “All he can.”
“Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?” (page 235)
This passage stood out to me because truthfully it made me sad. Just before Paul D asks Stamp this question, he is thinking about all the bad things that have happened in his life. He shudders and remembers the “nights in the cellar, pig fever, iron bits” etc (235). I think this passage is important to the novel because it embodies a message that slavery really forced people to lead lives they did not deserve. Another reason why I liked this passage was because Paul D asked Stamp the question. Stamp’s character (and the fact that his name was Joshua and he changed it to Stamp Paid) is important because it too symbolizes the harsh life slavery provided for these people. The fact that Paul D refers to himself as a ‘nigger’ also makes me sad because it shows that he has been demoralized to believe that is all he is, a derogatory term. Also, when reading this passage the five questions of ‘why’ at the end really got to me. I could envision a sad voice just repeating that question. The passage just spoke to me and made me feel even more for the characters. I think as a history major it’s important to view history, not from a textbook, but from a personal point of view. Reading Beloved makes more of an impact on me than just reading a short section in a textbook. As a future teacher (of either history or English) I realize that this could be more effective than a standard lecture. I think it’s important for us to realize what this country did to its people so we understand their culture better. This passage does a good job of driving home the point that slavery destroyed lives and Paul D can’t escape it, even though he is no longer a slave. They cannot escape their pasts, which is a major point in the novel.
Page 193-194
ReplyDelete"Your love is too thick," he said, thinking, That bitch is looking at me; she is right over my head lookin down through the floor at me.
"Too thick?" she said, thinking of the Clearing where baby Suggs' commands knocked the pods off horse chestnuts. "Love is or it ain't.
Thin love ain't love at all."
"Yeah. It didn't work, did it? Did it work?" he asked.
"It worked," she said.
"How? Your boys gone you don't know where. One girl dead, the other won't leave the yard. How did it work?"
"They ain't at Sweet Home. Schoolteacher ain't got them."
"Maybe there's worse."
"It ain't my job to know what's worse. It's my job to know what is and to keep them away what I know is terrible. I did that."
The passage resonated with me on the reason why Sethe did what she did when she saw schoolteacher arriving on horseback. As a mother, it was hard to read how a mother could kill her children. This passage spoke to the reader how a mother would make a decision to kill her children instead of having her children taken away from her and return to the life of a slave. Sethe knew from her experience from Sweet Home that slaves were treated like animals and other commodities - and sold when it is in the best interest of the owner. Sethe also noticed the change when schoolteacher arrived with his nephews and suffered under their hands by rape (taking of her milk) and by a horrific beating when she told Mrs. Garner about what happened to her.
By escaping Sweet Home and arriving to Baby Suggs, Sethe's bond with her children grew even more than it was at Sweet Home. Even while she was a slave at Sweet Home, she took care of her children versus her own experience of having a one armed slave take over her own mother's role as her mother worked in the fields. The maternal instinct is very powerful, and Sethe showed her devotion and unfathoming love to her children by doing the unmentionable for many of us.
Page 237
ReplyDelete“Beloved, she my daughter. She mine. See. She come back to me of her free will and I don’t have to explain a thing. I didn’t have time to explain before because it had to be done quick. Quick. She had to be safe and I put her where she would be. But my love was tough and she back now. I knew she would be. Paul D ran her off so she had no choice but to come back to me in the flesh.”
This part helped me see that she knew Beloved was her daughter and she was happy to have her home. She did that to Beloved because she loved her and wanted to protect her. She did not succeed in saving her other children but she did with Beloved. She did not have time to explain what she needed to do before trying to help her children out and keep them safe. So she is glad Beloved is back so that she can love her right. She believed that her tough love was the right thing to do at the time and now she is just glad that she is back. I understand why she did that to her children but I do not really agree with it. She had good intentions to protect them but she scarred the ones that she was not successful in killing and they had to live with all of the things that happened to them. The boys had to live with the ‘spirit’ in the house and they did not like it at all so they did what they could to get out and joined the army. I did not like that she said she did not have to explain why she did it because a lot of people were confused on why she did it. They thought she went insane and just snapped. But I do understand why she was so happy to see Beloved when she came back. She did not get to experience Beloved the first time so she was glad to have a second chance to love her daughter because she could not before.
"It's so hard for me to believe in [time]. Some things go. Pass on. Some things just stay. I used to think it was my memory. . . . But it's not. Places, places are still there. If a house burns down, it's gone, but the place -the picture of it- stays, and not just in my memory, but out there, in the world".
ReplyDelete"If it's still there, waiting, that must mean that nothing ever dies."
"Nothing ever does."
This passage is extremely important to me, I have a lot of family and friends pass away that were extremely dear to me. When I read this passage it reminds me although the person is gone they are still with you. Its crazy how one little thing can make you remember a memory, when I walk my ankle pops all the time and I still remember the day my nana said, “Samantha you definitely have the Summer’s bones”. There are many things that make a memory whether the person or thing is still with you or if its far away it is always close to your heart. Memories never die, they might disappear out or your control for a little while, but they always come back. Certain things trigger memories, without no control at all. They may not good and they may not be bad but that fact that memories last especially after time is wonderful, I am glad that memories never die.
Page 200 “Afterward – not before – he considered Sethe’s feelings in the matter. And it was the lateness of this consideration that made him feel so bad. Maybe he could have left it alone; maybe Sethe would have gotten around to telling him herself; maybe he was not the high-minded Soldier of Christ he thought he was, but an ordinary, plain meddler who had interrupted something going along just fine for the sake of truth and forewarning, things he set much store by.”
ReplyDeleteI choose this passage because this problem happens to a lot of people. They know something about another person that that person is hiding. If it is a dangerous or hurtful thing you will want to tell but how do you know if it is yours to tell? I have had people hear something hurtful that I should know, but then they told me and I kind of wished they would not have told me. It is just the way that you look at it, you get hurt by hearing the information from your friend, or you find out from someone else who could hurt you even more. In Stamp Paid’s case in this passage, he knows about Sethe’s past and how she killed her baby, and he thinks he needs to tell Paul D. He thinks that Paul D. needs to know about Sethe’s past so that he can truly get to know her. In almost every case someone gets hurt from the news or information that is shared. It could be because they were waiting until the right time to share it, or they thought it would be best to just forget about it. In Sethe’s case, I think that she was trying to keep it a secret so that she could forget about it. She may have thought that if she kept it a secret from Paul D. that maybe she could forget about it too, even though it kept haunting her. Information that you find out that you should not know is really hard to not tell. You think htat you need to tell it so that the person involved does not get hurt, or so that they can fix things before they get worse. No matter what the case is, you are always afraid to make the wrong decision.
Page 55
ReplyDeleteSethe, if I’m here with you, with Denver, you can go anywhere you want. Jump if you want to, ‘cause I’ll catch you, girl. I’ll catch you ‘fore you fall. Go as far inside as you need to, I’ll hold your ankles. Make sure you get back out. I’m not saying this because I need a place to stay. That’s the last thing I need. I told you, I’m a walking man, but I been heading in this direction for seven years. Walking all around this place. Upstate, downstate, east, west; I been in territory ain’t got no name, never staying nowhere long. But when I got here and sat out there on the porch, waiting for you, well, I knew it wasn’t the place I was heading toward; it was you. We can make a life, girl. A life. I picked this passage because I feel like it can relate to not just me but everybody who reads this. I feel like this can relate to my life because I was always raised up to love everybody and treat everybody as best as you can and I believe that loving somebody your whole life the best that you can is one of the best things that you can do with your life and one of the best feelings you could have. I gained a lot of respect for Paul D’s character after reading this passage in the book because he has loved Sethe for a very long time and he never gave up his hope of being with her one day even though he thought she was married. I think that him loving Sethe helped him get through all of the terrible things that he had to go through in his lifetime because of the love that he had for her and I feel like loving someone is one of the best things that you can do with your life.
“Denver thought she understood the connection between her mother and Beloved: Sethe was trying to make up for the handsaw: Beloved was making her pay for it. But there would never be an end to that, and seeing her mother diminished shamed and infuriated her.” (296)
ReplyDeleteThis was just one of the many quotes that I admired from Beloved. I was drawn to this quote because of Denver. At the beginning of the novel, Denver was living alone with her mother and the ghost of the baby that was killed. Denver had a slight fear of her mother, but she did not run away from it like her brothers did. Instead she remained with her mother and the ghost. I believe that Denver thought the ghost would protect her if her mother tried to harm her also. The spirit of the ghost kept Denver strong. When Beloved arrived, Denver recognized her so readily because of the connection that she thought they had. Soon, Denver came to the realization that Beloved only had eyes for the mother that she was taken away from. Despite this, Denver still felt the need to protect Beloved from Sethe. Denver thought that if Sethe had the ability to kill her child once, she could do it again. It was very fascinating to me when Denver’s feelings began to change. The change sparked when Denver believed that Beloved had tried to strangle Sethe in the clearing. She eventually waved the incident off as a fluke, but she always kept it at the back of her mind. Denver’s protective instincts of her mother really kicked in when she began to observe the withering away of Sethe and the flourishing life of Beloved. Denver realized that Beloved was somehow punishing her mother. I believe that Beloved was slowly draining the life out Sethe. I do not mean that Beloved was eating everything, and Sethe was hardly getting food. I believe that in order for Beloved to remain in the realm of the living she had to take the life of another, and why not take the life of the woman who robed you of yours? Beloved was compared to being pregnant. I do not believe that she was actually pregnant, but that she was “pregnant” with life, Sethe’s life. I strongly support this theory because of another incident in the book. At one point, Beloved easily lost a tooth that she should not have lost. She herself began to think what body part would come next. Never again in the book was another incident reported in which she lost a body part. I believe it was because she was absorbing the life of Sethe. While Sethe practically rotted away, Beloved became closer and closer to reaching “true life”. Also it seems that the weaker Sethe got, the stronger and plumper Beloved became. I believe that because Sethe became so weak, because she wanted to give her lost daughter everything she could, Beloved could easily drain Sethe of her life force. Denver knew what was happening and knew that she had to find a way to replenish Sethe before she did die of hunger. It was this show of dedication to a mother that could kill her children that really affected me. Denver truly cared for her mother, despite the past, and she was able to dispel her childhood attraction to the ghost who she had believed was her only friend.
"" Mister he looked so....free. Better than me. Stronger, tougher. Son of a bitch couldnt even get out his shell by hisself but he was still king and I was.." Paul D stopped and squeezed his left hand with his right. He held it that way long enough for the world to quiet down and let him go on.""
ReplyDeleteThis passage spoke to me particularly as a man. Here is Paul D, a large powerful black man reduced to feeling no better than a chicken that he helped hatch out into the world. Men often times question their ability to provide for their families often asking what it is that makes a man. Paul D goes on to say
" Mister was allowed to be and stay what he was. But I wasn't allowed to be and stay what I was. Even if you cooked him you'd be cooking a rooster named mister, but wasn't no way I'd be Paul D again living or dead." These two passages come after Sethe has just learned that Halle the man she loved had seen her being raped. Now considering the context that has to be one of the saddest stories in all of manhood. Paul D with his hands shackled behind his back the iron probably cutting into his wrists in the hot sun pouring sweat, a piece of metal in his mouth like a beast of burden, his friend sitting down applying butter to himself in shock after witnessing the brutal rape of his wife knowing that he could do nothing to save her or risk both there lives. And Mister the Rooster!! Just chillin enjoying the water in the tub on that hot day freer than those two poor guys. But according to the article we were suppose to read Toni Morrison claims that white America defines its identity in terms of black people's role in it. White people know what it means to be free through the history of slavery and what not being free is. White people know what it is to have rights because they know that black people didn't have them. So back to that damn rooster, Mister in order to even be alive needed Paul D's help when it was hatching it couldn't have been free with out him. Now consider the white land owner totally dependent on slaves to amass his wealth totally dependent on slaves to be free, kinda ironic.
“She did not tell them to clean up their lives or to go and sin no more. She did not tell them they were the blessed of the earth, its inheriting meek or its glorybound pure.
ReplyDeleteShe told them that the only grace they could have was the grace they could imagine. That it they could not see it, they would not have it.”
I selected this passage because it is talking about Baby Suggs, and her unconditional love for people. This woman, who had experienced so much and had seen things that most people could never imagine, had not lost her faith in people and in all things. She probably had every right in the world to judge people and tells them how she thought they should act and be, but instead, she just told the people to have faith. She knew that people could only learn from their mistakes that being told were not enough. This passage inspires me to act more like Baby Suggs does. She has faith in things that you cannot see or feel, and she tries to help other people understand that faith and follow it. However, if they decide to follow their own path, she simply tells them that one day they will understand what she was saying all along. Baby Suggs does not force her own opinions on people. I would like to act more like that. I often try not to judge people just because they act different or do things different from how I do. As much as I try, I am still only human, so to judge is a natural tendency. Baby Suggs was referred to as Baby Suggs, holy, in Beloved which I truly believe she was. For someone to continue to have faith despite terrible things that have happened inspires me to be a better person.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletePg. 267:
ReplyDelete“Maybe they were simply nice people who could hold meanness toward each other for just so long and when trouble rode bareback among them, quickly, easily, they did what they could to trip him up. “
I chose this passage due to my personal belief. When I was a child, religion never played a big part in my life. Though my family and I were culturally Buddhist, we were not “devout.” We only ever visited the temple when there was a death in the family or if it was a Chinese holiday. We were never Christians, even though I attended Catholic schools for a majority of my life. Religion was something my parents believed was a personal decision, so they have pretty much left all of it to me. Up until recently, I didn’t have an answer when people asked me the question, “what do you believe?” Many people thought I lived a precarious kind of life, an aimless life. Back then, I thought so, too. But now, I have an answer.
I believe in people.
I believe that people are essentially good, but that sometimes, along the way, we lose sight of things and make bad decisions. We make mistakes. But that doesn’t make us any less good or any worse—it just makes us human. Humans, people, who are capable of making good decisions without the enticement of perpetual happiness or the threat of eternal damnation—people who makes good choices because they choose of their own volition.
From Toni Morrison, we learn that people can’t be categorized into groups with a single definitive trait: mean, nice, evil, good, white, or black. All are capable of all emotions and all of the actions that can follow these emotions should they choose to. It is our decisions and the way we deal with the consequences that define who we are.
In regards and relation to the latter half of the quote, because of the fundamental goodness of people, the thought of “united humanity” cannot be lost. Yes, we are all essentially lonely people trying to make connections in a world, but our ability to sympathize, to express how we feel, and to forgive provide a strong front and a sense of unity that allows us to bind together in the time of greatest needs. In Toni Morrison’s book, we are given this insight when the villagers ban together to exorcise Beloved from 124.
Beloved is a book that talks about choices. It talks about how one person’s choice can affect the life of another—and how consequences are hard and haunting. But it also discusses coming to terms with our choices and our past, good and bad, in order to survive.
“Denver climbed up on the bed and folded her arms under her apron. She had not been in the tree room once since Beloved sat on their stump after the carnival, and had not remembered that she hadn’t gone there until this very desperate moment. Nothing was out there that this sister-girl did not provide in abundance: a racing heart, dreaminess, society, danger, beauty. She swallowed twice to prepare for the telling, to construct out the strings she had heard all her life a net to hold Beloved.”--pg.90
ReplyDeleteThis passage really stuck out to me especially because of the word sister-girl. The entire time throughout the story it is kind of unclear whether Beloved is the ghost of the dead baby or just a random stranger. But whenever seeing words like sister-girl it confirmed my thoughts that Beloved is the ghost of the past. She is a sister to Denver and a young girl as well. Another reason I liked this passage is because it illustrates that certain bond that Denver and Beloved have formed. Immediately following this passage, Denver begins the story of her birth and also about her family. Denver is not hesitant but almost happy to dive into this story about how she was saved and brought into this world. Also, Denver is thrilled that someone is willing to listen to this story and is excited. Denver uses many words to describe Beloved as a person and we realize that Beloved has evoked all of these emotions out of Denver as well.
While Denver and Beloved sort of create this special bond throughout the story, this passage really creates that sense of closeness for us. Just like Beloved and Denver, I have always been very close with my sisters. I have three older sisters and rely on them quite a bit. Since I am much younger, I have also enjoyed being able to always tell them stories growing up. Just different things that have happened to me or I have encountered along the way of becoming a young adult. Just like the article we read awhile back, stories can be very powerful. Whenever Denver allows Beloved to hear this story of her past, she is opening up a door for Beloved to enter. They are now, in a sense, connected because Beloved knows just one more thing about Denver that she had not yet known. In telling this story, as the readers, we have a better understanding of the way Denver believes that her mother was saved while carrying Denver in her belly. Denver also reveals information about other important people in her life like her brothers and Baby Suggs. So in telling this story Denver has drawn a connection between herself and Beloved. Stories create bonds that can always last. I enjoy being able to hang out with my sisters whenever we are all home, or in the same place, and sharing a story or two. It always brings us closer together and gets all laughing and bonding. So just like Denver and Beloved in this passage, I have always loved telling or hearing a good story to feel connected. Denver calls Beloved sister-girl and that definitely just confirms that she is Denver’s deceased sister and that they are officially bonded back together.
“A truth that waved like a scarecrow in rye: they were only Sweet Home men at Sweet Home. One step off that ground and they were trespassers among the human race.” I chose this passage because it reminds me how cruel the world really is. The strong will always overshadow the weak, just as the rich will the poor. Its pathetic that people have to feel this way because their different that the majority. It doesn’t just have to do with skin tone anymore. It has to do with everything we think, feel, where we live, where we work and whom we love. Our society dictates how we feel about ourselves. The “men” at Sweet House believed they were men because their owner called them men. Does that make it true? Did they believe it because they were treated better than were they had come from? This passage really brought the question of what is freedom to my mind. Why did Halle buy his mothers freedom from Mr. Garner if Sweet Home was nice? And if they believed they were trespassers among the human race why did he buy her freedom?
ReplyDelete“Saying more might push them both to a place they couldn’t get back from. He would keep the rest where it belonged: in that tobacco tin buried in his chest where a red heart used to be. Its lid rusted shut.”
ReplyDeleteThis was a powerful statement made towards the end of the novel when Paul D sits with Stamp Paid outside the church, soon after Paul D finds out the truth about Sethe’s daughter. His tobacco tin symbolizes his slavery and his secrets; the things he rather keep locked away. His heart has been destroyed and scarred by slavery, and he cannot allow himself to open it up. He constantly battles himself and his emotions, especially towards Sethe. Paul D fears that letting Sethe into his “tobacco tin” of a heart would cause them both to relieve their past at Sweet Home. Because Paul D often combats his motives and his emotions, the lid is described as “rusted shut”, meaning he will never let anyone into his life and his secrets. I believe his fear of feeling is so corrosive that it is expressed using a rusted lid. Only when Beloved seduces him does it explain that his tobacco tin breaks open, symbolizing his confrontation with his past.
Everyone has secrets. Everyone has heartache. Everyone has a little tobacco tin they dare not open up. The symbolism of this tin is so representative to everyone everywhere. We all have our faults, our downfalls, our regrets, and our past. It is a natural reaction to want to forget the bad and remember the good. Sometimes coping with extreme loss is found through suppressing the emotions that go along with it. Some ignore it all together. This quote shows the humanity in Paul D and the embarrassment slavery has caused him. What I found in reading this quote is that we are all human, we all make mistakes, and no one is perfect. Sometimes suppressing emotions is how we can cope, and letting others know of your secrets can weaken your soul. By keeping some things locked up we have no chance to get hurt. Everyone fears judgment. What Paul D shows through his little tobacco tin is a reality of humanity and mankind. We all keep secrets. Sometimes we need to and sometimes we don’t. What we can find through the surfacing of secrets and emotions is often a wave of relief by letting go of your past. Much like the addiction of tobacco, it is addicting to ignore true heartache and protect yourself from getting hurt.
She did not tell them to clean up their lives or to go and sin no more. She did not tell them they were blessed of the earth, its inheriting meek or its glorybound pure. She told them the only grace they could have was the grace they could imagine. That if they could not see it, they would not have it. (103)
ReplyDeleteThis passage was meaningful to me because it showed what kind of person Baby Suggs was. The entire passage where Baby Suggs is preaching was powerful to me. I felt like it was a motivating sermon to not tell people what to do. She doesn’t put the people down and tell them not to sin. She tells the African Americans to love themselves, and she tells them to make a better life for themselves and if they aren’t capable of that then the people should imagine it. When she was telling them to love the flesh, hands, etc. that “they” hate it, reminded me of many people today that take for granted things we use every day in life, for example, our hands and feet. Baby Suggs body parts were beaten, numb, and were forced to work for nothing every day. Now people don’t think about losing limbs or having them beaten to the point that they don’t feel them anymore. This put in perspective on how hard it was for African Americans during this time. Even though they were freed slaves they were still treated as though they still were in slavery. Baby Suggs sermon was a learning experience for me. It was a symbol for the African American culture. They did not have anything during this time. Suggs sermon was the one thing that they had to look forward in the day. It was so strong to me because she didn’t talk about the afterlife, but she tried to make people feel better about the life they were in at that moment. This passage is relevant to my life because I am becoming older and going to college. I imagine the things that I want every day in life. I make goals for myself. I can see my future and even when classes begin to get tough or I am overwhelmed at work I move on and imagine how much better it will be once I am finished with school and I will be able to start a career.
“After I left you, those boys came in there and took my milk. That’s what they came in there for. Held me down and took it. I told Mrs. Garner on them. She had a lump and couldn’t speak but her eyes rolled out tears.” This passage is found early in the novel at the bottom of page 19 and is spoken by Sethe about her life at Sweet Home. I thought this passage was particularly important because it’s a defying moment in Sethe’s life that shapes her character for the rest of the novel. I also felt that for Tony Morrison to create such a malicious event in her novel speaks to how poorly slaves were treated in the late 1800’s. On the contrary it shows the reader sympathy on the part of Mrs. Garner which is the one bright spot of Sethe’s life at Sweet Home. This event also obviously helps the reader understand Sethe’s hard feelings against Sweet Home as well as set up reasoning for her attack on Mr. Bodwin later in the novel. Furthermore, it offers an explanation of what happens to Sethe’s husband Halle as well as exemplifies some of schoolteacher’s character traits which are important for later in the novel. This depiction of how slaves were treated is also relevant in today’s world. It not only reminded me how horrible most slaves had it, but also that there are still some overly racist people in the world who have no remorse for how African Americans used to be treated in this country. As I read this passage it made realized that I should make a conscious effort to treat everyone fairly and with respect because you never know what each individual person has been through in their life. Moreover I should not pass judgments after first meeting someone because it’s not until you learn their story that you find out what kind of person they really are.
ReplyDelete“And if she thought anything, it was No. No. Nono. Nonono. Simple. She just flew. Collected every bit of life she had made, all the parts of her that were precious and fine and beautiful, and carried, pushed, dragged them through the veil, out, away, over there where no one could hurt them.”
ReplyDeleteAsk a child many of my answers were simple and blunt. The reason being, other than my ignorance of a seven year old, was that I simply did not care what the consequences were. This passage I chose took me back to my childhood. It reminded me that even when I grew, I still made simple decisions to complex situations. Constantly asking myself, was I like Sethe in a way? In this passage it is clear that Sethe did not care what the consequences were, she just wanted to make sure her children were safe and secure. I can relate in a sense that as a child all I cared about was my toys. I remember a time I took them everywhere with me, and toys that I got new were kept in a safe place because of the sentimental value I had incorporated into them. I cannot say that losing a daughter is the same as losing a toy but that was my correlation as a child.
In this passage, it is apparent that Sethe’s life is so bleak that she has learned not to trust others with her most prized possessions. Towards the middle of the passage, Sethe asserts that her children are “all the parts of her that were precious and fine and beautiful” to show that her kids are the part of her she cherishes the most. My toys were not the best part of me, but they were the part that made me enjoy them so much that I could play with them by myself. As I grew older, I grew away from my toys. Like the death of Sethe’s daughter, not that they are equal, I had to deal with finding other passions that fulfilled my lost love for my toys. In the end, like Sethe, I had deemed my disowning of “killing” my toys as a choice that had to be done.
“124 was spiteful. Was full of a baby’s venom. The women in the house new it and so did the children. For years each put up with the spite in his own way, but by 1874 Sethe and her daughter Denver were its only victims. The grandmother, Baby Suggs, was dead, and the sons, Howard and Buglar had run away by the time they were thirteen years old...” pg 3
ReplyDeleteI chose this passage because it is the first time that I learned that the house was haunted. I think there is a difference between having a ghost in your house and your house actually being haunted by an evil or mad spirit. Usually those spirits make themselves known. This passage reminds me of my own dad and my grandma’s house. After my grandma died he stayed in her house (where she died ) for a few weeks to help pack her things up and try and sort things out. Once he stepped in the house he became a totally different person. In a way, he became her – grouchy, hateful sounding, and just mean at times. She always used to yell about having the windows open and curtains drawn to let sun in. Weeks after she died my dad started to do the same thing. He was very short tempered and always so tired. Once he stepped out of the house he was back to his old self. I think this story because I feel like it is possible for a spirit to actually stay in a house if it has unfinished business. Beloved may have been young but she was obviously old enough to know it wasn’t quite her time to leave earth and that made her so spiteful. This relates to the story because it is the central idea of the whole novel. Beloved almost seems to have unfinished business and haunts the house. I think these kinds of things happen all the time in the world today.
"It was not a story to pass on."
ReplyDeleteI know this is a relatively short passage from the novel but I believe it speaks volumes about the story and the overarching theme of African American slavery. The article we had to read discussed it a little but I would like to take it in a different direction. The article just focused on how with the written word, it was hard to tell how the words in the sentence are emphasized, tying it into the spoken stories of African American slave tradition. I feel as though this is intended, and each way the sentence can be read is correct in its own way. One way this can be read is "It was not a story to pass on." Reading the phrase with these inflections leaves one to believe that the story the reader has just read was not one to miss, as in the themes in the book are important, and to take it to the next level in a" break the fourth wall" sort of way, the book you are holding is also important and to pass it on. another way of reading the phrase is "It was not a story to pass on." Reading it with these words emphasized can refer to how this is a story that will never die. History will always remember the horrible crimes committed on slave plantations, and in that way the story will never die. It can also elude to Beloved and how she refused to pass on by haunting the house and eventually coming back as a manifestation of a human being. The final way to read this passage is "This was not a story to pass on." This is read as this is not a story to tell others, that this story needs to die. I think this refers more to the supernatural aspects of the story, and how they need to let the story die the same way that Beloved did after her return, simply disappear.
Page 32
ReplyDelete“The jump, thought Paul D, from a calf to a girl wasn’t all that mighty. Not the leap Halle believed it would be.”
This book did not speak to me, but this is where I wanted to stop reading. How could anyone think that having sex with a woman was anything like bestiality? This is sick, depraved, and demeaning to women. This book was mostly about slavery, with this perverted crap thrown in. I found no “deeper meaning” to this book, just like Fear and Loathing.
I get that killing the child was done to save it in some deranged way, but bestiality is just wrong. What does it teach us about slavery? I feel like that is just demeaning to the African American people, whether or not it is true. I disliked this book a lot- this passage just made it all the worse. I expected to understand more about the struggles of slavery and the superstitions of the African American culture. I was disappointed. Of course, I could just not understand the “deeper meaning”.
Blogger Response – Beloved
ReplyDelete"I have your milk
I have your smile
I will take care of you
You are my face; I am you. Why did you leave me who am you?"
This passage from Beloved surprised me when I read it. It is overwhelmingly full of emotion and is slightly hard to interpret it. After rereading those few words over and over, I finally understood that Beloved believed that she was so similar to her mother that they were practically the same. In her own naïve mind, their facial similarities meant that they were practically the same person and thus inseparable. It saddens me that she has to practically beg her mother to not leave her. She could not fathom why Sethe abandoned her and haunted the house only to be close to her. Once she was close to Sethe in the flesh she never leaved her side. She would walk to the end of the road just to be with her when she got off work. She would question Sethe and expect stories and games in return. In the end, Beloved’s desire for attention almost killed Sethe.
Beloved’s desire to be with her mother all of the time softens my heart and makes me realize how important having a mother figure is. The entire book really reminds me to be grateful for what I have, specifically my mother. I feel so blessed to have a mom who cares about me unconditionally. I know she would do anything for me and would never leave me. My first time away from her was a summer camp when I was ten. I remember thinking similar thoughts as Beloved. I felt like my parents had abandoned me and missed them terribly. Once the week was over I was reunited with my parents and felt loved and cherished again. We all have a desire to be loved and cared for and when we don’t get that we yearn it and wonder why we don’t have it.
A passage from Toni Morrisson’s novel Beloved that jumped out to me was the part where Sethe saw the Schoolteacher walking towards her house, and so tried to kill her children, succeeding in killing her oldest daughter. Sethe tried killing her children to keep them from being taken into slavery. It did end up working, she was able to keep the Schoolteacher from taking her children into slavery, although it did cost her her oldest daughter. A lot believe she was insane when she killed her daughter, but they need to step into her shoes. Now I do not believe and do not think it is right to kill your children in any circumstances. But, none of us have lived as African American slaves, and none of us know what it is like, and what they go through, so we can not really judge her for what she did. Yeah, we will criticize her for killing her child, but can we blame her? Was Sethe saving her child from impending doom? She was born a slave, grew up as a slave, and escaped her plantation. She was raped and her milk was taken from her. She was whipped and cut open and scared. Sethe knows what it is like being a slave, and so did not want to have her children go through what she went through. She will live the rest of her life with the knowing that she killed her own child. If I just lost my child, I would not be able to go on, let alone kill my child myself. But Sethe believes she saved her children, even Beloved, her daughter that she killed. It makes me angry just thinking of parents killing their own children, so I am torn with this passage, because I do not know how the life of a slave is, it may be better to be dead then to be a slave.
ReplyDeleteThe passage I chose comes from page 107.
ReplyDeleteThe old man sighed and, after a pause, said, "You want it back, then go head and take it off that baby. Put the baby naked in the grass and put your coat back on. And if you can do it, then go on 'way somewhere and don't come back."
This passage spoke to me in a very unique way. It shows the concern for a baby over that of a boy. It also helps teach the boy that there are more important things than one’s own self comfort. By what the old man said to the boy, the boy learns this important life lesson and ultimately helps to save the baby’s life. Even though this is just a simple gesture of kindness it shows the child to be more sympathetic towards others. At the time before the old man had said this, the child was only concerned about being without and not the baby being in need. I also think this is a very important lesson for mankind to learn in general. The selfishness of some people is just incredible. Granted most people would be more than willing to give up their coat for a baby in need, unfortunately for some people their generosity does not exceed much further. I have encountered many people in my life who would much rather be in excess than help someone who is in dire need of help. We see this every day in our own back yards. The rich just seem to get richer while the poor get poorer and most people don't want do a single thing about it or try to help in any way. It sickens me to no end to see how rude and greedy some people really are. And even though in this novel the boy is young, it still shows that some people just need things put in perspective to understand how bad other people's situations are compared to their own. With this passage in the novel it is showing that even though there are a lot of bad people doing bad things for their own personal gain, there are still good people who are there looking out for the well being of others and not completely selfish.
The passage I chose that was powerful to me is “If a Negro got legs he ought to use them. Sit down too long, somebody will figure out a way to tie them up.” Of course, in the context of the novel it is referring to the hatred of blacks and that people don’t need a reason to oppress them; their presence is enough. It also refers to the fact that a white man can literally tie up a black man or woman and claim him or her as his own.
ReplyDeleteTo me, the passage says volumes about of society today. If I take the word “Negro” out of the passage and replace it with “person,” then it can apply to so much more than racism. It can apply to anything that is against the cultural norm. No matter where one goes, if he or she is acting in a way that is frowned upon by the community or the government then it is just a matter of time before he or she gets “tied up,” criticized and looked down upon. In this context, “tie them up” means to get them to stop being different and conform to the cultural norm. Some examples of topics that might get you “tied up” include marijuana legalization, gay marriage, abortion, gun control, the death penalty, drinking age, etc…
“The future was sunset; the past something to leave behind. And if it didn’t stay behind, well, you might have to stomp it out. Slave life; freed life-every day was a test and a trial. Nothing could be counted on in a world where even when you were a solution you were a problem.”
ReplyDeleteThis excerpt comes from page 302 when Ella is preparing to deal with the “spirit” that is present in Sethe’s home. I chose this passage because I feel as though it is a contradiction. The first part of the paragraph seems to be telling the reader to hang on to hope, move on from the guilt of the past and look to a brighter future. The second part of the paragraph, however, makes it seem like there is no reason to hope. “Nothing could be counted on in a world where even when you were a solution you were a problem.” This sentence, though true, makes me feel like no matter how hard I try, nothing will change. Why try to be the solution when you know you will also be a problem?
This passage seems to leave the reader in a hopeless position, but if there was nothing to hope for then life would be futile. Further in the paragraph, Ella shows the reader that there is something to hope for when she makes up her mind to do something about the haunting spirit in 124. Ella also goes on to say, “sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” We cannot see into the future, we cannot change the past, so the choice that is left is what we do in the moment.
“It's so hard for me to believe in [time]. Some things go. Pass on. Some things just stay. I used to think it was my rememory. . . But it's not. Places, places are still there. If a house burns down, it's gone, but the place -the picture of it- stays, and not just in my rememory, but out there, in the world".
ReplyDelete"If it's still there, waiting, that must mean that nothing ever dies."
"Nothing ever does."
This passage is true because a memory can and will live on, no matter what. A memory is important to the person that it belongs to. The memory could be something that happened to you that was extremely important. Just because someone dies, or something is destroyed does not mean that they are gone. They live on in memories. When a person dies, people believe that either the person is dead forever, while in many religions it is believed that the person’s spiritual body is taken to an afterlife, where they can meet lost family and friends. A relative died recently, but she is still with me in my memories, in pictures, and in videos. The way she walks, how she talked when happy or sad, what she thought was fun, how she loved her family and pets, all of her characteristics stay with us in our memories. Like in the quote, just because a house burned down does not mean it is gone. It just lives on as a memory. A person can’t just vanish into thin air. A person’s physical body may be dead, but their spiritual body is alive somewhere. They could be watching over us and protecting us.
"Was that it? Is that where the manhood lay? In the naming done by whiteman who was supposed to know? Who gave them privilege not of working but of deciding how to?"(pg147 par2)
ReplyDeleteI chose this passage because it bring back the not so fond memories of conversations with my parents and grandparents. The stories were told to me of them working in "cotton fields" of Mississippi,through the heat and not being compensated "fairly" for their labor. Yes, these may have been years after slavery,but the unfair treatments of blacks still existed in the south. Through these times black men often had to work for long unpleasant hours to provide and be the providers for their families. And after talking or discussing these times with my grandparents there were times when no matter how much the husband or father worked there would be times when the financial means of providing weren't enough. In these times a man would be left to feel less than a man even though he would possibly be working as hard as he could to provide for his family. Which in turn would leave one to question where true manhood really lies and if there is a possibility that through hard work manhood is attained? And what is the definition of true "manhood"? My forefathers may have been hard workers,but were they really paid the salaries for the work that they performed because of the color of their skin?