Beloved's Character

From the very beginning, Beloved is an ambiguous character. We know of her headstone and the word being engraved onto it. We know she died a tragic death as a baby, and we know that she is mourned and loved. Yet, we don’t know her real name, we don’t know how she died, and ultimately we really know nothing about her. Then, when she shows up after emerging from a body of water, grown yet unwise, frail yet unnaturally strong, more questions arrive. At the close of the novel, we have spent a lot more time with her character and there is a lot to unpack about Beloved– possibly one of the most interesting characters I have ever read about. 

For me, it was immediately apparent who the woman was (her name was quite literally Beloved). However, this is not the case for Sethe and she spends a while perplexed by her identity. Tensions rise, and everyone seems to have a different relationship with this woman– Denver is jealous yet protective, Paul D. is weirded out. Once she figures out that Beloved is her long-lost daughter, everything changes. She is happy to be reunited and feels as though she has been given a second chance with her child. She begs for forgiveness and continuously devotes herself more and more to Beloved. 

By the end of the novel, Sethe has all but withered away, giving herself completely to Beloved, feeding her all her food, and Beloved is practically feeding off of Sethe at this point. The relationship is very unique, and everything about Beloved is supernatural. Although there are infinite interpretations, personally I find Beloved to be a representation of Sethe’s guilt. She arrives shortly after Paul D. comes to stir up some of Sethe’s old memories, and she stays while Sethe shares her story about Beloved’s original death. The timeline of Beloved’s stay matches with Sethe’s mental state, and it also affects it, creating a cycle. 

I see Beloved rising from the water as a rebirth, not only for her but for Sethe as well. Sethe’s second chance is not her interaction with this new Beloved, but her chance at acknowledging her feelings and trying to work through them. Beloved’s entrance into her life brings out the deep guilt in her and Sethe gets the chance to tell Beloved what she never got to say. She gets to verbalize her suppressed feelings, and in an unorthodox way, Beloved helps Sethe move forward. At the end of the novel, everything has changed, and Sethe is no longer living her depressing, monotonous life: haunted by Beloved’s ghost and caving inwards. Although Beloved is difficult to process, and I am still very unsure about my interpretations, I think analyzing her character is essential when thinking about this truly amazing novel.

Was The Abuse of Janie OK?

 The community members in Their Eyes Were Watching God all have positive reactions to Tea cake’s abuse of Janie. Upon learning of the abuse she has gone through, the town is in awe: either jealous that they do not have a man to beat them, or that they do not have a wife who will take a beating. There is no hint of concern for Janie amongst any of the people. Janie’s lack of self-defense is seen as a sign of devotion to Tea cake. Her bruises and marks are seen as symbols of love, and the townspeople even claim to wish for a love as strong as theirs.

This reaction of utter support and acceptance was perplexing to read, and honestly shocking. There was virtually no backlash against Tea cake. He received no consequence for his actions, but instead, he received admiration. Abuse is normalized in their community, and the entire incident was simply brushed off. It was a huge contrast to today’s society where domestic violence is seen as an awful crime. As Mr. Mitchell pointed out, the community may not even know the term “domestic abuse.”

After our discussion in class, I thought a lot about how I felt about this part of the book. Hurston provides no resistance to the concept of normalized domestic abuse, and I thought about the angles mentioned in class such as the cultural/generational differences, or that “it was an act of love.” I have to conclude is that these are not valid arguments, and that abuse is never acceptable in any context. There is always another solution, and if Tea cake really wanted to protect Janie and show his love for her, he would not have hurt her. He could have talked it out, shown public affection for her, there were so many other options. If anything, I stand by the comment Mr. Mitchell made in class: why didn’t Tea cake lash out at the Turners instead?

Blindness vs Invisibility

Prior to reading Invisible Man, I found myself perplexed by its title and struggled with understanding the meaning of the “invisibility” in this context. Now, after finishing the novel, I am once again unsure about its true meaning, but in a different way. I wonder if the narrator experiences invisibility and blindness, or if the people he cannot see are simply invisible as well. I wonder if invisibility and blindness are mutually exclusive, or if they come hand in hand.

The narrator begins his novel with a complete acceptance of his role of invisibility. He explains how he has come to terms with his role in society, and as he tells his story, it is shown how this process happens. I am not sure if he is completely blind, but I do think that he is invisible. As a black man in his society, he is marginalized and this is beyond his control. Whether he chooses Dr. Bledsoe’s path of playing the game and following the role he’s given, or if he tries to make a mark with the Brotherhood, he has never been truly visible the way a white man is: something he comes to terms with. 

However, one thing I think the narrator is more unaware of is his blindness. Yes, he is invisible, but so are others. There are other POC that he crosses paths with throughout the story, yet some of them remain invisible to him. An ironic yet interesting example is when the narrator literally does not see Tod Clifton selling dolls on the street, even though he is actively looking for him. Are characters like Tod Clifton so invisible that even the narrator, who is aware of this concept, cannot see them? Or is the narrator blind to a certain extent? And if he is, why?

Ulterior Motives of the Brotherhood

The narrator first commits himself to an organization called the “Brotherhood” in Invisible Man during Chapter 14. He does so when he realizes his financial debt to Mary and finally decides to join the group for money. In order to do so, the narrator is required to take drastic measures by adopting a new identity and abandoning his entire past life. The Brotherhood is a self-proclaimed activist group that wants the narrator to deliver speeches for their cause. However, the “cause” they are supposedly fighting for is unclear, and the group appears to hold no core values nor specific viewpoints. So far in the novel, the true intentions of the Brotherhood are yet to be explicitly revealed.

The reason the narrator joins the Brotherhood, other than for the money, is because the group tells him they work to fight for racial justice, a cause that the narrator has come to align himself with. He wants to protest and speak out against racism like he is promised, but many signs point that the Brotherhood has other plans. One of the initial red flags is when a Brotherhood member’s initial reaction upon seeing the narrator, is wondering aloud if he is “black enough” for their needs. The narrator finds this perplexing, and this comment begins to plant suspicions of the Brotherhood. This statement reveals that the recruitment of the narrator is performative and that they care more about his appearance than his actual person. 

A major event that upsets the narrator is his transfer to a different location, during which he is instructed to speak on women’s rights instead. The narrator does not share the passion for this topic as he does for racial justice, and in fact, he is very uneducated on the topic, merely reading a pamphlet for his speech. This action makes it glaringly obvious that the Brotherhood does not care about social justice, for they have no issue placing underqualified people to speak on issues they do not even care about. Much is left to be questioned about the Brotherhood, but one thing is clear: their intent is not pure, and they have motives other than working towards social equality. Perhaps the Brotherhood is working towards financial gain (the explanation I am leaning towards believing) or building a following for other reasons.

Who is Dr. Bledsoe?

Published in 1952, Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison is set in 1945 and follows the narrator (a black man) as he looks back upon his life. The narrator begins telling his story around the beginning of his college education. He is awarded a scholarship to the state college for black youth and is completely overjoyed. He takes up a job as a chauffeur on campus, but one day, he drives a benefactor somewhere he should not have seen. Shortly after this incident, the narrator has his first encounter with Dr. Bledsoe, a black man who is the current president of the college. 

The narrator’s original opinion of Dr. Bledsoe is incredibly positive. He looks up to him, a powerful and wealthy man, the embodiment of success. However, upon their first meeting, his view of Bledsoe completely changes, resolving that he will murder Bledsoe. After learning of what has happened, Bledsoe lashes out at the narrator, perplexed and frustrated as to why the narrator does not understand unspoken rules. These rules are ways to thrive in a white supremacist society, ways to please white people and bypass the system. Bledsoe explains in exasperation that the narrator should only show the sponsors what they want to see- the nice parts of campus and the sections that will please the white people.

There are many different perspectives to be taken on Bledsoe’s mindset. The narrator sees it as unacceptable, as he has grown up trained to respect white people. Bledsoe is a traitor and a horrible liar. The narrator believes in the racist system and abides by it completely, which is why he is so shocked by Bledsoe’s words. However, another interpretation can be that Bledsoe is doing what he must. The problem lies not within Bledsoe, but the system. Within a white-dominated society, Bledsoe feels that he must act a certain way to be successful. This can both be interpreted as playing into the expectations of white society and allowing racism to persist, or as Bledsoe thriving despite oppressive circumstances. Bledsoe has learned how to use the system to his own advantage and became a huge success. If Bledsoe did not have this mindset, one might argue he would be more morally sound, but again, he might not be the affluent man he is today. Regardless of what one’s thoughts are on his actions, the opinion one holds on Dr. Bledsoe is a good opportunity for self-evaluation.

 

White Savior Complex

Richard Wright’s provocative novel, Native Son (1940), centers around Bigger Thomas, a black man living in Chicago during the 1930s. During the course of this novel, Bigger gets a job, commits rape and murder, is tried for his crimes, and is executed. Every step of the way, Bigger is surrounded by white people. White people who are abusive and racist towards him, but also white people who believe they are making things better for Bigger. White people seeing themselves as doing good and helping the black community. In other words, white saviors. The white savior complex is defined as “the phenomenon in which a white person ‘guides people of colour from the margins to the mainstream with his or her own initiative and benevolence’ which tends to render the people of colour “incapable of helping themselves” and disposes them of historical agency.” (Cammarota, 2011: 243-244) In short, these people are self-serving. They are harmful in a number of ways, as they reinforce the thought that POC cannot help themselves. They are treated as incapable beings, who need the help of a white person. White saviors shift the focus from the problems that POC experience to their inadequate efforts to “help” them, perpetuating racist beliefs about white superiority. Mr. and Mrs. Dalton are prime examples of white saviors- donating ping-pong tables to the black community and telling everyone about it (performative), whilst collecting overpriced rent from many black families (including Bigger’s). This is ultimately driving them deeper into poverty and helping to ruin lives, and making a much larger impact than their sporadic donations. Although Native Son is set in the past, many aspects of the novel are still very present. White saviors are still everywhere around us, in novels such as The Help, and even public figures such as Ed Sheeran with his “Comic Relief.”

Work Cited: Cammarota, Julio. “Blindsided by the Avatar: White Saviors and Allies Out of Hollywood and in Education”, Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies 33, no. 3: 242-259, 2011. Further reading:

https://www.e-ir.info/2020/07/13/de-constructing-the-white-saviour-syndrome-a-manifestation-of-neo-imperialism/

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-42268637