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.
I also think that Beloved's character is very unique - everything about her is unnatural. I think that the most interesting thing about Beloved is how Toni Morrison uses her to help Sethe reconcile with herself. Beloved's character is a representation how Toni Morrison uses abnormalities in her writing to piece togethers for real issues - a mother's guilt of not being able to provide for her children.
ReplyDeleteI love your interpretation of Beloved as Sethe's guilt, and I agree! I think that interesting extensions of this comparison arise when we consider the perspective of the writing. Much of it is in Sethe's perspective, but many other characters' perspectives are scattered throughout. How does their perception of Beloved inform us about Beloved as a representation of Sethe's tumultuous emotions? This is where I think it becomes important to allow ourselves to buy into the supernatural aspects of this book - because if Beloved is a figment of Sethe's imagination there are too many plot holes. Furthermore, Beloved means a lot to other characters - a friend to Denver and and i-don't-even-know-what to Paul D, for example.
ReplyDeleteI really like your idea that Beloved's "rebirth" also represents Sethe's chance to acknowledge her feelings of guilt. By acknowledging Beloved, Sethe is also acknowledging her guilt-- this is important because she's been suppressing and trying to ignore those feelings for so long.
ReplyDeleteI think that the idea that Beloved is Sethe's guilt is really interesting. When reading the novel, I was especially interested in the fact that we never hear Beloved's given name, though it is implied she has one. I can't decide if I really think that Beloved is simply a manifestation of Sethe's guilt in human form (and not even really the baby at all) or an entity that has defined herself apart from her previous existence. After all, with other characters naming themselves we've seen that as being independent (e.g. Baby Suggs). But I think that reading your post the "guilt" theory definitely has some more weight behind it.
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to put any neat label on this incredibly complicated character dynamic, but it makes sense that guilt is part of what the return of Beloved evokes in Sethe--but not necessarily (I think) in the sense that it convinces Sethe that she was *wrong*. Along with guilt I might add words like "remorse" and definitely "grief." Sethe is so (understandably) consumed with defending her actions against so many critics that she hardens herself and thereby fails to really mourn the loss of this child. Sethe can powerfully regret that this event ever happened, that she was *forced* into this position to do what she had to do, without believing she was wrong to do so. In a real sense, schoolteacher *has* taken away her baby, just not in the way he'd intended. Sethe is still suffering an enormous loss, and she needs to grieve. Beloved's return maybe makes this grieving possible?
ReplyDeleteThese are really interesting ideas! I think Sethe's monotonous lifestyle at the beginning of the book was kind of her way of shutting out the past and moving on from what had happened, but Beloved's return made the past impossible for Sethe to ignore. Regardless of who Beloved is or what she's like, Sethe's realization that Beloved is her daughter forces her to reconcile with her past influences, motives, and actions.
ReplyDeleteGreat post, Florence! It's interesting how you mention that Sethe doesn't actually realize that Beloved is her daughter. This ignorance might be a representation of Sethe's unwillingness to address her own past as Beloved does seem to be the physical manifestation of Sethe's experiences in slavery. You make some great points on how Beloved helps Sethe move forward with her life, finally addressing her past rather than letting it haunt her from a place she can't even remember. Nice job!
ReplyDeleteI really like your analysis here and I definitely agree with the idea that Beloved's return serves as an opportunity for Sethe to face her unprocessed feelings toward Beloved. I also think your connection between Beloved's arrival and the timeline of Sethe's mental state is really interesting. The question of why Beloved returns at the particular point in time she does hadn't occurred to me before, but I think your point that Paul D's arrival at the house stirs up a lot of past memories for Sethe serves as a good answer to this question.
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