Loving Too “Strongly”

When Paul D found out about that horrible trauma that Sethe went through, of trying to kill her children to protect them from schoolteacher and Sweet Home, he was understandably shook. It’s not just the fact that he was in a relationship with Sethe and this totally changed his image of her, but it was also him trying to imagine why and how this kind of event could even happen. He keeps thinking Sethes love is too strong, too “dangerous”, because she is a black woman. She shouldn’t ever put something too close to her heart, not even her children, because it could be taken away from her in a split second. There are so many messed up things with slavery, but this was one of the saddest things for me. I think a huge distinguishing factor between humans and other creatures is our emotions and how we show our emotions. Yes, a mama bear loves her baby and feels that connection, but she doesn’t show it to the extent a human mother shows it. Human expressions of love and commucation is something very unique, and something which is a beautiful part of our lives. Baby Suggs, Paul D, and other slaves learned the hard way that they had to prevent themselves from fulling accepting and feeling love in their lives, the love that makes them human, because if they did they would break when their loved ones are taken away from them, or lashed, or killed. They also needed to be able to not be tied down, because if they could get the chance, they needed to run away (like the deal Baby made with her husband). They needed to truly live their lives alone, mentally alone, otherwise it seemed they’d have an even more miserable life and go crazy. I think that’s what Paul D meant when he said Sethe loved too dangerously, that a slave woman can’t hold herself so close to her kids like that, because that’s why she killed Beloved and attempted to kill the others. She loved them.

Comments

  1. ZonaNovember 26, 2018 at 2:33 PM

    Great post, I also found it really sad and horrifying that loving was a dangerous thing for a black woman, knowing that the people she loved could be taken away at any minute. I think this is a very human depiction of slavery, and really digs into how the institution changed the families and the relationships of black Americans.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nina GalvezNovember 27, 2018 at 6:10 PM

    Nice post, I agree that this realization is really sad and hard to get through. To add to your point, I also wanted to recall that the reason Sethe planned the escape was to keep her two boys. They were growing older and Schoolteacher wanted to get them ready to be sold. The escape was because of Sethe's love.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The "Progressive" Woman...? Ew and ugh why did you do this Ellison. Or is there an underlying message here?

Similar to Native Son 's depiction of women characters and their roles in the main character's life, Ellison portrays women as sexual objects who are (to say the least) not as smart as the men and who are needy. Their characters are created in relation to the main male character, or another male character. We only hear of Sybil when the narrator is trying to get some more information about the Brotherhood from the married woman, and of course, it turns into drinking and physical intimacy because she's a woman. We also see this when the narrator goes to talk about the "woman" question in Harlem, even though he doesn't even really know what he's talking about. He ends up having an affair with one of the women when she seductively asks him some rather vague questions and pretends to be interested. Even in a small encounter, when a woman thought the narrator was Rhinehart, she grabbed his arm as if she were his partner and was described as smelling a lot like
Read more

The Global Masquerade Ball

In Invisible Man , we see the concept of the mask constantly coming in the story. Bledsoe kindly supporting and agreeing to his white partners while in reality running the show, Grandpas hardwork ethic and humble living while he keeps a guarded mind and heart against the system, the director handing over compensation money for the narrators injuries in a civil manner while really just doing his job and getting it over with. There are tons of examples of the mask, which made me wonder; do we have masks? And if so, when do we take them off? On the political scale, prime ministers, presidents, dictators, kings and queens, and all types of rulers often have wear the mask, in public speeches and in private meetings. Many affairs and scandals have occurred behind the scenes, such that the public wouldn’t know about it, and many secrets have been kept even until death. For example, the majority of the public in America had no idea that Franklin D. Roosevelt was in a wheelchair and suffered f
Read more

Racism: It Runs Deep

I really enjoyed reading Beatty's The White Boy Shuffle , especially the middle of the book as Gunnar is coming of age. Mr.Mitchell warned us that the book would continue to take a darker turn, but as I was reading I almost forgot how the narrator I had enjoyed listening to and reading, Gunnar, was going to end up leading a mass suicide. But when suicide became more and more of a theme in the novel, and especially when Scoby killed himself, I was still laughing, but it didn't feel right. Gunnar's approach to racism is darkly humorous and very pessimistic. The idea that the only way to end racism and to stop the suffering of black people in America is to have all of them commit suicide seems crazy, but the way Gunnar puts it, it sounds like the only effective solution. Its simple; the problem just goes away. I don't think Beatty actually believes this is the right way, but he's making a very good point. Centuries have passed and racism is still among us. So many peo
Read more