Wednesday, November 25, 2015
Two Violent Acts
The end of Beloved was very intense for me. I was not expecting Sethe to show another act of violence. Even though Sethe killed her daughter and hurt her other children, I never thought of her as a violent person. The scene where the schoolteacher came and found Sethe in the barn with the saw felt like it was part of a different story, or at least about a different character. Throughout all of the novel leading up to that scene, Sethe was written as a strong, loving mother, so it felt strange to suddenly read about her killing her child. After reading this part, I went back to thinking about Sethe in a positive way and never considered her hurting anyone again. But then the man came to take Denver to work and Sethe flipped again. I'm sure part of the reason this happened was because she had so much anger towards the schoolteacher inside her and saw this man as him, but I think the bigger factor was the fact that Beloved made Sethe go crazy. I just have a hard time believing that Sethe would be so violent again for no real reason.
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I agree. It was her love for her children that drove Sethe to kill her baby and try to kill her other children, but at the end, when she has a PTDS-like flashback to when School teacher first came, rather than going after her children, she goes after the person who she thinks is School teacher.
ReplyDeleteI had a similar reaction to Sethe's second act of violence. Sethe's character manages so well to blend strength with love throughout the novel, which explains her first act of violence. I guess the second act could be out of love, but it feels different. I think it's safe to say that she had a moment of weakness and lost it- which is totally fair!
ReplyDeleteI had a similar reaction to Sethe's second act of violence. Sethe's character manages so well to blend strength with love throughout the novel, which explains her first act of violence. I guess the second act could be out of love, but it feels different. I think it's safe to say that she had a moment of weakness and lost it- which is totally fair!
ReplyDeleteI had a similar reaction to Sethe's second act of violence. Sethe's character manages so well to blend strength with love throughout the novel, which explains her first act of violence. I guess the second act could be out of love, but it feels different. I think it's safe to say that she had a moment of weakness and lost it- which is totally fair!
ReplyDelete