A mother´s love is stronger than any love on this earth. However, love itself has its flaws and the actions made from it can be quite questionable. In Toni Morrison´s novel, Beloved, her protagonist, Sethe, kills her own children to save them from the hardship of slavery. Now, with this situation I believe it can be looked at a couple ways.
1. Sethe wanted to spare her children the horrible life of slavery by ending their life entirely because after being enslaved your whole life it is impossible to even try and have a life even if you are fortunate enough to be granted freedom.
2. Sethe selfishly killed her children so they would not endure a life of slavery but completely destroyed any chance of them having a real life since she could not have one of her own.
In the novel, Paul D claims that Sethe´s love for her children is, ¨too thick" (194). He believed that what she did was wrong and that there could have been another answer to the problem. Sethe then argues that, ¨thin love ain´t love at all¨ (194). That then brings up the question of how much love is too much love? And what is the proper way to spend all of the love that you have? Especially, that of a mother´s which is infinite. Paul D then claims that Sethe is a beast by stating, ¨You got two feet, Sethe, not four¨ (194). He continues to shame her and nearly dehumanize her for killing her children even though she was trying to do the right thing.
A mother will do whatever she can to protect her children. But which solution protects them more? Trying to keep them alive but having them live a life of torture or killing them before any of it happens? Through this detailed, violent, and heartbreaking novel Toni Morrison exposes the extreme challenge it is to be a mother, even more so in a time like this.
Great post, Flynn! I think Sethe's actions were justified as she had lived through the horrors of slavery herself, and did not want her children to have to live out the rest of their lives in pain. She thought death was the only viable option.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it's so tough to say whether Sethe was justified. She seems to be living proof that you can never escape the ghosts of slavery, in which case killing her children would be the most humane option in her mind. I can't say I think it was justified, but I see where it came from.
ReplyDeleteI love this post, this dichotomy is a really challenging question. I think the love of a mother is much stronger than anyone who has not experienced parenthood expects. Like Meghan said, I can't fully say I think it is justified but I can see where it came from. Furthermore, if I had been in that position, with the thick love of motherhood, I do not know what choice I would have made.
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