Motherhood: Analyze the Motherhood of Sethe, Baby Suggs, holy, and Sethe's Mother

One of the Themes through out Beloved is motherhood. What is true motherhood? What is the right way of motherhood? How can a women be a mother when she is denied even the right to love something and be in the company of her children?

Sethe's first experience with motherhood is when her own mother took her behind a building and pulled down her shirt saying "...know me by this mark, this here mark..." while pointing at the brand below her breast. A, almost, distant type of motherhood. Later in the book we learn Sethe's mother was brought over from Africa, and later hung for a reason Sethe never knew.

Was Sethe's mother's distant motherhood the only type of motherhood a slave could express? Obviously not because of Sethe's protective motherhood that drove her to escape after her children instead of "squatting by the churn... with not a care in the world" and later try to kill all her children when Schoolteacher came to 124 (84, 190-195).

Are there only two extremes of motherhood? Un-involved and Protective ("putting all her love in one place" as Paul D calls it).

Baby Suggs, holy I believe showed another type of motherhood. Less to an individual person but instead to a community. During the meetings in the clearing, as I interpret them, Baby Suggs, holy both acted as a "Caller", she would not call herself a priest or priestess, and, I feel, as a mother. Sorta like a Virgin Mary figure, just without the virgin, untouched part.

Suggs, holy's motherhood was to have her 'children', the people that came to the Clearing, "Love it." It being themselves (103-104). It was not an intimate motherhood but rather a leading motherhood. Someone to look up to, with who you can express your innermost feelings, someone you can lean on. That was Baby Suggs, holy's motherhood.

But are these motherhood? And which is the right motherhood? I believe their is no right motherhood, but there also is no wrong motherhood within such an extreme and dehumanizing situation as slavery. I also think that All the forms of motherhood within my examples above are justifiable.

Sethe's mother was probably forced away from Sethe, unable to care for her because of the work and position forced on her by the institution of slavery. Also it is revealed from Sethe's memories that her mother had had other children which she abandoned. In my mind Sethe's mother was trying to protect herself and Sethe by not getting to close but she also wanted Sethe to know who she was by the fact Sethe's mother showed Sethe the brand on her chest.

Sethe's motherhood also makes sense to me. Sethe, as Paul D says, "put all her love into one place", which was a dangerous thing for a slave to do especially when putting that love into her children. Throughout the book Sethe also says things like "She was my best thing" (321). Sethe seems to define herself by her children. This is especially evident with the amount of pages spent on describing the children and Sethe's relationship with them. Therefore to me it is not surprising that Sethe would do something as drastic as killing her children to keep them out of slavery.

Sethe loves her children above all else, almost obsessively, because they are what helps define her, and they are part of what makes her human. Sethe trying to take the lives of her children, is her trying to protect them. Although drastic and probably not the only option, Sethe would not have wanted even a chance of her children going through what she had as a slave. The best way to prevent something from happening, especially in such an uncertain time, is to prevent the conditions for creating that something from existing, in this case Sethe takes the life of her daughter to prevent her from becoming a slave. A not as extreme example would be you don't leave out food in the kitchen if you don't want mice in the house.

Baby Suggs, holy by contrast loves her 'children', her people, by "putting them in her big old heart", but not necessarily getting completely involved with all of them. Suggs, holy was an important figure in the community, acting as a guider and a pillar of support. She is neither as distant as Sethe's mother, or as protective (obsessive) as Sethe, but she seems to love her people anyhow. But with so many people it would have been nearly impossible to know all of them with the attention and memory a close mother who has know a child from birth would know her children. Still, I'd say Baby Suggs, holy acts as a mother within her group.

What do you think is Motherhood? Do you think the types of motherhood (above) are justifiable? Would you agree with the actions of the characters? Or would you condemn the characters for their actions?