So far in Beloved, the mothers Sethe and Baby Suggs are two characters who are both empowered by and eventually brought down by their children. Baby Suggs is literally freed when Halle buys her freedom and Sethe is partly driven to run for her children's sake. Later, however, they are also both emotionally destroyed because of their children and their love for them. When Sethe tries to kill her children, she does so because she thinks it is the only way to protect them which, along with Halle's disappearance, leaves Baby Suggs devastated.
Despite dealing with the extreme hardships of slavery, it is eventually these mothers love and emotional connections to their children that destroys their lives. Baby Suggs tried to avoid this by not becoming emotionally attached to her children, but she couldn't not love and care for Halle. For Sethe and Baby Suggs the strength of love for their children outweighs, in a fashion, the power of the sadness and anger of a life of slavery.
It is always true not for just mothers. Loving someone will empower us but if that person will leave us we are devastated. Mother love though is love women does not choose, she would love her children even if she tries not to.
ReplyDeleteI agree with this. I had never really thought about the almost paradox of their love of their children. I looked at all these incidents as separate but never considered them as a pattern that demonstrated the complexity of mother-child relationships.
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