When I was reading Beloved, I read the line, “Freeing yourself was one thing, claiming ownership of that freed self was another.” This really communicates that slavery takes away so much of Sethe's view of herself and her identity. It takes a lot of work for her to accept that she is free and accept herself as a person with justified desires. Slaveholders made slaves believe they were worthless, only usable for labor and should not have a life outside of that, so of course a freed slave would not know how to accept themselves in this new life. To make an identity out of nothing- how do you do that? But Celie, Erivo's character, finally addresses herself as a free human, free to be free, free to recognize that freedom, and also recognizes herself as worthy of being free because she is beautiful. I'm hoping that Sethe will come to this conclusion and free herself from the triggering memories of her past, and so she can pass that mentality on to Denver and maybe Beloved.
Thursday, November 2, 2017
Beloved and The Color Purple
One of my favorite musicals is the most recent Broadway revival of The Color Purple with Cynthia Erivo. If you listen to "I'm Here", you will hear many of the same thematic feelings of being trapped versus being free and discovering oneself. The last verse of the song goes, "I'm grateful for everyday that I'm given/ both the easy and the hard ones I'm living/ But most of all/ I'm grateful for loving who I really am/ I'm beautiful/ I'm beautiful/ And I'm here."
When I was reading Beloved, I read the line, “Freeing yourself was one thing, claiming ownership of that freed self was another.” This really communicates that slavery takes away so much of Sethe's view of herself and her identity. It takes a lot of work for her to accept that she is free and accept herself as a person with justified desires. Slaveholders made slaves believe they were worthless, only usable for labor and should not have a life outside of that, so of course a freed slave would not know how to accept themselves in this new life. To make an identity out of nothing- how do you do that? But Celie, Erivo's character, finally addresses herself as a free human, free to be free, free to recognize that freedom, and also recognizes herself as worthy of being free because she is beautiful. I'm hoping that Sethe will come to this conclusion and free herself from the triggering memories of her past, and so she can pass that mentality on to Denver and maybe Beloved.
When I was reading Beloved, I read the line, “Freeing yourself was one thing, claiming ownership of that freed self was another.” This really communicates that slavery takes away so much of Sethe's view of herself and her identity. It takes a lot of work for her to accept that she is free and accept herself as a person with justified desires. Slaveholders made slaves believe they were worthless, only usable for labor and should not have a life outside of that, so of course a freed slave would not know how to accept themselves in this new life. To make an identity out of nothing- how do you do that? But Celie, Erivo's character, finally addresses herself as a free human, free to be free, free to recognize that freedom, and also recognizes herself as worthy of being free because she is beautiful. I'm hoping that Sethe will come to this conclusion and free herself from the triggering memories of her past, and so she can pass that mentality on to Denver and maybe Beloved.
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Wow! Great connection. I especially felt that contrast between slavery and freedom when Sethe and Paul D are laying in bed, free, and Sethe is thinking about having sex in the cornfield with Halle. I thought it was interesting that Morrison chose sex, a liberating act itself, to show the contrast in this scene.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting connection between the two. It will be interesting to see how Sethe frees herself.
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