Thursday, November 2, 2017
The Ghost of Beloved
Honestly, when I read the initial chapters after Beloved was introduced I was pretty confused. I almost immediately understood that Beloved was Sethe’s dead daughter, but I didn’t understand how she could be a ghost. In fact, my first rationalization of the situation was that Beloved was in fact alive, somehow saved from the grasps of the alleged death years ago. When I finally accepted that Beloved was in fact a ghost, my feelings about her entire character became even more conflicted.
Throughout my life I have considered ghosts to be a product of the intangible world. I don’t really believe in them, but all the ones I had seen from Ghostbusters, Casper The Ghost, and the Scooby-Doo chronicles were untouchable. Beloved, however, is a completely functioning human. So why does Toni Morrison choose to represent Beloved so human like? I think a big part of it is Sethe’s entrapment in the past. She is unable to escape her past at Sweet Home, and is constantly shifting in and out of the past. Her shifts are fluid, for example she states, “He was not judging her- or rather he was judging but not comparing her. Not since Halle had a man looked at her that way: not loving or passionate, but interested, as though he were examining an ear of corn for quality. Halle was more like a brother than a husband. His care suggested a family relationship rather than a man’s laying claim” (30-31). The shifting also could lend to the fact that it is hard for all the characters in the book to understand what is real or not. If someone is unable to differentiate between the past and the present, would they be able to differentiate between the real and the imaginary? I think that will be an interesting question to be addressed throughout the course of the book.
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I agree that ghosts don't really exist, but for the sake of the novel I agree that it makes sense to portray Beloved as a ghost - a character that is not fully human, but also still concrete. By having Beloved be a ghost it shows, like you said, how Sethe's past still affects and influences her. Yet, since she is not fully human I think Morrison is showing how Sethe's past doesn't have an unbreakable hold on her, and Beloved could exist in this intermediate reality to help Sethe work through her past.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting to see how the characters are so affected by their past, even though they try so hard to escape it. So many times throughout the book, Sethe and Paul D try not to talk about memories too much, afraid to get stuck. They are trying to forget everything that happened to them, yet their memories are such a big part of who they are. Beloved, and the other ghosts in the house, show how memoriess lurk on Sethe and other characters.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it is difficult for Sethe to distinguish from the past and the present so it may be hard for her to distinguish from what is real and what is imaginary but I also think that we have to go along with what Morrison is presenting to us in that right now we are supposed to believe that Beloved is a ghost but in time Morrison will reveal the truth to us.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if the characters can't differentiate between the past and the present. I think that they just rather not talk about their past, even though they do a lot. However, Sethe does mention that she likes to keep the things that happened to her in the past because it's easier for her to move to the present. As for the real vs. imaginary thing agree that the characters can not differentiate the two. Denver is so desperate for company and companionship that she doesn't mind Beloved. As for Sethe, I think Paul D foreshadowed her relationship with Beloved. On page 54, he says it's dangerous for a mother to love her child so much. Foreshadowing something bad or dark I feel to happen in the near future regarding Beloved.
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