The bonds and needs.

Text: The bonds of Love and The Boundaries of Self In Toni Morrison’s Beloved. By Barbara Schapiro.

As humans we have certain needs, we demand love and affection, In  Barbara Schapiro’s article she states, “In order to exist for oneself, one has to exist for an other”. I strongly agree with her believe of needing the love of others to love yourself and what’s around you. In her article, Schapiro talks about how as  human being we have all these needs: the “emotional and psychic consequences of slavery”,  has damaged those needs, and the bonds with others and yourself. I believe we need each other in order to feel better, sometimes one can be having a horrible day and a simple smile or compliment from another can lighten our mood. We can also see this in Beloved between Sethe and her children, and Sethe and Paul D. Barbara Schapiro does a good job describing the life of a slaves after slavery. She mentions how slavery has damage them, mentally and physically. They use to be treated like animal, so they never had love or affection. Schapiro mentions how when Sethe was a child, she had other children pointed at her mother, because she didn't recognize her own mother. Slaves were usually never with their children or any family members, which is why Sethe was never able to recognize her own mother.

Barbara Schapiro digs deep in mother-child relationships, throughout the article she mention how young kids need the guidance of their significant other, which is “The mother, the child's first vital other.” Sethe was a mother and a Father to her children, showing independence and strength. Not needing the help of male figure in her life to raise her children and provide for them was her accomplishment as a woman. I also think she does a great job tying things up, she mentions how, “The violation or murder children their parents is a theme that runs throughout much of Morrison's work” and she provides examples of her work. Overall her article describes the situation slaves has to deal mentally and emotionally, and also the bonds between mother and child.

Another reflection

Beloved embodies all the horrible experiences that slaves had to go through. Even though they don’t want to think or talk about their experiences from Sweet Home anymore, they find themselves constantly reminded of them through Beloved. As each as to forced to relive those experiences when Beloved comes back.

The biggest take away I’ve had from this book is the debilitating power of fear. If you constantly live in fear and you spend your life living in fear you’re never going to get through it. However, it’s easy for me to say that sitting on my bed, in a suburban town in 2015. I can not begin to imagine the pain and the guilt that Sethe harbored for so long. It’s reasonable to expect her to run away both literally and figuratively speaking because given historical context it wasn’t like slaves could simply go back and confront their perpetrators. Imagine if you someone had done something terrible to you, like murder or rape (which is something that unfortunately happened a lot to slaves) and they just got away with it. I don’t think that I could easily move on from that.  Slavery wasn’t the only thing that the Civil War was fought for and what happened after the Civil War is argued by many as having been worse to the African American community than slavery itself. Freed slaves had to live with the memories of being slaves but now on top of that they have to live with the fear of being haunted down. So you could say that the reality for many of the former slaves was that they didn’t have the title of a slave anymore but they were still bound to the racism that was a result of slavery.

Being in a Holocaust class I couldn’t help but compare the two situations. It’s interesting to see how for the most part America condoms what the Nazis and Germany did (as we should) but if anything Germany did a much better job of handling the aftermath. A lot of that has to do with the time period and the fact that the Holocaust was aimed towards annihilating a group of people as opposed to treating people like property and working them to death. Yes, the intentions of the situations were different and realistically you can’t expect every situation of injustice to end with someone in jail. Nonetheless, in America, you have people trying to avoid talking about slavery and teaching it in schools, which is quite frankly ridiculous.  

Lasting change

" [......]The box had done what Sweet Home had not, what working like an ass and living like a dog had not: drove him crazy so he would not lose his mind. By the time he got to Ohio, then to Cincinnati, then to Halle Suggs' mother's house, he thought he had seen and felt it all. Even now as he put back the window frame he had smashed, he could not account for the pleasure in his surprise at seeing Halle's wife alive, barefoot with uncovered hair--walking around the corner of the house with her shoes and stockings in her hands. The closed portion of his head opened like a greased lock."

This quote illustrates how freed slaves had to create routines in an attempt to survive. These routines served as outlets so that they wouldn’t go crazy but it purposely minimized a person's ability to think. That’s what slavery had done to them, it had reduced them to property and animals. In trying to suppress the memory of slavery you give up any possibility of a future because by denying the existence of the past you create instability in the future. People can not move further unless they learn to cope and accept what happened in the past. However, contrary to what many conservatives might tell you, with something as traumatic as slavery you can’t simply “accept it and move on”. The first step in healing should not be for the victim to accept it, the first step in healing should be for the perpetrator to accept that they did something wrong.  Instead of trying to pretend it didn’t happen by calling it “Atlantic triangular trade”, as a nation we should more openly acknowledge that slavery was a big part of our history and it still has lasting effects that we can see today. Only after we have condemned these actions can we begin to see lasting change.

Still Property

[...] in all of Baby’s life, as well as Sethe’s own, men and women were moved around like checkers. Anybody Baby Suggs knew, let alone loved, who hadn’t run off or been hanged, got rented out, loaned out, bought up, brought back, stored up, mortgaged, won, stolen or seized. So Baby’s eight children had six fathers. What she called the nastiness of life was the shock she received upon learning that nobody stopped playing checkers just because the pieces included her children.

Children being ripped away from their parents was a common theme during slavery. “Rented out, loaned out, bought up, brought back, stored up, mortgaged, won, stolen or seized.” if you weren’t given any context you would think that this sentences describes property. Based on time period this book was written this sentences perfectly describes how slaves were seen as, property.  Slaves were regarded and treated as property. It wasn’t until Uncle Sam’s Cabin came out that slaves were regarded as something other than property.

In today's world you can make the argument that the great grand children of slaves specifically  minorities are still treated as property. Obviously this is a big claim to make but if you look at the prison complex and it disproportionately affects minorities. People are moved around and sentenced as if they were property. Even though the US is 5% of the world's population it accounts for 25% of the world prison population.  The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People or the NAACP for short, reports that African Americans are incarcerated at nearly six times the rate of their white counterpart. In 2008, African American and Hispanics made up 58% of all prisoners, despite making up only approximately one quarter of the US population. Many former inmates face challenges trying to reenter into society when they are released. They are legally discriminated against for employment and housing. I’m not saying that it shouldn’t be legal to discriminate, I’m saying that it’s understandable to believe why someone would make the argument that African Americans as well as other minorities are still treated as property.  

A stolen identity

"Is that right?" Paul D turned to Sethe. "I don't know about lonely," said Denver's mother. "Mad, maybe, but I don't see how it could be lonely spending every minute with us like it does." "Must be something you got it wants." Sethe shrugged. "It's just a baby." "My sister," said Denver. "She died in this house." Paul D scratched the hair under his jaw. "Reminds me of that headless bride back behind Sweet Home. Remember that, Sethe? Used to roam them woods regular." "How could I forget? Worrisome..." "How come everybody run off from Sweet Home can't stop talking about it? Look like if it was so sweet you would have stayed." "Girl, who you talking to?" Paul D laughed. "True, true. She's right, Sethe. It wasn't sweet and it sure wasn't home." He shook his head. "But it's where we were," said Sethe. "All together. Comes back whether we want it to or not." She shivered a little. A light ripple of skin on her arm, which she caressed back into sleep. "Denver," she said, "start up that stove. Can't have a friend stop by and don't feed him."

From the beginning it becomes clear that Sethe's past, involves painful memories, that “comes back whether we want it to or not.” The key words here being “whether we want it or not” which implies that she has been suppressing memories that have been too painful to face. Our identity is constructed of the memories and experiences that we carry with us, in Sethe denying the past she is unable to maintain a stable identity. Of course she is not alone, the memory of slavery seems to be one of suppression for many of the other former slaves as well. The question of identity, especially racial identity, in America is still asked today.

Malcolm X seemed to ponder at this question as well. Born Malcolm Little, Malcolm opted to change his last name to X to represent the unknown name of his African ancestors and their lost culture during slavery. The suppression of culture, which ultimately lead to the loss of culture during this time period, in combination with the overall lack of a set American culture created an environment where Black man was feared. The fear of the Black man became his identity. That’s why the word ghetto is often times seen as synonymous with the Black and Hispanic community. Furthermore, this has lead people to compare those who are trying to get of “the ghetto” to carbs in a bucket. An example would be a person of color being accused of being white washed by his fellow colored man for doing academically well. What people don’t realize is a bucket is not the natural habit of a crab. Sethe wasn’t suppose to live haunted by the baby that she killed. She wasn’t suppose to be in that situation in the first place.

Moreover, when the person of color dyes their hair blonde or wears colored eye contacts they are immediately accused of self hate and of trying to be white. A white person that tans or draws on their lips is accused of none of that.

If there was an American culture, it would be and it is catered to the white man. This evidenced by the fact that many American born Hispanics and Asians don’t consider themselves American because their names don’t sound white or because they don’t look white.

Every one knows...

"Everybody knew what she was called, but nobody anywhere knew her name."

This quotes is especially eerie when trying to figure what it actually is saying. I analyze this through the psychoanalytic lense, which helped me make sense of why it is such an important part of the book.

To begin with, this book is mostly about how the past keeps haunting everyone and hoe it never seems to go away. The character, of Beloved, is a reminder and step closer that Toni Morrison took to help us relate it back to the reader. At points we as a reader do feel like we are walking in their shoes,, but sometimes we get lost. In order for our minds to understand better, this last line, makes us really think of what we just read and what psychoanalytically is happening. This specific line lets us see that eve though we may think that we have known someone for a longtime, we actually don't know much about them. Recalling old memories, is like trying to put pieces of shredded paper back together. This process lets the reader know that everything that just happened, is now being questioned. Its now being questioned even more because Beloved has gone away. These realizations most of the time only come after letting go of our past. It is a way for us to never take anything for granted and that all things come to an end.

Close Reading--I cant stop

 "Well, ah, this is not the, a man can't see, but aw listen here, it ain't that it really ain't, Ole Garner, what I mean is, it ain't a weakness, the kind of weakness I can fight 'cause 'cause something is happening to me, that girl is doing it, I know you think I never like her nohow, but she is doing it to me. Fixing me. Sethe, she's fixed me and I can't break it."(149)
       While reading this blog, I realized that I could relate to this a lot. I could relate to this because this is what I am going through and what I have been going through. At points through out my school years, there is a point of weakness that just hits and makes it feel as though there is a way out. At the moment that it is happening though, it seems as though this weakness is just a road block that is testing how strong you are. The idea of one's weakness comes up a lot through out the text. Sometimes others may try to help and when you do deny their help, it may come out to others and look like they aren't a part of your life anymore. It hurts a lot, to know that sometimes that is how they perceive it to be, but the main part that is even worse, is not knowing whether or not, it is helping you be stronger or killing you slowly. You want to break this weakness that your own self has created, but along the way you know that you are accidently pushing people away, that you don't mean to push away or hurt. Those closest to you, may not see exactly what you are going through, they ask, they look at you, they analyze you and your actions, but the number one thing that they can forget so easily is that, it isn't always about them, it's that the weakness is eating you away, everything comes back to you. Past memories, feelings, actions, that are all included and have made a new problem where one person seems to bring it all back at a higher level. We often think of this person as though they weren't any harm to us, but as we are weak, we see that although they may be helping us, they are also bringing down a wall. That wall that comes down is what has our weakness appear, but it isn't their fault, it is that moment that you have to overcome those challenges.
       When one has someone or even more than one person to rely to, the trust is so strong that they don't always realize that you are broken inside. By putting on a smile and pretending that everything is okay, gets you through the day and it builds up more and more each day that it makes it something that becomes normal, but at the same time, something that you feel over and over. The people that we trust, we have let in, we have let them in and have no regrets at all. The regrets that other may see is that it looks like you are letting go, letting go of those that are of such importance to your life, which isn't the case at all. Instead, it is the opposite, its that you are letting go of your past trying to overcome it and create a public figure where you are not held back by others.

Responding and Reflecting #4 A circle that just keeps repeating itself.

"What goes around comes around."

A circle that goes around and around within itself. Going in loops and loops non-stop. You think you move forward each time you make a change in that situation, look back and no change has been made, not even a step forward.

This is exactly what I realized when I read, Circularity in Toni Morrison's Beloved by Philip Page. This reading was in fact, one of the few readings where I realized that the events that we come across, we may also be in a "circularity" circle. The beginning of his argument presents an idea, that takes sometime to understand and grasp. It takes a long time because at first it seems as though the characters in Beloved, especially Sethe and Paul D are moving forward, sure there may be times where they both stop and everything seems to just stop and repeat itself over too many times. On the contrary even though this may happen at times, as a reader I feel that this is the reason why grasping the idea that the main characters are stuck in the same place and can't move forward is hard to understand.

In order for me to have a better understanding I broke down what I knee and related it to my personal life. What I noticed about Pages argument was that blood in the human body never stops circulating, unless something cuts it off. I then used this application to interpret what he was trying to say for Beloved and saw that it was the same concept. I then took a closer look and saw that the characters keep going in circles like blood because something is blocking them from seeing past it. What is keeping them in that loop is the horrific experiences that they had to go through when in slavery and the regret. With this I believe that we have to be able to forgive the past in order to move forward, but it is a long process.

Close reading 1 "how moments should last a life time"

"Obviously the hand-holding shadows she had seen on the road were not Paul D, Denver, and herself, but "us three." The three holding on to each other skating the night before; the three sipping flavored milk."(214)

When analyzing this specific quote, as a person I can see that for the most part, these are one of the few moments that will not be able to ever replace. These moments are ones that feel as though they need to last for a lifetime. At that specific time, everything seems to stop and it also seems too perfect to be true. Life is built upon the small memories and those memories then seem to make up the bigger picture. At that moment, the feelings of being satisfied and feeling of calmness, makes me personally feel relieved from stress. Life just seems to be stopping for a short amount of time, then suddenly keep going.

This pattern of how life works, makes Sethe, Denver and Paul all just stop for a moment and open their eyes to see the reality of how far they all have come. They also then see that the differences between them have now all come together in one place. It is almost a picture perfect moment, because of all the misfortune lanes they have taken. The misfortune may destroy some relationships or like in this case, take a longer time than usual to get on the same path and actually bring them together to remind them that there will be some relief when least expected.