In the article “Motherhood in Toni Morrison’s Beloved: A Psychoanalytical Reading” Sandra Mayfield talks about Beloved having to do with “motherhood and mothering”. She discusses the parts of the book where Sethe can only remember the mark under her mother’s chest and nothing else about her, and how Sethe got married with Halle and had four kids with him. She discusses how Sethe thought about a future for her kids where they did not have to be slaves and explains all the struggles she has raising children. I agree with Sandra that Beloved deals mostly with motherhood because we learn about Sethe’s horrible experience running away from sweet home while pregnant with Denver and raising her alone. She is seen as the mother figure in her home to Denver, Beloved, and even Paul D whom all fight constantly for the attention of Sethe.
I think motherhood is the most important thing in this book because its hard to have loved ones in a setting where you are someone else’s property and there is no guarantee they will survive or stay with you forever. All the blacks are seen as property and the owners normally don’t care whether or not they separate you from your family. This reminds me of the case where Paul D gets in a fight with Sethe and when Sethe defends Denver he thinks, “The best thing, he knew, was to love just a little bit...so when they broke its back, or shoved it in a croaker sack, well, maybe you’d have a little left over for the next one.”(54). While the book has to do with motherhood, I believe it pertains more to the haunting past that freed slaves have to bear with for the rest of their lives. For example, Sethe has to deal with having to remember how they “took her milk” and learning more about the past like how Halle went insane because he was there when they violated Sethe and could do nothing about it. Paul D deals with having a muzzle put on him so that he doesn't talk and his experience running away from jail for a long time and focusing on surviving.
I think motherhood is the most important thing in this book because its hard to have loved ones in a setting where you are someone else’s property and there is no guarantee they will survive or stay with you forever. All the blacks are seen as property and the owners normally don’t care whether or not they separate you from your family. This reminds me of the case where Paul D gets in a fight with Sethe and when Sethe defends Denver he thinks, “The best thing, he knew, was to love just a little bit...so when they broke its back, or shoved it in a croaker sack, well, maybe you’d have a little left over for the next one.”(54). While the book has to do with motherhood, I believe it pertains more to the haunting past that freed slaves have to bear with for the rest of their lives. For example, Sethe has to deal with having to remember how they “took her milk” and learning more about the past like how Halle went insane because he was there when they violated Sethe and could do nothing about it. Paul D deals with having a muzzle put on him so that he doesn't talk and his experience running away from jail for a long time and focusing on surviving.
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