Motherly Love
Sethe’s split-second decision to collect her children and go to the woodshed with the intent of killing them was looked down upon by the community as well as Paul D. At first, when reading the shocking scene, I thought “how could someone kill their own children?”, but the scene ended up giving me a lot of sympathy for Sethe. Because we’ve already gotten to know Sethe & what she’s been through, her actions make a lot of sense. It makes sense that she didn’t want her kids to be taken away from her and become slaves at Sweet Home. That’s exactly why she escaped. She didn’t escape because she hated it there, but because she couldn’t bear the thought of her kids suffering. The thought of “while the boys is small” is what pushed her to want to escape. Even then, her escape wasn’t easy, being pregnant with Denver & by herself, but what kept her going was bring milk to her child. Sethe is driven by motherly love. She didn’t kill her kids just because, but because she loved them and believed that to keep them safe, she had to kill them. Because of the Fugitive Slave law, her kids weren’t safe while alive, but they were while dead. So yes, killing your kids is a terrible thing to do, but Sethe’s thought process made sense, and you have to understand that she was put in this impossible position because of the environment she was in. This really gives me a lot of sympathy for Sethe.
When Sethe told Paul D, he didn’t understand why she did it. He was scared of her & her “thick” love. He even compared her actions to an animal’s when he asked how many feet she had. I think, in part, Paul D doesn’t understand because he’s lived with the philosophy of “you should never love something too much because you could very easily lose it”. He’s scared of Sethe’s motherly love because he’s just scared of loving something that much in general. I also believe he doesn’t truly understand motherly love, because well, he isn’t a mother. Ella did understand Sethe, so she didn’t hate her because of what she did, she hated Sethe for how she acted afterward. Ella understands Sethe because she abandoned a baby.
One thing to note though is that Sethe says she doesn’t feel guilty about what she did. She defends herself by saying it’s what she had to do, there was no other way, & it wasn’t the wrong choice. I do think Sethe feels some sort of guilt or something because when she realizes that Beloved is her dead baby reincarnated, she keeps trying to explain to Beloved that killing her was the only choice. I think her need for Beloved to understand how she felt shows that she does feel something like guilt. Also, at the end of the novel, when Sethe mistakes Mr. Bodwin for Schoolteacher, she doesn’t try to kill Beloved like the first time, instead she goes after him. I think she changed her reaction because she thought maybe there was another way. Or it also might just have been because Beloved kept telling Sethe how she felt abandoned and wouldn’t forgive Sethe. Why do you think Sethe acted differently?
Paul D's animal insult also strikes an unpleasant chord in comparison to schoolteacher's reaction and view to the woodshed scene. He's essentially saying that she's acted like the animal they think she is, and he's wrong.
ReplyDeleteThe last scene is a sort of replacement for Sethe coming to terms with her guilt. Although she can't admit it, her undying love and attention for Beloved proves this. From her past experience, she also realizes now why she could never make that same decision again, it's almost programmed into her- as she doesn't have time to think when the hummingbirds are buzzing, she has to act.
I think that Sethe acted differently in the end because she realized that it was their fault for everything. What I mean is that racism, slavery, the slave catcher coming to get her and her kids- all of this led to what happened. The root of the problem is not her, or her children. I think she saw an opportunity to attack the source of the problem- where all of her anger is directed at. I think this is an interesting kind of "break" in Sethe's mindset, as for a while she seemed to reject Baby Suggs final thoughts by focusing entirely on her "new" family, instead of being upset with what happened she tried to come to peace with it. However, things quickly deteriorated, and so I see what happened with her and Mr. Bodwin represents a final emotional release for Sethe.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with what you say about the initial horror which leads to an understanding about Sethe's actions. From the reader's point of view in the present time, what she did seems completely unjustified, yet when we look at it from Sethe's point of view, there truly is no other option. How could someone who lived through and risked her life for her freedom willingly give it up along with her children's freedom? I think this raises an interesting point about what the message is that the author tries to send
ReplyDeleteyou're right about Paul D. One thing I keep thinking though is sometimes people say things that they don't mean. Maybe they think they mean it, or maybe they just say it rashly and regret it. In paul's case, I think his comment about feet was rash, and he didn't really mean it. He was frazzled so can't blame him. As for sethe, i think you're definitely right that she feels guilty. She was so relieved when beloved came back and she almost killed herself trying to serve beloved in any way possible to "make up" for her actions. Beloved is a demon of guilt. Shudder.
ReplyDeleteI think maybe the reason that Sethe acts differently when she sees Mr. Bodwin is her experience with her first response to Schoolteacher. It forced Schoolteacher away, but it also resulted in her being haunted by the ghost of her dead child for 18 years. Now she has her dead daughter back, even if she is a parasite literally draining her of life, but she cannot contemplate killing Beloved again, not when she's spent the last several chapters giving up her life for Beloved. So instead she charges Mr. Bodwin, who is also less dangerous to her and her children than Schoolteacher (he carries no gun, and has no backup).
ReplyDeleteI definitely believe that Sethe feels guilty, even though she won’t admit it. She constantly is telling Beloved why she had to kill her. She just wants Beloved to understand why she had to kill her. If Sethe didn’t feel any guilt, she wouldn’t be constantly saying these things to Beloved.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting how Sethe has a figurative and literal haunting of her past. After years of living with the hauntings, she finally has the opportunity to reconcile with her past, but instead it is what tears her down. I cant' imagine what else a reincarnation of a murderd child could come to be, other than trouble to say the least. But it must've been painful for Sethe to go through a long drawn out process of facing her demons. I guess what I'm trying to say is no matter what Sethe did, there's no justice in facing evil spirits.
ReplyDelete