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Beloved

Beloved . Theme Notes. Primal Love. Morrison plays with the line between what is “human” and what is “animal” Love is not an emotion the characters believe they can own (pg 45 / 54) If you are not human, what is “love” anyway? Sethe refuses to be labeled in the same manner as other slaves

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Beloved

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  1. Beloved Theme Notes

  2. Primal Love • Morrison plays with the line between what is “human” and what is “animal” • Love is not an emotion the characters believe they can own (pg 45 / 54) • If you are not human, what is “love” anyway? • Sethe refuses to be labeled in the same manner as other slaves • loves like a mother woulddeeply, fiercely, animalistically

  3. Primal Love • Sethe and motherly love • Character forces reader to reevaluate what “love” looks like • Prides herself on her independence and strength to “love big” (162 / 190) • Other characters cannot understand/abide by her attachment • Baby Suggs represents typical relationship to children (pg 5 / 6) • Paul D refuses to see the justification in her actions (165 / 194)

  4. Primal Love • …“You got two feet Sethe, not four”… • That’s the irony! Sethe was NEVER an animal • After being milked and beaten by schoolteacher and the nephews, Sethe left  this was her breaking point • refused to be identified as such by schoolteacher, and refused to allow her kids to live that way either • Her conflict now is making others see that what she did was out of love, not something animalistic (pg 200 / 236) • Fine line between motherly devotion and something else  did Sethe actually cross that line? (pg 206 / 242) • No peace until she finds forgiveness or retribution (pg 262 / 308-9)

  5. Womb / Tomb • Recurring theme throughout literature  the womb of the mother will inevitably lead to death (tomb) • Sethe’s role as mother is constantly revisited by reminders of death and dying • Daughter’s gravestone (pg 5) • Menstrual cycle / moments of peace (pg 95 / 111) • Bringing milk to her children (pg 100 / 118)  this is also a reminder of Sethe’s primal instinct as a mother • Nursing Denver (pg152 / 179) • Temptation / fear of becoming a prostitute (pg 204 / 241)

  6. Womb / Tomb • Beloved’s role in this? • Constant reminder for Sethe of her sin • She is here ONLY for Sethe, for better or worse • Sethe’s womb is only disconnected from cycles of death AFTER she reinvents the moment of Beloved’s murder (262 / 308-9) • Question to reader is whether Sethe has any life left after this final moment (273 / 322) • Beloved’s presence = death of the past • Stories need to be nurtured and addressed (like a child) to be purged (274 / 323) • “It is not a story to pass on” (274 / 323), yet the characters pass it to the next generation, and Morrison passes it to us  catharsis

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