Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Beloved Reader Response
After reading Beloved by Toni Morrison I must say that I feel it was a very good story. I was a bit confused at point and because of that I had to go back and reread. I think thins is due to the style that Morrison used while writing the book. She does not go from beginning to end. She does a lot of flashbacks and didn’t give really any indication that the flash back was occurring. She could have been doing this for the effect that in the book the flashbacks were randomly triggered and came out of nowhere, but it was really confusing as a reader. The story its self is a strong one though and full of emotion. The amount emotion that is emitted from Sethe alone was moving. This is a woman that almost died to get herself and her newborn baby to freedom and is so twisted from the pain and anger she has felt that she actually kills her child. In doing this she adds one more thing that haunts her to her list. I feel that being haunted is one of the main themes of the book, meaning the past haunts us. Every traumatic experience that Sethe went through came back to haunt her in some way whether it be a baby ghost, a bad memory, or an “actual” physical being. The very last chapter of the book kind of goes against the theme of haunting, because the spirit of Beloved is eventually forgotten whether it is intentional or through the doubting of Sethe and Denver. I think this may be a message that says once you face your past and deal with it as Sethe and Denver did then it can be forgotten or at least manageable.
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I thought this books story was a powerful one. Most of the book Sethe is telling story's and talking to other slaves. This story was very confusing at times i didn't know what was going on then it started to make sence again. like Whenever someone is telling you a story and you miss something they said and you catch the very end of what their saying. That's what this book was like. Whenever she was telling those stories about her family in the slave era it made me realize how bad it was back then. When they made the slaves work for little pay and the labor was intence. Some of the pages i had to go back over because i couldn't understand what was going on in the book. Whenever Slethe killed her baby so the baby didn't have to put up with all the shit that she put up with. That means that living in the slave era was horrible.
ReplyDeletei couldnt agree with you more on how confusing the story was to read. all of the jumping around confused me also. after a while i was able to begin to understand when it was happining. i too had to go back and reread at times to really understand what was happining. perhaps that was some of what Toni Morrison wanted us to do. by rereading part to understand i think it gives a better understanding of what is happining in the book. many parts in the book were disturbing but i agree with you that the one that sticks out is when Slethe killed her baby. it is hard to imagine a life so bad that you would rather kill your child than have them grow up in it. many leasons to be learned from this book.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that many lessons can be learned from this story. Lessons of the past, of the future, of living in the present. Also lessons of forgiveness, and coming to peace with the present. The book holds many truths. It delivers these truths in a very harsh manner. The book was near impossible to get through. It was dense, with very little dialog to explain the actions, many flashbacks that were random and unannounced, and countless other elements that made the story very tough to understand. It was a story that needed to be told, but that could have been told in a much more efficient manner.
ReplyDeleteIt was very upsetting the trials and tribulations which Sethe and other black individuals faced at the time of slavery. Kentucky was near the point of non-slave states and was a good point to jump ship. This made the owners more strict to discourage escape. As witnesses and experienced by Sethe. It was sad the abuse she took. When the schoolmaster had the boys hold her down and drink her milk while pregnant really showed the mentality of folks then. The beating she took for telling on them was the reason for leaving. Once gone, she would rather have her babies dead than have to face slavery. I thought baby Suggs(Sethes mother) was a very strong role player for the family and freedom. Her son bought her freedom and many who came to hear her talk became motivated to believe in themselves and move forward. Ohio was great for Sethe and her family. Going back was not an option for her, as "sweet home" was not sweet at all.
ReplyDeleteNo doubt this book was confusing, and I think that hurt my opinion of her as a writer. After several scenes drifting in and out of the present and past I gave up trying to understand. I finished the book only because I had to. This is not something I would have read by myself or even encourage someone else to read, it did have life lessons hidden in it, but I don’t think it was worth the time to find them. It was a very difficult story to get into the other books were fun to read and did not feel like homework. However this one, was the typical lit 111 summer reads. I would have much rather spent time on this movie than fear and loathing, because honestly I didn’t get much of a story out of this book.
ReplyDeleteI am going to follow suit and agree that this book was very good. I will also agree that the flashbacks were sudden but were needed for the effect of the story. I still did not like it but I just the reader and not a writer or editor. I liked what you said about her past was haunting her. It seemed that everything she did in the past came back to get her. She had led very troubled life to say the least. As for the ending, I agree once you face your demons or problems then you can move on with one’s life. Our past experiences dictate how we will react to present circumstances or situations. And how we deal with this defines who we are.
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