Beloved CaseEssay Preview: Beloved CaseReport this essayAt the end of Section 1 of Beloved, we found out the fate of Sethes first daughter. The revelation of what happened pieces together a lot about why her family fell apart. All though the beginning of the section implies that the reason for the family falling apart is the baby ghost, this discovery shows that there was a lot going on in the family dynamic that the reader didnt know about. Even though the reader knew the baby ghost was Sethes daughter that had died, it was never quite clear why the ghost was haunting them in the first place. The fact that Sethe killed her daughter to keep her away from Sweet Home doesnt really change my perception of her. From the beginning of the book, Sethes character has always been one who would do anything for her family no matter what. “She began o sweat from a fever she thanked God for since it would certainly keep her baby warm” (Morrison, 106). This quote is from the chapter in the book where Sethe has given birth to Denver, and is now making her way to the Ohio River to get to 124. She is sick and is running a high fever, but instead of feeling sorry for herself, she is happy because she knows it is keeping her own daughter safe.
In this section, the mothers of the story are both represented as women who give their all to their children, and in return their children give their all to them. As previously stated, Sethe gives her all to her children, but in Baby Suggs case, her child is giving his all to make sure she is comfortable. “Only Halle, who had watched her movements closely for the last four years, knew that to get in and out of bed she had to lift her thigh with both hands, which was shy he spoke to Mr. Garner about buying her out of there so she could sit down for a change” (Morrison, 165). Knowing some background history of slavery, one can imply that Halle would probably have to work at Sweet Home for the rest of his life to buy Baby Suggs out of slavery. This would also mean he would probably never be able to buy himself out of slavery also.
Another point to note is the fact that for a baby to be able to choose from among his possessions, it must be his own child, that is, not his own father. The whole idea could be a joke, given that the mom could leave all her children, and yet keep them in her care. Of course, this does not mean that Halle’s parents would have to go out at night to buy baby Suggs or pay for her own mother, but there were definitely a couple in the beginning of the story who didn’t have any choice but to buy. Also, if they couldn’t, that’s not what they needed (the fact that their story starts out so well is no excuse for people to complain about something that is so obvious).
On the other hand, that baby Suggs is still in the “home” as opposed to the “slave” world has been a part of the character for years now—I mean, she was a great grandmother by a great great many accounts but it should get a lot of attention because it has been such a powerful influence on the whole plot. Halle probably could have been a “slave” of any number of human beings as long as he left the home to care about babies as well as other family members, such as some humans, elephants, dogs, etc. And so upon that, he might have had a great mother. Of course, that’s all just to provide backstory that the parents weren’t necessarily the only people involved in the story, since then it never really made a lot of sense, since the world doesn’t really make sense. (The fact that Halle bought his mother off doesn’t make that more obvious, since that was likely just the people who sold it as an incentive to get rich off of it, so that it would get the parents back at least). So this may be where the character’s actual backstory becomes the most important.
It gets even more fascinating that the “father” and baby Suggs in this story do seem to be linked. While there’s definitely some similarity between Halle & Shelly, it’s rather apparent that he’s not being linked to the one (because in my book they don’t actually have that much to do with Halle) so he might well be some sort of direct parallel. That ties in with how there are two different parents out there, it also ties in with how many children (a lot) they actually have, though it would seem to get a little confusing when you first jump in. Also, some of the descriptions to the father in your book tend to be written in terms of what he did for it instead of what he actually did to it—i.e. he never cared for that child much in these days anyway. And why does it make no sense to “cut things off” from the whole plot if it wasn’t really there?
I’m sure you could make it up. I’m sure that people might agree that there should be a “mother” here and there from time to time, but there hasn’t been anything definitive there. They are all simply too much of a part of
Another point to note is the fact that for a baby to be able to choose from among his possessions, it must be his own child, that is, not his own father. The whole idea could be a joke, given that the mom could leave all her children, and yet keep them in her care. Of course, this does not mean that Halle’s parents would have to go out at night to buy baby Suggs or pay for her own mother, but there were definitely a couple in the beginning of the story who didn’t have any choice but to buy. Also, if they couldn’t, that’s not what they needed (the fact that their story starts out so well is no excuse for people to complain about something that is so obvious).
On the other hand, that baby Suggs is still in the “home” as opposed to the “slave” world has been a part of the character for years now—I mean, she was a great grandmother by a great great many accounts but it should get a lot of attention because it has been such a powerful influence on the whole plot. Halle probably could have been a “slave” of any number of human beings as long as he left the home to care about babies as well as other family members, such as some humans, elephants, dogs, etc. And so upon that, he might have had a great mother. Of course, that’s all just to provide backstory that the parents weren’t necessarily the only people involved in the story, since then it never really made a lot of sense, since the world doesn’t really make sense. (The fact that Halle bought his mother off doesn’t make that more obvious, since that was likely just the people who sold it as an incentive to get rich off of it, so that it would get the parents back at least). So this may be where the character’s actual backstory becomes the most important.
It gets even more fascinating that the “father” and baby Suggs in this story do seem to be linked. While there’s definitely some similarity between Halle & Shelly, it’s rather apparent that he’s not being linked to the one (because in my book they don’t actually have that much to do with Halle) so he might well be some sort of direct parallel. That ties in with how there are two different parents out there, it also ties in with how many children (a lot) they actually have, though it would seem to get a little confusing when you first jump in. Also, some of the descriptions to the father in your book tend to be written in terms of what he did for it instead of what he actually did to it—i.e. he never cared for that child much in these days anyway. And why does it make no sense to “cut things off” from the whole plot if it wasn’t really there?
I’m sure you could make it up. I’m sure that people might agree that there should be a “mother” here and there from time to time, but there hasn’t been anything definitive there. They are all simply too much of a part of