Sethe


     When Mr. Mitchell warned my class about Toni Morrison’s, Beloved, I proceeded with caution. I immediately realized that no warning could’ve prepared me for the wild ride Morris took me in just the first paragraph. In class, as we “unpacked” the first paragraph I noticed how much more I understood upon a second read. As we delve deeper into the book, I notice another trend that we talked about in class. Morrison travels seamlessly between the current world and the past. While it’s confusing to keep track of which facts go with which timeline, I think the mystery of it adds to the intriguing part of the book.
     I like especially learning about Sethe’s past, because the history of her journey tells so much about who she is as a person. Up to this point I know that Sethe escaped from “Sweet Home” to Ohio. That alone is a tough story, but Morrison adds the fact that she ran away, separated from her family, with the hope of meeting them once she reached Ohio. And on top of all that, she was pregnant and gave birth during her escape. Now that’s an intense story and yet she talks about it so passively. That detail to me shows Sethe’s perseverance. There have also been hints at the strength Denver sees in her mother. Denver describes her mother as “The one who never looked away, who when a man got stomped to death by a mare right in front of Sawyer’s restaurant did not look away either.” From what I know about Sethe so far she sounds like she can take on anything without hesitation.
     Of course there are still pieces missing from her story, so I can’t make any full judgement on her, but from what I’ve read so far she seems like an incredible character.

Comments

  1. Lucas WoodNovember 6, 2019 at 10:31 AM

    Her story certainly seems wild and I cannot wait to unpack the rest of her past. I agree that she is still mostly a mystery, but am ready to learn more. I am also interested to explore her relationship to her children as she did so much to secure their freedom.

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  2. DanbiNovember 10, 2019 at 2:06 AM

    I definitely agree with you in that no warning prepares you for the story that Morrison unfolds. I don't really know what I expected but it definitely did not involve a baby ghost haunting a house and beating up their family dog. It also surprised me how confused I was the first time I read through the book, but after I finished the chapter everything started to fall into place. I agree with you that Sethe is a super strong character. I mean, how could you not think that about a woman who escaped to a different state while pregnant? I think the lengths that Sethe went to survive and with the goal of reaching her children so that she could feed Beloved her breast milk really demonstrates her strong motherly love which I think we'll see as a recurring theme throughout the book. I think this is pretty important because her relationship with Denver is obviously a pretty significant part of her life considering there are basically no other people around them. I think it will be interesting to see how Denver and her mom's relationship changes after Paul D arrives. We already see this relationship changing as Denver and Paul D kind of have to make room for each other in Sethe's life and they don't seem to get along especially well. Overall, I really like Sethe as a character so far because of what she seems to represent and how strong she is.

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  3. Minji ChoiNovember 15, 2019 at 9:57 AM

    As we've read further into Beloved, I think it's become clearer why Morrison doesn't tell the story in chronological order. Much of the book is about the past coming back, and not really being able to move past it. Also, now that we've read about how Sethe's daughter really died, I think it makes a bit more sense why Morrison chose not to start off with that scene. It would've definitely clouded our judgment of Sethe's character.

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  4. Mayahuel MalikNovember 20, 2019 at 11:46 AM

    i think despite morrisons purposeful confusion and unclarity of events throughout the book, one constant is sethes strength. From the beginning we see the lengths she goes as a mother and a woman to keep her children safe. Furthermore, as we learn more about her story, that strength is only heightened to new levels unimaginable. Despite the awfulness of sethes actions upon Beloved in the past, there is no doubt it was done from a mothers insanely strong love for her children. We see morrison tell the stories of other characters like Halle, and Baby suggs, who didnt quite make it out all the way of the pain and trauma and in a way "gave up". Never do we see sethe give up. I thin this is one of the things that makes the book so amazingly compelling despite all its crazy ups and downs we get taken through

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