Week 8 Beloved

    This week on feelingsonbooks.com I read part 2 of Toni Morrison’s, Beloved. The language and writing style used by Morrison is a true example of the period of time the story is written. The choppy, fragmented speak of uneducated former slaves and others of color, made it difficult for me to follow what is going on.  

    The beginning of this part of the book, Stamp Paid, who I learned was the black man that helped hide and transport the slaves in his boat and cart, under his vegetables along the Ohio River.  He did this as part of the escape route for slaves who were on their way to freedom in the north. I was surprised that this brave, kind man who knew Sethe’s secret and had kept an eighteen-year-old newspaper clipping, decided to show it to Paul D.  because he was concerned and didn’t know if Paul D. knew the truth about what Sethe had done. I felt bad for Paul D and for Sethe that her secret was revealed to Paul D., but at the same time, I felt that he needed to know the story for him to understand the ghost of Beloved and why she haunted the house and the family he wanted to be a part of. 

    I felt sad when Paul D. left Sethe and Denver alone again when he found out that Sethe had murdered her baby. What was he feeling because Sethe didn’t tell him about it herself? Would she have told him if Stamp Paid hadn’t shown him the newspaper clipping? There is a whirlwind of questions swirling around in my head at this point all while I’m trying to follow along with the difficult writing style which I knew Morrison needed to use in order to develop the rich, not money rich, but culture rich and authentic feeling of the black, ex-slave population she was creating like transporting her audience to the past so they could hear it for themselves. Why did Stamp choose to show Paul D when he felt like he knew Sethe and Denver closer than regular folks?  

    I feel the most odd and scary part of this section is seeing the appearance and development of the relationship between the young woman, Beloved, and Sethe become intertwined and I felt almost like Sethe’s feeling of guilt of killing her baby manifested into this mysterious woman. How could Beloved have such a hold over Sethe? What did Denver think of her, and what did their neighbors think about this young lady and the mystery about her considering that the house was supposedly haunted, and then she shows up out of the blue? 

    I feel, in my opinion, that Beloved is created out of the combination of Sethe’s longing for the child that she killed, her guilt for killing her, and her deep despair and depression for going through everything that she had to deal with in her life as a slave girl, as one who ran to escape slavery, the fear of being caught and sent back to a torturous life along with her child. Her mind had had enough, and this is the way she was mentally dealing with the self-degradation, the judgement of her community and neighbors. What do you think about this mysterious young lady, Beloved? Where do you think she came from? Do you think Stamp Paid should have shown the newspaper clipping with Paul D before he said something to Sethe or Denver? What do you think will happen to the young woman, Beloved? Who is she really? 

    Until next week, happy reading!