Responding and Reflecting
When I read Beloved by Toni Morrison, I decided to interpret it through the Psychoanalytical Lens because I felt that this lens will allow me to look through multiple perspectives and analyze why events took place or how main characters handled certain situations. I was successfully able to analyze important turning points in the book Beloved such as when Beloved went out into the community, Stamp Paid revealed the Sethe's deepest secret, and who Beloved was.
The experiences of each person in the novel reflect some of my own experiences. While I don't face the challenges and suffering as they experienced being a slave in the late 1800's, I am able to get a better perspective on how others face hard issues or challenges that they encounter on a daily basis. Morrison allows for the book to be open to interpretation, which makes it easy for anyone, especially myself, to understand how I can better tackle the challenges I experience as well as talking about how they challenges aren't as bad if you experience them versus someone else. Morrison allowed be to have a better perspective on how African Americans in the 1800's interpreted what they thought about whites and how they would try to "act nice" around them to break the stereotype that they are "savages". Lastly, she also allowed me to see how easy it was for slavemasters to break the morals of African Americans and start believing in what the white people said. My own experience has taught me to not fully believe in what others say unless you experience it yourself. If you do believe what others say, you are restricting yourself from trying new things or facing your fears head on, which might end up not being too scary. You'll just never know if you stay locked up in your house and believing what others tell you about their life.
- Chris Herndon
I also found a morphing of perspectives in Beloved. I found it compelling learning about Sethe's life, and decrypting the symbols Morrison intentionally placed in her novel.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you're saying here, I think this book gives us good incite into what went through the minds of people during the time of slavery. My lens, the marxist lens, I believe has also helped me to analyze multiple perspectives and has helped me compare society now, to society then.
ReplyDelete