Critical Lens Expert 2 Weber

Welcome back everyone. Once again I am doing the second Critical Lens Experts blog. The Critical Lens Essay that I read this time is “The Bonds of Love and the Boundaries of Self in Toni Morrison’s Beloved” by Barbara Schapiro. In this essay, Barbara talks about how Beloved penetrates more deeply into the nature of self and the relations of love than any other books that have been written before.

“Freeing yourself was one thing; claiming ownership of that freed self was another”(page 95, Beloved)

Barbara continues to talk about how the ability to be able to recognize yourself as a true human and the need to be recognized by others as a true human are closely intertwined. Throughout the majority of the essay Barbara focuses more on the relations between mother and child. She says that if the mother cannot recognize herself, the child cannot recognize its mother as a “human subject”, and the mother cannot recognize her child as a “subject” then it leads to the child believing that they do not have a self to claim as theirs. This can then lead to “the emotional hunger...obsessive and terrifying narcissistic fantasies.” (Barbara Schapiro)

I highly agree with this argument that Barbara has said. Humans can’t live entirely alone, we are a herd/pack race that depends on each other combined with our own strengths to survive. If a human child was raised among animals by animals then the child would never know what it is to be human. Most of the meanings that come with being human are created by human society. So you could say we have created the common definition of self because we recognize the self of each other. If there was no one to recognize and accept our self then it would be just like having been raised by the animals.

But in Barbara’s paper she focuses more on the relations between mother and child. She says that being denied the right to see their self and to have a self by the slave master society created a hunger so deep and powerful that they are terrified that they will destroy the other person that they seek that recognition and love from. Barbara states that a child is denied the closeness, intimacy, and love that is needed to form a notion of who you are in the world. I believe that love you get from your mother is your first notion of self that you get when you enter the world, that you are your mother’s child. Then from that first notion you build up more and more as you learn about yourself and how others view you to determine who you truly are. This is why Sethe asked to have the brand mark that was on her mother so that she could be closer to her mother and be her daughter, beforehand Sethe had to have a girl point out her mother to her so that she knew who she was. But growing up in slavery took her mother from her and took away her first inclination of herself. Sethe was denied the right to be her mother’s daughter.

So I would have to say that this paper is pretty accurate on what the interrelations of mother and child in Beloved. I can vouch for this personally, having been neglected by my birth mother until I was adopted at 5 years old.

Critical Lens Experts Weber

In the critical lens paper “Figurations of Rape and the Supernatural in Beloved” by Pamela E Barnett she talks about how Beloved is a symbol of rape and is a succubus. She continues to say how Toni Morrison used the story of her characters of Beloved to portray how they are “haunted by history, memories, and a specter that embodies them both. Pamela E. Barnett specifies that the “memory” that Paul D. Garner and Sethe are haunted by the most is the memory of their rape and the dehumanization they faced during slavery. Pamela Barnett introduces the idea that rape is the biggest issue that Beloved alluded to. Sethe  being held down and having her milk stolen from her by the boys with mossy teeth, Paul D’s imprisonment is the Chain Gang where he was forced to preform oral sex on the white prison guards, Baby Sugg’s rape, and Ella’s imprisonment by the white father and son for sexual pleasure.

In this critical lens essay Pamela Barnett says that Beloved is a succubus. A mythological female demon of lust that drains the sperm and life force of men, conjugates with an Incubus that then goes and impregnates women. She continues that as Beloved is a Succubus she drains Sethe of her vitality and thrives off of Sethe’s misery and traumatic memories, “memories”. And she drains Paul D of his sperm, literally, and breaks open his “tobacco tin” heart. Pamela continues on more to talk about the succubus Beloved affects the other characters in Beloved and many more things.

Personally, when I read this critical lens essay I could not help but think, “what the hell is up with this woman’s obsession with rape?” I truly do believe that rape is the worst crime that can be committed on another human being. As is Sethe with her reasoning for killing her daughter to save her from being soiled and “dirtied” by the white masters. But part of it is that Palema never tries to give a down side or a counter of some sorts to Sethe’s reasoning for why she tried to kill all of her children when the school teacher went to Connecticut to bring her back into slavery. Throughout the entirety of the essay the topic is “raperaperape”. This leads me to believe that Plema Barnett believes that one of the main meanings of Beloved is to tell how horrible slavery was due to the rape. Later on in her essay she seems to zero in on Paul D’s experience to try and advocate for why his experiences are just as bad as anyone else. She specifically points out how other writers have commented on Paul D’s experiences as a saddening but not as horrible as the experiences of Sethe and Baby Suggs. Later on Palema presents that Paul D’s main dilemma was that he was trying to assert his manhood and make sure he has his masculinity as it was lost while he was dehumanized on the chain gang.

Overall I agree with Palema that these are important and significant parts of the story and that they do add to the story but I do not think that it is the main theme of the story. Instead of rape is the most hideous offence there is being the main theme, although it is the most hideous offence second to none. I believe that the main purpose of Beloved is to tell the horrendous and unspeakable story of slavery in all its darkness and horror. I believe that the purpose of this book is to say that even when slavery has been ended, the effects of it will never disappear and it will always enslave people in their hearts and always have a form of presence in some way or the other. Such as a deep deep rooted racism and discrimination against differences. It’s still there and always will be. Just like how Sethe and Paul D are haunted by the memories and trauma of their enslavement. But as they begin to come to terms with themselves it alludes to the fact that the effects of slavery will always be there, but depending on how we confront it, it will hopefully get better so that we accept it instead of letting it haunt us.

Responding and Reflecting Weber 2

Hello everyone. Thanks again for reading my second Responding and Reflecting blog.

Last time I talked about how Toni Morrison used her characters in Beloved to show how not everyone fits into the gender stereotypes.

Like last time, this time I have to talk about something that the book Beloved taught me through the Feminist Lens. This time around I will talk about how Beloved taught me the difference between desire for someone and an obsession over someone.

Formally, the definition of Desire is “a strong feeling of wanting to have something or wishing for something to happen.” (google definitions, no real website to site) Desire can be defined through a wish to achieve something, but in the case of Beloved desire is mostly used as a sexual want for someone. Obsession is “an idea or thought that continually preoccupies or intrudes on a person's mind.” (google definitions)

If you were to describe the characters of Beloved I would describe Sethe as desperate and enslaved by her own mind, Paul D as in self denial and submissive, Denver as growing and lonely, and Beloved as obsessive and manipulative.

A lot of the book Beloved is based off of the desires of humans. The desire of men to have control over others, the desire of the slave masters to use the female slaves as toys for their sexual pleasure, the desire to be free, the desire to be healed, the desire to be looked at with love and the desire to be with someone and to not be so alone. For those that have read the book I am pretty sure that they would agree with me in this.

Now back to how there’s a fine line between desire and obsession. And the character that shows that difference the best is Beloved. Many would agree that one of the main themes of the book Beloved is about desire. But Beloved herself is a figure to show how you can take your desires and wishes too far, and that is how she crosses over to being obsessive. Now if she just had a desire for Sethe it would have been healthy, but Beloved shoved Denver away and manipulated Paul D into having sex with her. Beloved’s every day was taken up by Sethe. Everything Sethe has and was is what Beloved had to have and to be. She wanted to take everything that Sethe held dear and make her live through all of the pain that she had in her life. Beloved thrived off of Sethe’s misery and became healthier as Sethe became weaker. This is to show the readers where your desire for something becomes unhealthy. Desire becomes an unhealthy obsessiveness. When every single thought of yours is taken up by the want for that person. When you choose to take everything that is theirs. It’s unhealthy when it affects your own health, like gets you pregnant. It’s also unhealthy when it affects the lives of others, like taking a mother away from a daughter that needs her. And finally, when your object of desire takes a turn for the worst, like Sethe’s life force being drained from her and her drowning in depression at being forced to relive her traumatic experiences. This is what you call obsessive and the book Beloved shows that it is not healthy to be obsessive but desire is perfectly natural.