The students of Mr. Sale's Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition class at Arapahoe High School in Centennial, Colorado, will share their unique and insightful thoughts about the literature they read on this blog.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Beloved
Please post your thoughts about Toni Morrison's Beloved here. If you are posting a summary of class discussion, be sure to include the date of the discussion.
The discussion opened with some questions and comments about Beloved. Sethe, Paul D, and Denver welcome Beloved into their home in this section. Most of the class agreed that Beloved is the reincarnation of the baby. When Sethe, Paul D, and Denver first encounter Beloved, Beloved resembles a ghost because of the way the sun reflects off of her: “The rays of the sun struck her full in the face, so that when Sethe, Denver, and Paul D rounded the curve in the road all they saw was a black dress, two unlaced shoes below it, and Here Boy nowhere in sight” (51). Beloved even acts like a baby in her recovery: she takes a long time to get better, she sleeps constantly, she drinks a lot of water, she cannot walk by herself, and she is very dependant on Denver and Sethe. Here, it is interesting to note that Denver doesn’t really act her age, either. Denver is about 18 years old and Beloved is about 19 or 20 years old. But, both seem immature at times and unwilling to accept certain responsibilities. There was even some speculation in class that there may be a lesbian relationship between Denver and Beloved.
Another interesting part involved Beloved’s fascination with Sethe’s stories. Sethe typically doesn’t talk about her past because it is so disturbing and Denver doesn’t enjoy hearing Sethe’s stories. But, Beloved knows about Sethe’s earrings and is intrigued by Sethe’s past. Sethe doesn’t seem to mind sharing stories with Beloved because Beloved is unattached to her past (as far as she knows).
The final major point was somewhat ambiguous but involved the instance where Sethe was beaten and had her milk stolen by the boys. Sethe could not understand why Halle would just watch from the loft. The class concluded that Halle was in too much shock to help, and even if he had helped he wouldn’t have stood a chance. He would have possibly even been whipped or killed.
We began with a discussion of Beloved's nature, debating whether or not she was a reincarnation of the infant whose name is on the gravestone mentioned by Sethe. We pointed to Beloved's unlined, smooth skin and her possible "birth" emerging from the river as evidence of her connection to the infant. We discussed the nature of the relationship between Denver and Beloved, noting that both girls act younger than the teenagers they are. We mentioned Paul D and his aversion to Beloved, wondering whether Beloved had returned to haunt Paul D. Someone predicted that Beloved would harm one of the family, possibly Paul D, as a spiteful spirit.
We brought up Denver's reluctance to hear stories that are not about her, and discussed why Sethe decides to tell stories to Beloved she had never told Denver. We thought that perhaps telling these stories brought unhappiness to Sethe, or that Sethe wants to protect Denver from her past.
The incident in which the boys steal Sethe's milk came up--we discussed Halle's motives for standing by and watching rather than protecting Sethe. Apart from a fear of punishment, Halle was possibly ashamed, shocked, and simply helpless against unbeatable odds.
Paul D's story about the rooster Mister was seen as possibly hinting the helplessness and rage of slavehood, and the degradation of receiving treatment unfit for even an animal.
Here are some of the key points from Friday’s discussion:
• Beloved – reincarnation of baby’s ghost – soft skin, knew about earrings, loves sweets (sugar in milk) • Denver and Beloved act much younger than they really are. • When we first see Beloved she seems like a ghost – they can only see her dress and shoes • Pg. 65 – Paul D asks Beloved about how she got there. She came a “long way” – afterlife is literally a “long way.” • Hamlet wanted to make sure the ghost was being honest. It will be interesting to see the actions of this ghost. Rachel’s prediction: the ghost will probably hurt someone, most likely Paul D • Beloved drank a lot of water – water could represent human life, like she is becoming human • Beloved always has to be with Sethe and is tired all the time. She walks around heavily, much like a baby. • Sethe tells Beloved stories but Denver is not interested. It’s probably natural for Beloved to want to hear about the past that she may have missed.
Here is a summary of our discussion from Monday, the 23rd.
We first started it off by sharing some of our poems and realizations. Some of those realizations are that Beloved appears when people are lonely and she attempts to fill the void, but Beloved is not real, she's not flesh. It was also noticed that as the book progresses, more people tell their stories (Stamp Paid) and reveal what they think about Sethe. Hannah observed the purpose of color in the novel. White lacks all color, yet black is a combination of all colors. Maybe all of these colors result in a confusing mash up for the former slaves. They all have different memories and cannot seem to find their true selves.
We then moved on to Stamp Paid and his genitalia. Why did Morrison write that he knew how he used to be between his legs? Why would that create hesitation to tell Paul D? Well, the issue of balls was heavily discussed, in that he didn't have any. His lack of courage didn't allow him to tell Paul. Also, Paul is a young man, driven by strong emotions, sometimes uncontrollable, so Paid did not want Paul to destroy his relationship with Sethe.
Conversation evolved to the reasons and motives behind Paul D's departure. Some thought he was a coward because he just walked away without actually saying he was. But some thought he was quite the opposite! A hypothetical situation was introduced in order to make the point that by telling Sethe he was leaving forever, it only served to make him feel better. It hurt's less leaving some things unsaid, that saying sorry is selfish. The claim has been made that true love means never having to say you're sorry...
We ended our discussion talking about the bewitching powers of Beloved. If she represents loneliness, the connection she has with Paul D forces him to submit to his loneliness and accept it, which explains why his rusted tin heart finally opened.
4 comments:
Class discussion: 2/13
The discussion opened with some questions and comments about Beloved. Sethe, Paul D, and Denver welcome Beloved into their home in this section. Most of the class agreed that Beloved is the reincarnation of the baby. When Sethe, Paul D, and Denver first encounter Beloved, Beloved resembles a ghost because of the way the sun reflects off of her: “The rays of the sun struck her full in the face, so that when Sethe, Denver, and Paul D rounded the curve in the road all they saw was a black dress, two unlaced shoes below it, and Here Boy nowhere in sight” (51). Beloved even acts like a baby in her recovery: she takes a long time to get better, she sleeps constantly, she drinks a lot of water, she cannot walk by herself, and she is very dependant on Denver and Sethe. Here, it is interesting to note that Denver doesn’t really act her age, either. Denver is about 18 years old and Beloved is about 19 or 20 years old. But, both seem immature at times and unwilling to accept certain responsibilities. There was even some speculation in class that there may be a lesbian relationship between Denver and Beloved.
Another interesting part involved Beloved’s fascination with Sethe’s stories. Sethe typically doesn’t talk about her past because it is so disturbing and Denver doesn’t enjoy hearing Sethe’s stories. But, Beloved knows about Sethe’s earrings and is intrigued by Sethe’s past. Sethe doesn’t seem to mind sharing stories with Beloved because Beloved is unattached to her past (as far as she knows).
The final major point was somewhat ambiguous but involved the instance where Sethe was beaten and had her milk stolen by the boys. Sethe could not understand why Halle would just watch from the loft. The class concluded that Halle was in too much shock to help, and even if he had helped he wouldn’t have stood a chance. He would have possibly even been whipped or killed.
Another summary of class discussion: 2/13/09
We began with a discussion of Beloved's nature, debating whether or not she was a reincarnation of the infant whose name is on the gravestone mentioned by Sethe. We pointed to Beloved's unlined, smooth skin and her possible "birth" emerging from the river as evidence of her connection to the infant. We discussed the nature of the relationship between Denver and Beloved, noting that both girls act younger than the teenagers they are. We mentioned Paul D and his aversion to Beloved, wondering whether Beloved had returned to haunt Paul D. Someone predicted that Beloved would harm one of the family, possibly Paul D, as a spiteful spirit.
We brought up Denver's reluctance to hear stories that are not about her, and discussed why Sethe decides to tell stories to Beloved she had never told Denver. We thought that perhaps telling these stories brought unhappiness to Sethe, or that Sethe wants to protect Denver from her past.
The incident in which the boys steal Sethe's milk came up--we discussed Halle's motives for standing by and watching rather than protecting Sethe. Apart from a fear of punishment, Halle was possibly ashamed, shocked, and simply helpless against unbeatable odds.
Paul D's story about the rooster Mister was seen as possibly hinting the helplessness and rage of slavehood, and the degradation of receiving treatment unfit for even an animal.
Here are some of the key points from Friday’s discussion:
• Beloved – reincarnation of baby’s ghost – soft skin, knew about earrings, loves sweets (sugar in milk)
• Denver and Beloved act much younger than they really are.
• When we first see Beloved she seems like a ghost – they can only see her dress and shoes
• Pg. 65 – Paul D asks Beloved about how she got there. She came a “long way” – afterlife is literally a “long way.”
• Hamlet wanted to make sure the ghost was being honest. It will be interesting to see the actions of this ghost. Rachel’s prediction: the ghost will probably hurt someone, most likely Paul D
• Beloved drank a lot of water – water could represent human life, like she is becoming human
• Beloved always has to be with Sethe and is tired all the time. She walks around heavily, much like a baby.
• Sethe tells Beloved stories but Denver is not interested. It’s probably natural for Beloved to want to hear about the past that she may have missed.
Here is a summary of our discussion from Monday, the 23rd.
We first started it off by sharing some of our poems and realizations. Some of those realizations are that Beloved appears when people are lonely and she attempts to fill the void, but Beloved is not real, she's not flesh. It was also noticed that as the book progresses, more people tell their stories (Stamp Paid) and reveal what they think about Sethe. Hannah observed the purpose of color in the novel. White lacks all color, yet black is a combination of all colors. Maybe all of these colors result in a confusing mash up for the former slaves. They all have different memories and cannot seem to find their true selves.
We then moved on to Stamp Paid and his genitalia. Why did Morrison write that he knew how he used to be between his legs? Why would that create hesitation to tell Paul D? Well, the issue of balls was heavily discussed, in that he didn't have any. His lack of courage didn't allow him to tell Paul. Also, Paul is a young man, driven by strong emotions, sometimes uncontrollable, so Paid did not want Paul to destroy his relationship with Sethe.
Conversation evolved to the reasons and motives behind Paul D's departure. Some thought he was a coward because he just walked away without actually saying he was. But some thought he was quite the opposite! A hypothetical situation was introduced in order to make the point that by telling Sethe he was leaving forever, it only served to make him feel better. It hurt's less leaving some things unsaid, that saying sorry is selfish. The claim has been made that true love means never having to say you're sorry...
We ended our discussion talking about the bewitching powers of Beloved. If she represents loneliness, the connection she has with Paul D forces him to submit to his loneliness and accept it, which explains why his rusted tin heart finally opened.
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