Sethe's Tree and more...

Throughout Beloved, there are multiple references to Sethe’s back resembling a tree. For example, “It’s a tree, Lu. A chokecherry tree. See, here’s the trunk--it’s red and split wide open, full of sap, and this here’s the parting for the branches,” (Morrison 93). This quote from Amy is one of the first that paints an image of a tree on Sethe’s back. This is during Sethe’s escape from Sweet Home, and after she was brutally beat and abused by Schoolteacher’s nephews. The ‘tree’ in this case is describing the open wounds and lacerations on Sethe’s back from her recent experience with the nephews, and there are likely other scars on her back from her time as a slave as well. This tree on Sethe’s back was formed by slavery, which makes me think that it represents her past. Specifically, I think that her wounds are there to serve as a constant reminder of the dark side of Sweet Home. Along with this meaning, the vivid description of Sethe’s wounds give readers a better picture of the immense pain she had to go through along her journey to 124, which paints her to be an even more powerful and awe-inspiring character.

The other side of the tree is the fact that they are generally seen as beautiful parts of nature. Obviously, this is not what one would attribute towards Sethe’s time as a slave. Morrison chose a tree to represent the pain Sethe endured because it looks pretty on the outside. This is similar to Sweet Home because even though it seemed like a great place on the surface, it was filled with suffering, especially once Schoolteacher arrived. Even before Schoolteacher, however, it was still slavery and far from ideal. This is seen when Halle compares schoolteacher and Garner, “What they say is the same. Loud or soft,” (Morrison 231). Even though Garner may speak softer than schoolteacher and appear nicer, he is still a slave owner, which is a horrible trait no matter who you are.

The extra fact that I wanted to share is something I found very interesting, but wasn’t sure if it deserved a blog post of its own. When reading about what inspired Morrison to write Beloved, I found that it was actually based on a true story. There was an African American woman named Margaret Garner who escaped slavery but, similar to Sethe, killed her child in order to prevent her from returning to slavery. I was wondering if any of you find it shocking that the story of Sethe killing her child is based in reality? I think it adds an aspect of realism to Beloved because many readers likely pass the premise of a mother murdering her own daughter off as something that is completely absurd, but it was actually based in truth. This makes the novel just that much more potent because readers suddenly see this truly horrible and disturbing scene of Sethe in the woodshed as something more than just fiction.

White Day, Black Night

“Dream Variation” by Langston Hughes is one of my favorite poems that we have discussed so far in class (shoutout to Eric for choosing it). It describes a dream world that, unlike most others, isn’t lightyears away from possibility, and the sentiments of the world are parts of life that I agree are important. The poem has two contrasting stanzas, with one focusing on day and the other on night. The stanza set during the day says that the narrator wants to be able to “whirl and to dance / Till the white day is done.” I find this line particularly interesting because the whirling and dancing could be interpreted in a couple different ways. First and foremost, dancing is generally seen as something that’s done in times of celebration, and it’s often accompanied with happiness and laughter. This goes along with the dream aspect of the poem, because the narrator wishes for a life where he can be himself and dance to his heart’s content among others during the day. The other, much more negative, look at this line points to the common theme of African American people being forced to put on a show for white people by dancing and playing submissive. When looking at these lines in this light, I thought of the dancing Sambo doll from Invisible Man. Personally, due to the poem being the narrator’s dream for life, I’m assuming that the dancing and whirling is a symbol for the narrator wanting to be able to be himself, but Hughes likely used these words in particular to offer up the dual meaning and to show how life is outside of his dream.

The stanza set at night shows the other part of the narrator’s dream: being able to relax in solitude and with others. I think that this stanza is part of the dream because even though the narrator wants to be able to express himself in the white day, he doesn’t want to leave behind the special feeling of belongingness that he gets from the night. We see this idea when the narrator says, “While night comes on gently, / Dark like me.” The narrator feels relaxed in the darkness of night. I think that the night has more than just a literal meaning in this poem as well. The night could also represent the narrator’s African American friends and family who he still wants to be able to spend time with after the white day. Just because the narrator is now able to express himself during the day and around white people, doesn’t mean that he would want to lose being able to express himself at night too.

The third and last stanza glues the previous two together, and I think that its main purpose is to show that the narrator wants both aspects of life to coexist. He wants to be able to both be himself during the day and relax during the night. One change is that the last line is now “Black like me” rather than “Dark like me” from the previous stanza. This stresses the racial aspect of the night’s meaning and goes along with the idea of the narrator wanting to be able to spend time among those who share his culture during both night and day.