Adjective Clauses

      Hello blog. Unfortunately, I am sick today :( Blogs are due though, so here I am. For the past couple of days, we've been talking about adjective clauses, which are dependent clauses that describe a person, place or thing. They contain a subject and its verb. For example, from the warm-up, "He missed his sisters and cousins, who have known him since he was  a strong, good-looking boy." (11/30) The underlined part is the adj. clause because it's talking about the sisters and cousins. It's like one long adjective, hence the name. This is a sentence with a single adj. clause and it's complex. Here's one with multiple, "These are men of chemistry, who spray the trees against pests, who sulfur the grapes, who cut out diseases and rots and mildews, and sickness." (11/30) This contains three adj. clauses. They are all modifying the subject, "men of chemistry." On 11/31, we had the example, "Sully, whose skills were already maturing, moved up from the wolves level to the lions." -Stephen King, Hearts in Atlantis. "Sully" is the subject being modified and is being described as having skills. There is one dependent clause and one independent ( Sully moved up from the wolves level to the lions), making it a complex sentence. "They gave me a cable knit sweater and an alskin jacket, which kept me dry on the wettest days."- from Keneth Donohue, The Stolen Child. This is also a complex sentence because it has an independent and a dependent clause. Yay, I'm getting extra credit!!!!! Thanks Ms. Sobrero!

More Beloved Motifs!

  More motifs! A couple days ago, we discussed motifs. After body parts, water, bodily fluids, and food was "animals," which were used to represent the dehumanization of the characters or the characters themselves. The Pauls and Sixo mated with cows at Sweet Home, showing that they were thought of as animals. Schoolteacher measured his slaves by noting their animal-like and human-like characteristics. When Paul D found out that Sethe killed Beloved, he said that she had 2 legs, not 4 (like an animal). Here Boy, the family dog, was the only owned animal.The sixth one was "color," which represented life, especially red. Paul D's red tobacco tin was his heart. Because of all he's been through, his heart has been replaced with a red container. Baby Suggs always thought of color in bed. Pink blossoms led Paul D to 124.
      The seventh motif was "triplings," which are present throughout. "Three" symbolizes balance. There were originally three people at 124, but then Paul D came. It was still 3 because he got rid of the baby ghost. Then it was 4 when Beloved came from the water, but it returns to 3 because she scares away Paul D. Beloved, Denver and Sethe symbolize the Holy Trinity. Another occurrence of tripling is found in schoolteacher + his two nephews. Denver was three weeks old when Paid brought the berries.When the four men on horses came to catch the slaves at 124, only three men unmounted off their horses. Last but not least, "names." They represent the lack of freedom for slaves. For example, there were many Pauls (Paul D, Paul A) at Sweet Home, so they lack individuality. Ella means bearer, which fits because she had to bear with helping slaves in her community who escaped. Sixo is similar to hell; he was rebellious and he was burned. Paid renamed himself after he became a fee slave. Denver = green valley. When you think of a valley, you think wide and free and Denver became independent at the end of the book.

Dehumanization in Beloved

      Today in class, we discussed study guide question two, for Beloved. Dehumanization- (n.) the deprivation of human qualities or attributes; divest of individuality. There were many ways in which the slaves were dehumanized. For example, Paul D was  given a bit in his mouth to prevent him from talking. Similarly, animals are harnessed. The incident with the Pauls and the cows reflects the fact that they feel they're the same worth as animals. Because they weren't allowed to have human relationships, they resort to this. In the chain gang, the slaves were forced to do things against their will. Schoolteacher measured his slaves by putting their animal-like features on the left. The 'lowest yet" de-humanized Ella.And their names reflect their lack of identity-having more than one Paul. When Stamp Paid's wife, Vashti, returned to him after serving a white man, he killed her. This is why he changed his name from Joshua to Stamp Paid, because he was metaphorically like a stamp that's been paid and done with. They were described as animal-like as well: Baby Suggs walked like a three-legged dog. Emasculate- (v.) to deprive of strength or vigor; to take away a man's masculinity. Male slaves were emasculated several times. For example, Paul D and the chain gang were forced to do whatever the guards wanted done. They were tied together and weren't able to do what men were expected to do in society- provide for their family. Slaves couldn't even marry. De-feminize- (v.) to take away feminine qualities. Women were de-feminized, like Sethe, who had her milk stolen by schoolteacher's nephews. That was her way of caring for children, of being a mother. But that role was taken away. To pay for Beloved's gravestone, Sethe had to lose her innocence.

Beloved Motifs

      Today in class, we assembled into groups of eight. We all shared our motifs, since we were all individual experts on our own. I learned a lot more about Beloved and its subtle symbols today. We all took turns sharing and I talked about "water." First up was "body parts." They show that the slaves were treated inhumanely. For example, Paul D had an iron bit in his mouth to prevent him from speaking. In the Clearing, where Grandma Baby Suggs preached, she said to love your body (Ch.9). She pierced this into their minds because white men never allowed them to. Sethe's scars show her harsh past & "rememories." They're on her back, meaning her past and what's behind her. Also Beloved had perfect, new feet because she never experienced slavery but Sethe, who did, had ugly feet. These things show the harsh reality of slavery.
      Next was "bodily fluids." Beloved's blood symbolized the blood of Christ; Denver "swallowed her blood right along with [her] mother's milk" (242). And when they ate, they licked the sweat off their faces to add salt to the food. Sweat means hard work. Sethe always provided for her children, with blood, sweat and tears, literally. Milk represents Sethe's love for her kids because she always had enough and it was her way of nurturing them . She was literally draining herself for her children. When Beloved appears near the steps of 124, Sethe has to use the restroom. This is like her water breaking when Beloved  was "born."
      Next was "food." Food is communion (a great rule from How to Read Literature Like a Professor). Stamp Paid collects berries and feeds baby Denver, so Baby Suggs has a party. The berries tasted "so good and happy that to eat them was like being in church. Just one of the berries and you felt anointed" (160). This eating was like a religious preparation for something. And "....Sethe was licked, tasted, eaten by Beloved's eyes" (68).
   

Water in Beloved

      Hello there, blog. Today in class, we got into our jigsaw groups of four. My group chose "water" as our motif because we saw some connections. On page 60, there's a quote about how Beloved came to 124 Bluestone Road. “A fully dressed woman walked out of the water. She barely gained the dry bank of the stream before she sat down and leaned against a mulberry tree…..Nobody saw her emerge or came accidentally by” (60). This is when Beloved came out of the water. Beloved was killed by her mother, Sethe, to save her from a life of slavery. She engraves "Beloved" on her tombstone. This unknown woman, Beloved, is reborn out of the water on the night Paul D, Sethe and Denver come back from the carnival. Water equals baptism ( from How to Read Literature Like a Professor). Believers in Christ are also reborn when they are  baptized. Becasue she was just born (again), she's baby-like. On page sixty, it says, “Exhausted again, she sat down on the first handy place- a stump not far from the steps of 124. By then  keeping her eyes open was less of an effort. Her neck, it’s circumference no wider than a parlor-service saucer, kept bending and her chin brushed the bit of lace edging her dress” (60).  And "she had new skin, lineless and smooth, including the knuckles of her hands” (61). You can tell that she is being described as a newborn. Something weird I noticed while reading Beloved the first time was that Sethe had to use the restroom all of a sudden, "for some reason she could not immediately account for, the moment she got close enough to the face [Beloved’s], Sethe’s bladder filled to capacity” (61). I wondered why Morrison put that in, it seemed unnecesary. But in fact, it's part of the symbolism. It symbolizes the breaking of water before a baby is born. Sethe's urine was “ like flooding the boat when Denver was born. So much water Amy said, ‘Hold on, Lu. You are going to sink us you keep that up.’ But there was no stopping water breaking from a breaking womb and there was no stopping now” (61). Beloved was very thirsty when she arrived. "Four times Denver filled it [cup] and four times the woman drank as though she had crossed a desert" (62). On slave ships, the "pre-slaves" being shipped to America were crammed and weren't given water or food. Beloved was a pre-slave, in a way, because she died before she got to become one. She represents the thirsty passengers of the slave ships. Now that's one complex symbol!

Bilblical Allusions in Beloved

        Yesterday, we had some Beloved poster presentations. The most one that stood out to me was the one dealing with biblical allusions. I noticed them throughout the novel, not to mention the epigraph in the beginning, "I will call them my people, which were not my people, and her beloved, which was not her beloved"(Romans 9:25). Anyway, I really liked the depth of analyzing this group did. It seems like Beloved is a Jesus figure!!! She's a really complicated symbol. When you think about it, Denver drank her blood (kinda weird). In church, Christians drink wine to symbolize the blood of Jesus who died on the cross to save humanity. When Sethe, Paul D and Denver return from the carnival, they saw that a "fully dresses woman walked out of water"(60). Beloved dies once but is reborn that night, when she comes out of the water. Sounds like baptism! This resembles the rebirth of those who are baptized, "born-again" Christians. Grandma Baby Suggs represents John the Baptist because she used to preach in the Clearing, analogous to when he preached in the woods. Sethe represents Mary, the mother of Jesus. She cuts Beloved's throat and sees her die, to save her from the harsh life ahead of her. Mary witnesses the crucifixion of Jesus to save the world from their sins. And four men on horses arrived at 124- "schoolteacher, one nephew, one slave-catcher and a sheriff.... (174)." The four horsemen represent the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse mentioned in the Book of Revelation. One named Death, one Famine, War, and Pestilence.Wow. I can't believe how subtle Morrison is with these symbols. They're not too obvious because she wants you to connect the dots. I never even realized it!!!! Thanks Biblical Allusions group!

What's a Rememory?

      In Beloved, Toni Morrison uses her own word, "rememory", several times, as well as "disremember." I understand why "disremember" is used. The characters have undergone so many traumatic events in the past that they don't ever want to be reminded of again: Sethe's milk being stolen by schoolteacher's nephews, the killing of her own daughter, Beloved, Baby Suggs's death,  Paul D being shackled to ten other slaves and so much more. They seek to disremember and rather go on with the future, to leave the past behind. But "rememory" is harder to analyze. I think a rememory is a memory that is repeatedly remembered. When you think about the prefix "re-", you think of something happening over and over again. This implies that the memories of Sethe continue to be brought up several times. She "remorizes" traumatic things that occurred in her life because she can't get over her haunting past. She's gone through so many hardships in her life, such as trying to escape from Sweet Home as a slave, almost dying had Amy Denver never found her, not knowing what happened to her husband, Halle, and having the tough duty of killing her 2 year old to free her from a life of slavery. The "re" puts emphasis on the word memory, implying that it's a memory of an event or thing that is revisited due to its importance or awfulness.