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).