Chapters nine through twelve
examine Beloved’s role in each character’s life and how they deal with the
past. In chapter nine, Sethe has decided to go to the Clearing, a place Baby
Suggs used to preach, because in recent days she has found herself at unease
with how to deal with her burdensome past. At one moment, she is letting the
ghost of Baby Suggs rub her neck, but shortly she finds herself being strangled
(113). When she is saved by Beloved and Denver, bruises appear on her neck.
These physical marks are made to show that even though one’s past cannot be
seen, it has a lasting and visible impact on the future. The way Denver and
Beloved react to the bruises represent different ways of dealing with a harsh
past: Beloved’s choice to nurture and touch them represents her advocacy for
confronting the past, while Denver’s choice to ignore them shows that she would
rather avoid the past and try to focus on the present (114).
In Chapter 10, the reader learns
about Paul D’s experience in a prison where he was chained to forty-six other prisoners,
sexually abused, forced to work, and confined to living in a wooden box in the
ground. After Paul D escapes from this low point in his life, he learns to deal
with the past by repressing it and putting it into a “tobacco tin lodged in his
chest” (133). In Chapter 11, when Beloved and Paul D have sex, Beloved demands
that she will not leave until he calls her by name (137). When the sexual encounter
is complete, Paul D repeats the phrase “Red Heart” over and over (138). Because
Beloved is used as a representation of the past, her insistence on him calling
her by name shows that the past must be confronted before one can move on. Paul
D’s repetition of “Red Heart” symbolizes
that he is finally confronting his past and letting his memories out of “the
tobacco tin lodged into his chest” and into his heart.
No comments:
Post a Comment