In Beloved there are a lot of things that relate to the Feminist lens. For example in first few chapters Sethe has a flashback about the slave owner people in the past raping her. This relates to the feminist lens because she was having her milk taken from her. The milk is not a metaphor, but a literal meaning of her fertility milk. This is the milk that is used for babies to grow. This part of the story is important to the feminist theme because Sethe was not worried about her rape, but she was more worried about the milk being lost. In the time period of Beloved, there was no science to help the pregnancy process, so there would be no way for Sethe to get more pregnant milk. Women were not treated well during this time period because it was during the Civil War. It did not help much that Sethe was also a slave because she does not have any rights because she is considered a piece of property. So when Sethe was raped, she was not focused that she was being raped but because she was losing her milk. This is important to the feminist lens because it is the interest of the child rather than the interest of herself. Sethe puts her children before her own personal health.
When you bring up Sethe being more concerned for her milk than the fact that she is rapes is a very strong point. This is interesting because what if back then, women were held responsible for the children and should anything happen to her it would be her fault and she would be punished for it?
ReplyDeleteWhen you bring up Sethe being more concerned for her milk than the fact that she is rapes is a very strong point. This is interesting because what if back then, women were held responsible for the children and should anything happen to her it would be her fault and she would be punished for it?
ReplyDeleteThis is interesting. Could you go further when you discuss the perspective of the man who raped her and what that means through a feminist lens?
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