This is it. Final Blog of the Year.

A lot has happened in Beloved and it was really mind boggling, eerie, heart breaking at times, and sometimes confusing. With the flashbacks into Sethe's past and the constant search for clues to understand Sethe's and Beloved's behaviors, the novel Beloved ended up being a completely mysterious and creepy book that still had some charm just like Beloved herself. Some of the main themes I took away from the book were the patterns of the different relationships in Beloved, sacrifice, and the hardships slavery put on African American mothers and their children.

Beloved offers a new perspective in how women's lives were during that time. Most books only talk about the torture slaves had to suffer through, but none give a perspective like Toni Morrison has about women slaves. Morrison delved into the sacrifices a mother had to give, the pasts that they ran from, and the future they did anything to stay away from. Specifically Sethe had to give up her children and the happiness they would've brought her, parts of her sanity, and love for most of her life. Using a psychoanalytic lens to analyze what the characters were thinking when, for example Beloved made her way through their lives, really allowed me to figure out characters motivations and fears. When analyzing how Sethe reacted to Beloved joining their family, she had no problem. Mainly at first it was because she would never turn down someone running from slavery (like she believed Beloved was doing), because she knew exactly what it's like to run from torture. But then later on Sethe learns that Beloved is truly her daughter because of the tune she heard Beloved humming, which she and her children only knew because Sethe made it the song up. The way Sethe reacted was surprising to me, because I would expect her to be shocked that Beloved has found a way to be with her in a human form instead of a ghost. But Sethe was ecstatic and she finally felt true happiness. Which makes me connect her reaction to motherly instinct and motherhood during slavery. Beloved's return was a chance for Sethe to provide her maternal instincts to the child she could never raise, because slavery took that chance away from her.

One thing I find interesting is how Denver feels around Sethe. Denver is nothing like Beloved, regarding how she feels about Sethe. It seems like Denver is scared of Sethe, instead of loving her. Ever since Denver discovered that her mother was sent to jail because of the information she found out from Nelson Lord, which was that Sethe killed her daughter Beloved. Since then Denver has feared her, which is why I believe Denver is so attached and protective to Beloved. There's no reason as to why Denver could think that Sethe will not kill her children again after she has already done so to Beloved. Denver's fear of Sethe has lead her to become an independent woman, which we see in her actions like seeking out education herself and going into town to embrace the community she was shut out from all her life. So Beloved's return was sort of an opportunity for Denver. 

Overall Beloved was an eerie and mysterious book that had me rereading pages throughout the whole book, while trying to take in all the clues, history, and emotions of the characters in Beloved. The characters in Beloved all have their past that relates to who they are, like Stamp Paid's name relating to his time helping slaves to freedom. Even though Beloved is now gone from their lives, the history of what all the characters endured has an impact on who they grew to be.

Thanks for sticking with me and my blogs!

-Halemah Shuman