As we discussed in class, it’s quite interesting that arguably the most important scene in Beloved is told from the perspective of a character who isn’t present for most of the book. While this choice and this scene in general is intriguing for a number of reasons, what stood out to me personally is the fact that so much of the language has to do with animals. The first three pages of this chapter are written with a some kind of a reference to an animal in most of the paragraphs.
This language sets up a (blatantly obvious, yet ever disturbing) dynamic for the chapter: the “four white horsemen” are hunters, seeking out “Negroes” who are viewed as equivalent to animals to be hunted down, and even worse, damaged property. The chapter is told in this “hunter vs. hunted” dynamic, and to the hunter, Sethe killing her first daughter, is just a failed hunt.
This dynamic also puts the reader in a position where they would expect Sethe to act animalistically, because the reader is in the head of white men who see Sethe as an animal and expect her to act as such. The context of the chapter lends to a reader who is somewhat more cynical of Sethe than a reader who just read a chapter that talks about Sethe at Sweet Home. This complicates the story for the reader because up until this point it is still possible for the reader to be completely sympathetic towards Sethe, but this chapter certainly challenges what sympathy the reader has left. To demonstrate this effect, we can look at Paul D, who is portrayed as a kind, empathetic character (especially towards Sethe) that leaves Sethe as soon as he comes to terms with the fact that the story he heard of her murder is true.
Entering the minds of the four white horsemen allows us to take a look at exactly the mentality that runs the world that Sethe is running away from. From the moment Sethe overhears Schoolteacher’s nephews discussing “human characteristic” and “animal characteristics” of the slaves, she is scarred. These men have treated Sethe beyond horribly and don’t even think of her as a human being, which is clearly laid out in how they think of her in this chapter, as if it hasn’t been clear enough in Sethe’s “rememories” of Sweet Home. This is what Sethe feels she can’t possibly let herself, or any part of her family, return to.
I think this idea that the animalistic view of Sethe expressed by the four white supremacist horseman drives her to do something equally animalistic in order to "hurt the hurters more than they hurt her" is a key idea in understanding Sethe's actions. Slavery puts Sethe in a subhuman position and so she is forced to perform an action which no person should have to do, which speaks to incredible level of horror Morrison conveys in her portrayal of slavery in "Beloved."
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me of an idea brought up in Native Son. "If you're going to treat me like one, I'm going to act like one". Bigger talks about how people assume he rapes and kills already and so he did, knowing it wouldn't make much of a difference on how people view him. Here, the four horsemen perceived and treated Sethe like she was an animal and then Paul D argued that she was acting like one.
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ReplyDeleteI believe Aja is spot on. This dynamic is very similar to Native Son. Both characters are put into a position where they are forced to do things no human should ever have to do. In both cases the characters acted in self protection (or the protection of her children is Sethe's case). Both are protesting the system of slavery and oppression by demonstrating the horrors of the system.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the new perspective on this scene is really important. I think that their animalistic view helps validate what Sethe did, because her fear was so legitimate.
ReplyDeleteI think you make a really good point about the effect of the perspective on how readers see Sethe. By seeing how Sethe is perceived by Schoolteacher, we're shown how awful her time at Sweet Home must have been. It's hard to see Sethe the same way after reading this scene.
ReplyDeleteThere's certainly some irony in Paul D's reflexive condemnation of Sethe. We understand what he means: he finds her response to seeing schoolteacher to be so repugnant, morally, that he casts her as animalistic (which, as you say, resonates with the specific aspects of schoolteacher's regime that she was so desperate to escape).
ReplyDeleteBut, of course, this choice is so galling and difficult for us to comprehend precisely because it is a *human choice*. An animal wouldn't engage in the complex, abstract moral reasoning that would see "saving" its offspring in this way as preferable to a life of bondage. Even thinking in terms of extreme maternal love like this is a definitively *human* response. It reflects an understanding of what it means to be human, and what it means to have that humanity systematically denied. It seems obvious when we point it out, but horses don't get offended when we measure them and check out their teeth, etc. A human being does. Sethe doesn't just fear physical violence at Sweet Home (although that's part of it). The dehumanization of schoolteacher's methods are far more terrifying for her, and it's these that she's trying to save her child from.
We can dispute her "rough choice," but it's an all too *human* response to an impossible dilemma.
I think it's interesting that this scene in particular uses animalistic imagery and references, as Paul D, when he is confronting Sethe about her actions in the shed, tells her, "You got two feet, Sethe, not four," which also uses animal characteristics to describe Sethe.
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ReplyDeleteI also found this scene really powerful, especially because of this new perspective that we see from the four horsemen. I feel like Morrison's addition of this perspective allowed us as readers to really feel Sethe's pain because we understand what the horsemen are doing and thinking about Sethe. I liked your point that after this scene it is hard to see sethe the same way because this is the first time we are getting an outside glimpse into her pain.
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