Search This Blog

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing: Beloved's Attachment to Sethe


Julia Goldman
KP
AP Lang
3-26-13

A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing: Beloved's Attachment to Sethe
After recovering from her illness Beloved becomes attached to Sethe. Toni Morrison describes her using animalistic language that creates an implication of danger behind the initial reading of friendship. Wherever Sethe was she “was licked, tasted, eaten by Beloved’s eyes” (68) in the immediate context of the passage Beloved seems to worship Sethe but the language of “licked, tasted, eaten” has a sinister connotation as if Sethe’s entire being is being consumed by Beloved. The use of asyndeton also implies that Beloved would do more to Sethe if given the chance. Beloved is also described “like a familiar” (68) adding to the haunting aura around her, not only does she share a name with Sethe’s deceased baby but she also has haunting qualities about her, creating the feeling she may make Sethe as miserable in the future as her baby’s death did. Throughout history familiars have appeared as animals and are there to assist a witch in her magic. This comparison not only depicts Beloved as a companion to Sethe but also implies an ulterior motive to her service. The sense of haunting and foreboding is by the fact that Beloved “rose early in the dark to be there, waiting” (68). Darkness is often associated with danger and nefarious doings, although on the surface Beloved’s actions mirror that of an animal waiting for their owner the syntax of the sentence lends itself to the idea that there is more going on because Morrison never describes exactly what Beloved is waiting for, just saying that she was there when Sethe left for work. This sense of ambiguity in Beloved’s actions, create ambiguity in her motivations of what she will do in the dark. The animalistic language used to describe Beloved creates a sense of foreboding in the novel, adding to the supernatural undertones in the house and throughout Sethe’s life.

2 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This analysis is strong of Beloved as a character; I think an interesting comparison to build off this analysis could look at the similarities between her and the ghost also called Beloved. This connection might help with the significance of the analysis. I think you could also look at the way Beloved speaks as otherworldly in the line when it talks about how enthralled Sethe was with her voice. Another scene to possible look at from the later reading could be page 87 where Beloved and Denver are talking. The line "I saw her diamonds" implies she has otherworldly powers (87).

    ReplyDelete