Adria Lam
Period 3, AP Lang and Comp
March 25, 2013
In Beloved, while Sethe recalls her
mother’s past, Denver is unable to feel anything but annoyance and frustration
at the prospect of more storytelling. Morrison employs Denver’s internal
monologue to reveal that Denver’s immaturity stems not only from her loneliness,
as suggested earlier in the novel, but also from her insecurity and
possessiveness towards Sethe. Denver claims her mother’s memories were a
“gleaming, powerful world,” almost as if they were an idealistic state to be in
(74). Denver, rather than seeing Sethe’s memories as the tragedies they are, ironically
sees them as superior to the present. In this way, Morrision equates them to
Denver’s competition for Sethe’s focus, yet another invisible foe Denver must
fight against for Sethe’s attention. Likewise, Denver believes the pull of Sethe’s
memories are enhanced by Denver’s “absence” in them(74). Morrison’s use of “absence” suggests
Denver views herself as a blight or blot that adds no value to Sethe’s
memories; as a result of this pessimistic view, Denver feels her immature
actions are the only way to obtain control over Sethe and counter Sethe’s more
appealing memories. Denver even wants Beloved to “hate” the stories as much as
she does (74). Despite the fact
the action proposed, “hate,” could have damaging effects for Beloved (such as a
loss of storytelling, one of the few actions Beloved enjoys) Denver still
wishes it to happen; revealing that her need for Sethe’s attention overshadows her
emotional ties with Beloved. Denver’s lack of thought for Beloved’s well being
also reveals an almost fanatical obsession with anchoring Sethe to herself. Denver
feels she competes with many faceless enemies for Sethe’s attention, and her
immaturity and extreme neediness are the means to possess her mother fully.
Okay, this was very clear and well-delineated. But I think you make a mistake in your analysis: "“Denver hated the stories her mother told that did not concern herself, which is why Amy was all she ever asked about. The rest was a gleaming, powerful world made more so by Denver’s absence from it. Not being in it, she hated it and wanted Beloved to hate it too, though there was no chance of that at all. Beloved took every opportunity to ask some funny questions (71).” So, first, you argue that Denver wants to be part of the gleaming world, but later on you talk about her hate of the stories, even as Denver seems to see them as superior to the present. I think in talking about "the gleaming," Morrison shows pretty explicitly Denver's jealousy of Sethe's real world experience, but I think it is not deducible from this alone that Denver speaks of life without Beloved, nor am I able to see how Denver competes for Sethe's focus by this description alone.Furthermore, when taken in context, we know of Denver's attachment to Beloved and it seems more likely she would be jealous of Beloved's obessession and greed for Sethe. This was very beautifully written, I just think it was misinterpreted.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the writings. This is helping me in a research paper
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