Monet Nielsen
AP Lang/Comp
Period 5
4/2/13
Soothing Sethe
After learning of
her husband, Halle, witnessing her rape and beating by the Schoolteacher’s
nephews, Sethe looks back into the past to when she had escaped slavery to find
her mother-in-law, Baby Suggs, who tells her to let go of her horrific past
while massaging her. Baby Suggs’ had been “molding her nape, and reshaping it”
with her fingers (101). The denotation of mold is to shape out of an easily
manipulated material while reshaping can have a denotation of changing the
shape or form of the object. This word choice implies that Baby Suggs was altering
Sethe therefore proving her shifting emotional status while the other
definition points towards Sethe being easily manipulated by Baby Suggs perhaps
because she trusts her to work with her emotions. Baby Suggs tells her to lay
down her “Sword and shield” (101). The sword and shield can symbolize her
horrific memories that she doesn’t wish to reopen or let go of. After this
symbol, Baby Suggs repeatedly uses the word “down” to clarify, remind Sethe of
the importance of letting go or laying down her memories and emotions (101). Sethe
also uses “heavy knives of defense against miser, regret, gall, and hurt” (101).
By setting down her protection from emotions, Sethe leaves herself open to both
her new world of freedom and her horrific past. She lays down her protective
knives therefore leading to her change in her view of memories and emotions.
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