Daraja (English 4)

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Lay it Down To Be-Loved

Nakisha Thompson

English 4

Daraja de Wit

Final Beloved paper

Beloved :

“Lay it Down To BE-LOVED”

An astonishing Novel on the past slavery days after civil war. A salve by the name of Sethe realized that at the time she was running away, she had her baby in the process, realized she didn't want her baby to be a slave. Sethe became to settle at the house 124, a house full if miserableness and loneliness. Sethe figured that her baby would not be loved in the days of her past which was slavery.. All the baby wanted was To be-loved. so she came back reincarnated to the new free world the new sweet home,where Sethe wanted her baby to live in and enjoy the sweet things,,freedom ,, the sweet days.

To “BE-LOVED”, is the symbolic motivating force that reincarnated Sethe’s dead baby to be reborn and be a reminder of everyones past, they would soon forget. Beloved just wanted to be-loved and her symbolic presence had an effect on every character,, to be-loved was a symbolic form of an intervention.

Beloved comes out of nowhere ghostly looking to be-loved, looking for everyone to-be loved supernaturally. But at the time living at 124, Paul D found Sethe and they began their relationship, They hadn't seen each other since the plantation home sweet home.. Paul D tries his hardest to be the man in the house.. fighting off that to be-loved ghostly symbolic force at 124. Sethe a still married woman came to the term that her husband was dead, She believed this because in the triumph of running away they were to meet at a certain place, but he never showed. Meanwhile the symbolic ghost felt he was in the way she she acted out, draining the energy of her mother and Paul D. My question is as a man,, Paul D told Sethe later down the line that she shouldn't hold on to loving her husband anymore due to the fact that he had seen the white men steal her breast milk and it corrupted his manhood, Basically hes not coming back..Sethe was in awe and couldn't understand that if he'd seen why didn't he help her, Paul Dee said he didn't no.

Denver, Sethe's mother daughter, felt abundance and joy that her sister had returned, Denver lived her life as a free slave. Beloved used her supernatural powers that eventually lead Denver into her own self-worth. her symbolic questions would always lead into them telling her about it, into a remisinb=ng fase of there past. “Where your diamonds? Beloved asked Sethe. “I had some crystals before, A present from a lady I worked for.” Sethe replied . and Beloved proceeded to say “Tell me about it” (69) Denver noticed that everytime Believed asked her about something it reminded her of her past. And to have this symbolic ghostly figure have Sethe talk about her painful past astonished her. -The hurt was always there-- like a tender place in the corner of her mouth that was the bit of it. (69). The more Beloved had Sethe tell her past painful stories, Sethe began to feel sense of pleasure for some odd reason. “Lay it Down”

A favorite gospel hymn my grandmother would always sing , the same words baby suggs would tell Sethe “ Lay em down. Down by the riverside, Sword and shield, Dont study war no more” (101) Baby Suggs was trying to explain that she should lay all her problems down, don't suffer anymore, don't carry burdens and leave the battle to GOD. Sethe would always hear these words in the back of her mind, because she knew now it was something that She must do. Live and let God,, Don't block out the past for it will follow you all of ypur days,, Beloved was that painful past that was forgotten until she interveined. She must leave the past in the past but never forget the pain it caused.

Beloved made herself at home by fitting in right with the family, for she had used every symbolic measure to trigger off a particular past event that occurred in one's life and eventually they had stories ti go with it, which made them think about there past and basically except o=it and move on in the new world and be-loved.But Beloved and Sethes relationship caused friction because pain un sethe's past is something she didn't want to always talk about. Beloved used her ghostly symbolic forced and constantly brought up something on sethe;s oast.Beloved not only wanted to make peace with her past, she made her family and the community come to the terms that the cannot forget the past but inky move on. When the saying that Beloved gave birth to sethe at the end of the novel meant that beloved made Sethe be reborn, she laid me down, she realized her love is “too thick”.

To me Reading the novel from the narratives perspective gave me my own perspective that

Beloved, the baby ghost looked into the meaning To BE_LOVED, not just for her but for Sethe

and Denver. Beloved came to act as an interventionist, every time she came around you would

be reminded of the painful past in slavery. All through this novel you will notice this,,Beloved is

in fact A SYMBOLIC GHOSTLY figure that pressured her supernatural powers on the

characters in the novel, to come and talk about their painful memories, and also accept their

horrible past inorder to move on in life. To be-loved Beloved must interventionally and spiritually

have the characters, lay it down.

Thursday, December 5, 2013

beloved blog 1

Blog #1

When I read the section of Toni Morrison's Novel Beloved, It was so heart felt to know that the one thing she did remember was the taking of her milk in the barn. She was rapped and helpless. She talked about this with Paul D as a confidant. This was something that bothered Sethe in contrast to being a slave, runaway then free.Then I get confused, I understood why she killed her child, so she wont have to endure the pain of being a slave, Sethe didn't want her baby to encounter the life of a slave. Was this baby her husbands or was it someone who rapped her before in Home Sweet Home? What grasped my attention was how later in the story Paul D brought the traumatic subject up once more, but without leaving details. Sethe was concerned and always wondered why her husband Halle left her and her children, She didn't know if he was dead alive free, or hiding somewhere, she wondered and Paul D knew of this. Until he reminded the her of the time when they took her milk, he then told her that her husband was basically there up top, he was in shock and he just lost it! Sethe was in awe to know that he was there and couldn't help, Paul D defended her by using his interpretation of what a man can and cannit do all the time to save oneself. And stated that a man cant always help basically, that a man is only one. He then he would say

Nakisha Thompson

English 4 DA 01

To Be-Loved #1 Short paper

The last two pages where very intriguing. It was something that I had to read several times to actually feel comfortable with giving my interpretation. So here we go.... What Toni Morrison is trying to say is that Beloved, a very deep story: a story that should not be passed on, if so, the actual words and events that happened in 124 can get twisted and the tale would not be the same. For example , when I was younger, I seen the movie Beloved with my mom, I had so many questions then, and after reading the book, all my questions are answered in more detail. Parts in the movie were left out,, thats why the story is not to be passed on until your read the actual source. They say “Read the Book first, don't watch the movie” or “you should read the book if you seen the movie”. Thats with every movie that also has a book. i.e Malcolm X, The Colored Purple and various other novelty books. The Book is always the true interpretation of the actual story. Therefore if you hadn't read the book first dnt add in anything extra, if you're going to tell the story tell it right but most of all the story Beloved is something too difficult to pass on, so I feel the onlookers should read the story themselves in order to receive the true meaning, and not what you heard.

When Tony quotes “There is a loneliness that can be rocked . Arms crossed knees drawn up; holding holding on,this motion”. There is this one type of loneliness that can be rocked, something like holding bracing yourself using a rocking motion. holding on tight to your loneliness. Consoling the physical presence of loneliness.“Then there is a loneliness that roams. No rocking can hold it down”. The Spiritual loneliness. Beloved was the loneliness that roamed around looking to be loved. In the spiritual world some spirits are not at rest and their lonely souls roam the place they only knew, looking to be loved. So beloved found her way out of loneliness in the darkness with the dead to be loved by Sethe. Denver asked “What did you come back for?” beloved smiled “To see her face.” “ma’am? Sethe?” “yes Sethe.” (88) Beloved waiting day and night until she finally got out of the darkness to return to Sethe. Beloved was a lonely lost soul that no rocking can console her, only the love of her mother Sethe, who she roamed to her loneliness to find again only in torment and revenge.

It was not a story to pass on, They forgot her like a bad dream, After they made up their tales, shaped and decorated them. By this time they forgot her because the story never would turn out the truth, things were probably fabricated, and elongated. It took longer for those who had spoken to her, lived with her, fallen in love with her, to forget, until they realize they couldn’t remember or repeat a single thing that she said, and began to believe that. So in the end they forgot her too”. Sethe Denver and Paul D were closest to Beloved. I dont know if beloved erased their memory or if they’ve listened to so many different stories that they started to believe it and lost the real meaning of what Beloved was trying to say. Or merely they didn't want to commemorate. “Remembering seemed unwise. Being a slave had enough pain in their memory that they never wanted to reminisce the past.” (301). Especially if the evil turned spirit named Beloved that had such a grudge. “ Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof,’ “The future was sunset; the past something to leave behind” (302) No one wants to avert the Evil that beloved was. This was not a story to pass on... This story is not a story to pass on... This story is the story of the life of a runaway slave, that should not be forgotten, and our ancestors whom all have suffered and tried to forget. But We should not forget the turmoil and pain the endured for this was not that long ago we need to remember for them. Let us not forget the slaves who were runaways, let us not forget the rape the cries of the suffering babies born into slavery along with pain and most of all the loneliness to be loved freely. Seethe did not want to reminisce on the fact of what she did let alone that beloved had returned stronger and wanted to be loved. that
Halle Lost it after that, and it wasn't sethe who ran him away it was at he incident he witnessed that happened to his wife. Sethe thought it was something about her her husband did not like. But Paul D would say no it was what happened that day when your link was stolen. He then later mentioned that he saw him and that he wasn't dead. I can imagine how sethe felt, but i cant say I know how she feels knowing that here this man that she rekindled the flame with knew all along why her husband had left and that he witnessed the whole thing. When he said he saw Halle he was smashing butter all over his face basically out of it. He couldn't bear knowing that he didn't saw anything and Sethe didn't either. Did the witnessing of his wife getting raped and the only source of food for their baby was stolen from her breast make him loose his consciousness and his manhood. This is why he left, that did something to Halle, he couldn't deal so he dealt with it another way.

To-Be-Loved

Nakisha Thompson

English 4 DA 01

de Wit

To Be-Loved #1 Short paper

The last two pages where very intriguing. It was something that I had to read several times to actually feel comfortable with giving my interpretation. So here we go.... What Toni Morrison is trying to say is that Beloved, a very deep story: a story that should not be passed on, if so, the actual words and events that happened in 124 can get twisted and the tale would not be the same. For example , when I was younger, I seen the movie Beloved with my mom, I had so many questions then, and after reading the book, all my questions are answered in more detail. Parts in the movie were left out,, that's why the story is not to be passed on until your read the actual source. They say “Read the Book first, don't watch the movie” or “you should read the book if you seen the movie”. That is with every movie that also has a book. i.e. Malcolm X, The Color Purple, and various other novelty books. The Book is always the true interpretation of the actual story. Therefore if you hadn't read the book first don't add in anything extra, if you're going to tell the story tell it right but most of all the story Beloved is something too difficult to pass on, so I feel the onlookers should read the story themselves in order to receive the true meaning, and not what you heard.

When Tony quotes “There is a loneliness that can be rocked . Arms crossed knees drawn up; holding ,holding on, to this motion”. There is this one type of loneliness that can be rocked, something like holding bracing yourself using a rocking motion. Holding on tight to your loneliness. Consoling the physical presence of loneliness.“Then there is a loneliness that roams. No rocking can hold it down”. The Spiritual loneliness. Beloved was the loneliness that roamed around looking to be loved. In the spiritual world some spirits are not at rest and their lonely souls roam the place they only knew, looking to be loved. So beloved found her way out of loneliness in the darkness with the dead to be loved by Sethe. Denver asked “What did you come back for?” Beloved smiled “To see her face.” “ma’am? Sethe?” “yes Sethe.” (88) Beloved waiting day and night until she finally got out of the darkness to return to Sethe. Beloved was a lonely lost soul that no rocking can console her, her eagerness was to hold on to a lonely grudge of only the love of her mother Sethe. Beloved, she roamed carriying this bag of loneliness to reappear in a different presence that was stronger only because of holding on to loneliness so long lead for her to want to Be- Loved.

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Alicia Keys - Brand New Me (with lyrics)

Check out this song for conference:
http://www.youtube.com/v/BlZ7qFVPZTQ?autohide=1&version=3&showinfo=1&attribution_tag=97afnZLGTyUvetRLDUPqgQ&autohide=1&autoplay=1&feature=share

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

collaboration of the midterms process

Nakisha Thompson

I decided to work in groups while working on our midterms, that Professor de Wit asked us to do because we are as one, a community. So my group was a large group. We were to incorporate all these different relevant political topics assigned to different groups. We were to learn all about the 12 topics, which include how to get mortgages and about the employment rate, as well as health care reform, ageism and more. I worked with my group over the weekend using Google drive. Google drive is such easy to learn and very reliable as well as accuracy and everyone can be on the same page. Me and Leo had the groups we collaborate with to copy and paste a brief description of their topic, which I found a compromising from each topic to another. I noticed that all of our political topics seemed to connect one way or another. The different aspects of house loans, house mortgages, banking, the taxable income involved in mortgages lead us to what tax write offs are, and how they are beneficial, for we must start to be our own bosses, and to become entrepreneurs so they can become successful. This is something that is very important to contributing and feeling some sense of an independent citizen that's doesn't just look forward to the end of the years for your w-2’s or W’4s you will be doing your business write off as well, because you will own your own business and your own house. So this information is very important to be heard and taken into head. Then we had you look into the job employment rate which is very low, so the best option is to become an entrepreneur and get that Masters degree, because if you have no degree in this world I don't know what type of employment you will have to retire on that has that pension and the 401k plan. Think about it.

Later that week our group met and went over our final drive in the library, we made corrections adding some ideas and made all the final touches to our 13 paged paper. I loved the collaboration we had with all of our big group. We wanted to get more topics to add, but by coincidence many of our groups had the same research topic, but I managed to put it all together. Thats what daraja is all about, we must look out for each other because daraja is the stairway to success and I’m not successful without my darajans, vice versa. peace. one love.