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.

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 don't know if beloved erased their memory because it was so traumatic, or  if they have 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.