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.
