Beloved

In chapter 19 of Beloved, Sethe finds herself stealing from the restaurant she works at because shes 'too proud' to face the racism of the local grocer. My question this week is have you ever been in a similar situation? That is, have you ever been too proud to do something? Im interested in your feedback!

Beloved #1,338,901

Well I've decided no one really cares about summaries about boring books, so I've decided (and have been doing) my blogs differently.  Instead of talking about what I read, I wanna discuss aspects that I found interesting and what you think.

So...

This week I saw the reccuring theme through chapter nine of people warning our main character Sethe to "not love something too much".  I feel this is especially significant because our Sethe is a former slave.  Why do you think "not loving something too much" would be an important lesson to Sethe? Do you agree that loving something too much is a bad thing?  I have got my hopes up before, but I think if you love something it's probably worth it in the end even if you lose it. Just my opinion though.  What do you think?

Beloved #?

This week I want to talk about the paranormal.  In Beloved, the paranormal and supernatural play a big role as seen in the ghost of Beloved haunting Sethe and her family.  They do not seem to question it's a ghost at all.  So my question this week is do you believe in the supernatural? Or are you hesitant in believing in something that you don't understand. I believe, but I wouldn't say I'm as easy to explain phenomenon like this on a ghost as easily as Sethe is.  How do you feel about this?

Memory

I think that people definitely remember things differently! For me, I remember words better than images.  However when I recall memories I often see pictures so thats the opposite of how I memorize things. I once heard that if you repeat something 10 times, you will remember it.  I utilize this a lot when I need to memorize lines and stuff so that is also how i remember things. I think its important to understand how memories and recollection happen in novels, especially because of the stream of conciousness techniques, employed by Faulkner as well as many other authors.

Beloved #4

I only read a few chapters this week, and in chapter four I found something that really spoke out to me.  In the beginning of the chapter Sethe's daughter Denver asks Paul D how long he plans on "being around". Sethe is embarrased by her daughters words, but all Paul D sees is a mother loving her daughter immensely.  He says it's not good for a slave to love something too much...

This part spoke out to me, because it shows in not only in Sethe, Denver, and Paul D's life how people would come and go, but also in the lives of all slaves and former slaves.  It's hard to imagine your life changing so much and adjusting.  It's no wonder that Sethe and Paul D are so pleased to see each other because that is an aspect of their life that they thought was over and it's not natural for them to have someone they love come back rather than leave for good...

Beloved #3

" . . . If you go there—you who was never there—if you go there and stand in the place where it was, it will happen again; it will be there, waiting for you . . . even though it’s all over—over and done with—it’s going to always be there waiting for you."
This week, I would like to talk about the importance of this quote taken from a passage in chapter 3 of Beloved.  Sethe (the main character) is talking about how she thinks the past is a "physical entity" and and it is destined to repeat it self.  I think this shows her narrow view of things, and she doesn't really try to redeem herself.  She tells this quote to Denver, her daughter, and this sort of instills bad values in her I would think.  It definitely shows how Sethe regrets what she did, but she seems like she would rather live with it than go for redemption.