Sethe's choice, based on love, to try to kill all of her children instead of them having to be put through slavery was a controversial decision. She wanted to protect them from the harshness of slavery, but is trying to kill them the best solution? Our view of making this tough decision is also very different from how slaves and ex-slaves would have felt, as I described before. The views of slaves could also vary tremendously. For instance, Paul D felt that what Sethe did to her children was awful and he couldn't understand why she would do such a thing. The reason why Paul D had such a hard time understanding her act is mainly because he had tried to do what most of the slaves of that time did; he tried not to hold anyone or anything too close to his heart. This fact also brings about another difference between the time periods and societies that the slaves lived in and that we now live in. In today's society, we are free to love whatever or whoever we want. The blacks during the time of slavery didn't have that comfort. They had to worry about how losing their loved ones would make them feel because they could easily, and did easily, lose their family. They were sold and separated without any regard to the feelings of the black slaves. The society in which people live greatly affects how they view and are able to show their love of people and objects.
Monday, June 7, 2010
Love
In general, love is a very difficult concept. Certain things that people do out of love confuse others. In the novel Beloved the concept and way love is shown is even more confusing to people in today's society because of the time period and cultural differences. Today's American society doesn't have situations that parallel some of the problems that black slaves and ex-slaves had to be put through. For instance, we don't have to worry about somebody coming to try to bring us back to a plantation and back into slavery. Since we don't have to deal with those types of situations we really don't know what solutions are morally or emotionally right. People criticize others for past mistakes or decisions, but hind-sight is always 20-20. If we were thrown in a similar situation do we really know what we would do? Would we try to save our loved ones by killing them, like Sethe tried to do? Or would we try and run, and possibly get caught? Or, even, would we just let someone like Schoolteacher takes us away without any struggle? We really don't know how we'd react in a situation like that until we would be forced to make that quick decision. And luckily for us, we will most likely never have to be put in a situation of that caliber.
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I agree that the difference in time and culture makes it diffecult for us to relate to the characters in "Beloved", but i don't think that the difference in time makes the concept of morality any different. Just because we haven't gone through the same situtaions doesn't mean we don't know what is morally right or wrong. I don't think Sethe thought it was morally right to kill her children, but, like you said, she had to make a quick decision to save what she loved most. Just because we haven't had to make that decision doesn't mean we don't know what is morally right or wrong. The treatment of the slaves gave them a grey-er perspective on what is the right thing to do in certain situations, but it didn't change the fact that they knew killing was wrong. Human morals haven't changed since the time of slavery, how to react to a hard decision has.
ReplyDeleteI think that is important to point out that Paul D. did not hold anything close to his heart. When he finally found out about what Sehte had done, he was blindsided not only by the fact that Sethe did it, but the notion that someone was capable of going to such harsh extremes even with your family's best interest in mind. Also Paul D. never had any children of his own. In a way we, as younger people, can relate to Paul because we also cannot understand why Sethe did what she did.
ReplyDeleteEven thought both Paul D. and Sethe were both sweet home and experienced the horrors of slavery, they still have totally different perspectives. Sethe clearly believes that death was the only other option besides going back to sweet home, while Paul D. told Sethe that there are always other ways. They apparently do not think of what they went through on the same level. Perhaps something more traumatizing happened to Sethe that did not happen to Paul D. which has made her fear its return so heavily. Perhaps, if any, it was the difference in treatment between men and women that has scared Sethe. Those who have not experienced it can only speculate on how it made Sethe and Paul D. feel.
I find it impressive that Sethe has still a guilty conscious even after rationalizing the action that she had preformed. Killer's guilt, I presume? I also agree with a lot of what you've said with how we are not fit nor capable of declaring the morality behind the decision Sethe took.
ReplyDeleteWe do not have any remote experience in having to make a life or death situation, even though we may feel it in our academic lives. We only can feel sympathy to Sethe indirectly, through ideas and experiences that aren't even in the same category of the deed done. Nor do we even have the slave experience Sethe and Paul D. had, and we can only see it in other nations, and again we're privileged to be able to look at it and declare it bad, instead of having to rule over any slaves or be apart of the slaves.