Beloved And Sethe's Relationship Analysis
In chapter 26, the relationship between Denver, Sethe, and Beloved undergoes a complete change. In the beginning, Sethe still fears her mother and is concerned for Beloved. Sethe meanwhile gives Beloved everything that she can, such as her food portions when they begin to run low; Beloved goes from being dependent and frail to fat. It gets to the point that Beloved is just blatantly taking from Sethe, even though Sethe is willing to give. Beloved starts wearing Sethe’s clothing and copying her mannerisms, such that Denver can hardly tell them apart. It’s clear that Beloved is not just copying Sethe, she is draining her. She also appears to be pregnant, signifying a reversal of mother/daughter roles. This alarms Denver, and it dawns
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So, basically in this chapter, Beloved is sucking the life out of Sethe, and the reverse their roles as mother and child. Denver no longer thinks Sethe is the main threat, but Beloved.
I’m really glad that Denver starts to become more independent now. She sees the true threat now and leaves
124. She seeks help from the Bodwins, white abolitionists who helped Sethe escape. It’s pretty disturbing how they have a slave figurine that says “At yo’ service” (300), despite being abolitionists and believing “all life is holy”. I suppose you can’t group them with the Garners- their hypocrisy level isn’t THAT high, but it still shows a lack of true and mutual understanding and respect on their part. Anyway, by the end when Denver gathers up people to exorcise Beloved out, Sethe almost attacks Mr. Bodwin, confusing him as the schoolteacher. This demonstrates that
Sethe really is stuck in the past, and it’s almost like she was acting out in the way she wish she had before, killing the “schoolteacher” instead of her daughter. In the end, she was stopped and Beloved vanished. So I think that leaves room for Sethe to grow and finally leave whatever part of her past behind that troubled her, yet she still has a
So, basically in this chapter, Beloved is sucking the life out of Sethe, and the reverse their roles as mother and child. Denver no longer thinks Sethe is the main threat, but Beloved.
I’m really glad that Denver starts to become more independent now. She sees the true threat now and leaves
124. She seeks help from the Bodwins, white abolitionists who helped Sethe escape. It’s pretty disturbing how they have a slave figurine that says “At yo’ service” (300), despite being abolitionists and believing “all life is holy”. I suppose you can’t group them with the Garners- their hypocrisy level isn’t THAT high, but it still shows a lack of true and mutual understanding and respect on their part. Anyway, by the end when Denver gathers up people to exorcise Beloved out, Sethe almost attacks Mr. Bodwin, confusing him as the schoolteacher. This demonstrates that
Sethe really is stuck in the past, and it’s almost like she was acting out in the way she wish she had before, killing the “schoolteacher” instead of her daughter. In the end, she was stopped and Beloved vanished. So I think that leaves room for Sethe to grow and finally leave whatever part of her past behind that troubled her, yet she still has a