Sethe's Controversial Actions
In Beloved we are told the heroic story of Sethe singlehandedly taking and freeing her children from the plantation Sweet Home. She completes the seemingly impossible and safely gets her and her children across the border and they go to Ohio. Her story is awe-inspiring and the shows just how strong of a woman she is. The reader could almost say she could never do any wrong, especially to her children after her amazing escape. However, the book takes a turn when we see the flashback to Sethe attempting to kill her children at the sight of School Teacher. This is an absolutely shocking scene and one that nobody would expect Sethe to do. It seems like nobody in the story could expect that either, and couldn't understand why Sethe would do that. She is exiled because of this and nobody talks to her other than Paul D. However when she tells Paul D the story, even he is dumbfounded and can't see where Sethe is coming from. Keep in mind he also had to endure the tortures of Sweet Home, so it seems like he would be the one person who understands Sethe.
However, there is more to Sethe's actions than just killing her children for the sake of it, and I would take Sethe's side in this and say she is not in the wrong here. She has had to endure so much pain and suffering at the hands of School Teacher that she just can't stand the idea of her children going back to the plantation. She knows the emotional and physical trauma she received at the plantation, and makes Her mindset in that moment is that those children are her children, and nobody else is going to take them from her, especially not School Teacher.
Also, School Teacher describes Sethe as almost a woman possessed, one that has gone absolutely insane beyond saving and selling or putting back to work. However, Sethe has been completely sane up to this point. This makes me think that the sight of School Teacher almost sets off a traumatic response from her time in Sweet Home and makes her lose her head. This is obviously not something she can control, and I don't think she should be blamed for that.
On top of this, Beloved completely forgives Sethe for her actions. Beloved was the baby that was killed in Sethe's attack of course, yet nor Beloved nor the spirit/ghost was mad at Sethe whatsoever. The ghost was a sad ghost, not an angry one at all, which shows they're not mad at Sethe for what she did, just finds the whole situation just terribly sad, which it was. Beloved herself is not mad at Sethe at all either, just wants her attention and her loving that she feels she never received.
When schoolteacher concludes (with a simple glance at the scene) that Sethe has gone insane, or "wild," as he puts it, he's looking at her through his lens: she is "damaged," as he assesses the situation, no longer suitable for the needs of Sweet Home (dangerous, unmanageable, etc.). And this is the effect Sethe intends to create--to "stop him in his tracks." The reader might come to precisely the opposite conclusion: that however difficult it might be to *affirm* or endorse Sethe's choice, her logic is clear, coherent, and eminently, coldly SANE. It's the Fugitive Slave Law, or slavery itself, that is insane.
ReplyDeleteHello Teo, great post! I agree with you that Sethe's act of "murder" was far more complex. She wasn't killing her children just to kill them, but was doing it to save them form the eternal torture that was slavery. Great job!
ReplyDeleteHi Teo, great post! I think it's interesting to see someone finally take a firm side in this debate. I think we've been tip toeing around the idea that Sethe had her reasons for doing what she did but we still couldn't grasp the idea of what she did. I think youre totally correct when you say that School Teacher triggered a trauma response and her instincts took over. Good job.
ReplyDeleteAll I can say about what Sethe did with total certainty is that it made sense. I think this is one of those trolly car situations, no matter what someone's going to get run over, Sethe just took the creative approach of getting behind the wheel instead of watching the collision.
ReplyDeleteHello, I agree that Sethe's decision to kill her child was much more complex than simply murdering her child, and her she made the correct decision because all she wanted was the best for her children. In that moment she reacted the way she did because of her past trauma, as you say in your post, and knew that she couldn't let her children endure that. Great job!
ReplyDeleteHi Teo. I agree that Sethe's actions were out of her instincts and what she thought was better for her children. Her though process makes complete sense; even though it is difficult to reconcile the violence, the reader can acknowledge that Sethe did the best she could.
ReplyDeleteI think it's interesting how Sethe's actions are regarded so coldly by those around her while many of them experienced similar circumstances. Of course some of their experiences were more similar than others, but no one really understands or sympathizes with Sethe regardless. You pointed out that Beloved was the one that completely forgave Sethe, and I think that's proper. Who better to understand the love of a mother than her child?
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