Monday, April 11, 2011
Section II
Section II of Beloved paints a very different picture than the previous section because of the change in narration. The change in narration really provided an incredible amount of depth to the novel. I found that this change in perspective not only allowed the characters to become three dimensional, but my perception of them changed radically also. I found Denver’s perspective to be the most compelling and tragic, and subsequently, her fear of her own mother altered my perception of Sethe also. Denver says “I spent all of my outside self loving Ma’am so she wouldn’t kill me,” which led me to conclude that she didn’t truly love Sethe, she only did so she would survive. This added such a severe contrast to Sethe claiming that she killed her other daughter out of love; her remaining daughter doesn’t return this “love.” However, this makes me wonder if Denver’s consuming fear of her mother, her broken family and seemingly unpleasant reality and all the pain it brings is what Sethe wanted her daughter to not have to experience—did she spare her other daughter by ending her life?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I love the question you ask here. I'm not exactly sure what the answer is, but I think that your feelings that Denver only claims to love her mother to spare her own life is true. I feel like her fear of her mother is the only reason why she stays there.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Denver's narration of her experiences are very eye opening. From her previous actions and from third person narration of Denver, we don't get the idea that she is afraid of Sethe. It is almost shocking to hear that Denver was showing love for Sethe outwardly her entire life for fear of not getting killed. I was under the impression before Denver's narration that she still wasn't sure what happened all those years ago, or just didn't want to think about it or believe it.
ReplyDelete