While reading the book
of Beloved there is no shortage of
religious references and the faith within some of the characters is evident as
well. The strength in the religious references seems to all culminate near the
end of the book. The one thing that stands out to me the most was the ending
sentences when Paul D says, “You your best thing, Sethe. You are” the
importance of Sethe’s faith and her religious beliefs will be what helps her
through the tragedy and the loss of her baby again. It might be tough to
interpret by what Paul D meant by saying this to Sethe, but it tends to
resonate more with me in a spiritual way.
In the days leading up to this confrontation Denver was
finally able to round up the support to break Sethe from her trance and get rid
of Beloved. When the women were singing and praying in the street Sethe and
Beloved stepped out on the porch. Sethe then looked up into the sky and it says
this, “The sky is blue and clear. Not one touch of death in the definite green of
the leaves. It is when she lowers her eyes to look again at the loving faces
before her…” This was the moment that Sethe became liberated from the presence
of Beloved and what she represented. Blue is often a color used to describe
spirituality, while green can mean life or renewal. Once Sethe is saved from
the trap of Beloved she looks down to notice the “loving faces before her…”
this has caused Sethe to see the beauty of her surroundings and the people who
cared. It is important that it seems as though Sethe was liberated by spiritual
renewal within her from seeing the blue clear sky and green leaves. That refers
to her being, “You your best thing, Sethe. You are”, Paul D recognized that
Sethe’s identity was completely based on the relationship of Beloved. Hence why Sethe constantly looked to
please and spoil Beloved in hopes of gaining forgiveness. Sethe is her own best
thing because everything that she placed her faith and hope in was crumbling,
but to experience that spiritual renewal when the women arrived should have set
her free. In the bible it talks about many times finding freedom in Christ and
more importantly finding our identity through who Christ says we are. 1
Corinthians 3:16 says, “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and
that God’s Spirit lives in you?” If the symbolism of the liberating blue clear
sky and the green of the leaves allows Sethe to have a spiritual renewal then
God should be made whole within her. If this was the case then Sethe should be
able to place her faith, burdens, doubts, fears, and shame into God’s hands
allowing her to be set free from her past sin. Paul D is telling Sethe to focus
on herself and what is important to her, and if Sethe can build a faith like
the one that Baby Suggs had then Sethe would be an even better woman and mother
after the events of everything. The more Sethe finds forgiveness from God,
instead of the spirit of Beloved, she will find her true self and true
happiness again. Allowing her to be set free from the worries of the world, but
held by the principles of Christ. Romans 6:18 says, “You have been set from sin
and have become slaves to righteousness.” Allowing herself to open her heart to
God will be the only thing to transform her from past mistakes and look forward
to the future as a servant to God.
{613}
Morrison, Toni. Beloved. New York: Vintage International,
2004. Print.
Dustin,
ReplyDeleteYour post was very interesting. It made me think about things in a different way. For me, I thought that the only forgiveness Sethe really needed was from herself. I thought that once she forgave herself, she would be able to be herself. I never really considered religion playing a role in any of it. But if you see it that way, it opens up a whole new perception on the novel. I can totally see how that moment in the book was her giving herself to Christ and forgiving herself. Therefore, she set Beloved free. Do you think that if why Beloved really disappeared? Because she was set free by Sethe, and then released into heaven? You have some really good points, and this could lead to a strong final paper.
I find what you wrote as thought-provoking. I know that religion and spirituality are a big theme in Beloved and the allusions to the Bible are indisputable. So I really enjoyed your analysis of it. I know colors are a major theme in Beloved (as I accidently eavesdropped on a conversation about colors in Beloved) so your ideas about blue and green are very interesting. I know blue can be known as a representation for Heaven and in the Bible (which I believe spawns from the fact that the sky is blue), the throne of God is described as made of sapphire. So the ideas you bring out about color are just great food- for-thought. I will look more into that later. I also liked reading about your ideas of salvation and redemption. That Sethe forgiving herself was a moment or opportunity to give her life to Christ was interesting. I take it as a possibility and wonder if anyone believes that. It’s good to keep this thought in mind if I were to reread Beloved. I thank you for the idea. I wonder what Toni Morrison's beliefs were.
ReplyDeleteDustin, I really like where you are going with this and I know you really liked the story. I feel if you build up Sethe's condition throughout the first part of the novel via her experience and previous references to faith when looking into the sky, colors, etc., you will more effectively reveal her profound changes. I hope this makes sense.
ReplyDeleteGreat job here analyzing the conncection between faith/religion and how it is used in the novel. This leads me to ask, what do you think Toni Morrison's purpose, if any, is in making characters such as Sethe, Baby Suggs, or Paul D so well endowed in their faith? Also, if your focus for your paper is rleigion in Beloved, you could consider discussing how Morrison uses specific characters to develop religion as a theme.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting post, Dustin! I believe that this would be a great start to your final paper. Like Jarrett, I would like to see more specific examples of how Morrison uses particular characters to develop religion as a theme. It is interesting that at certain points in your post you seem to refer to religion and spirituality as one, yet then you refer to Beloved as a spirit and not a creature with a negative connotation such as a demon or ghost. How do you view the character Beloved's overall intent (good/evil) within the theme of religion? I enjoyed your focus on Sethe, but I would also be interested in the role Beloved plays as a part of religion and perhaps why she is seen as having so many different personalities and stages of life (child/woman/mother/pregnant).
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you made a reference to Beloved. I was hoping to expand more on Beloved in my final paper, but I definitely see Beloved as a demonic spirit. Throughout Beloved's stay at 124 Sethe is constantly trying to bring up the night of the "murder" to explain to Beloved why she had to kill her. So I see Beloved as a demonic spirit that is forcing the past on Sethe which is prohibiting her from moving forward. This is something I've dealt within myself and seen in others that when you try to live your life for God that the past can come back to haunt you (in this case literally). So I'm trying to convey the message that it's important for Sethe to seek the forgiveness of God rather than the spirit of her dead daughter.
DeleteGreat post! The bible verse from Corinthians worked perfectly for the point you were making. Jarrett- I think that Morrison's choice to make the characters in Beloved extremely religious was not a choice of the author but honoring how slaves and former slaves really were during this time period. Being strong in your faith and surrendering all your trust to god was all that the salves had in their life. Their religious was the one shining light in the darkness that they knew would always be there. Slaves had full control over their religion (know one can control a silent prayer in your head). I think Morrison made the characters religious because that's how it would have been in real life. Dustin have you thought about researching the role that religion played in the life of a slave? Or maybe the types of religions practice? secret worship? Good luck with your paper!
ReplyDeleteDustin- I really liked your post. It was very interesting. When I was reading the part where Sethe and Beloved are on the porch, the colors never resonated with me. Did you research the colors? Or was that something you knew before hand? I think that your on to something when it comes to the spirituality and the importance of colors. I was looking back through the book and I wondered if a reference to other colors was ever mentioned. If the is another reference, you could include that on top of what you already have in place. I think that your ideas were unique. I have never considered that colors were so significant. I think that you are on the right track with Paul D's sentiments to Sethe. He is showing her that she cannot love anything else until she loves her self.
ReplyDeleteThroughout reading Beloved I definitely saw the different religious themes or areas that are highlighted in the book so I had in mind that's what I wanted to write my paper on. So I used Google to help me come up with different angles on how to use that theme, and the reference to the colors was one of the things I saw so I began to research the different meanings of the colors and how I could use that to develop the direction of my final paper. However, I don't see the colors as a main talking, but rather just as a building block to other areas of analysis.
DeleteGood post. i really had never looked at that moment between sethe and paul d in that way. i always saw it as paul d trying to show beloved the importance of herself,and how she should put herself first. In most christian religions it is taught always to put god first, not ourselfs, so in a way it contadicts itself alittle. You bring up some good points thoug, and really gave me a whole new way to look at this quote in the book.
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