Sethe, Tragically Misunderstood
Never has there been so little room for judgement or forming opinions about a character as in the case of Sethe, the protagonist of Beloved. As readers, we recognize that her actions are hers and hers alone, and that to put ourselves in her shoes to gauge her actions is completely unimaginable: her situation could not be more different from what any modern reader has experienced. However, we see an endless stream of characters within the novel itself who are quick to make decisions about Sethe, typically negative ones. Despite all of the suffering that all those around her have gone through as well, it is shocking how little these same people stop to think about what could have possibly driven Sethe to her actions, and make often unfair judgements. To me, this is the most heartbreaking element of the novel: Sethe, who has suffered so much and faced unthinkable decisions, just wants someone to understand her and her "thick" love. But it seems to be her terrible fate that no one stops to consider her pain and the difficulty of the choices she has to make, and they instead ostracize her, call her proud and vain, and even portray her as animalistic.
There is a universal repulsion throughout the book following Sethe's actions- this is understandable considering the crushing weight of what she has done. What saddened me, however, was that Sethe becomes "prideful [and] misguided" (Morrison 256) as well as an animal with four feet rather than two to people in her own community who understand the struggle of slavery. Sethe has had to support herself in the midst of what she has done, and she longs for someone who will know what she has done but still understand and catch her as she falls. Instead, her overwhelming love for her children is seen as pride, even animalism. No one around her supports her decision, but rather insults its intentions. This is crushing to Sethe, who attempts to seek the forgiveness of Beloved after years of being spurned by everyone in the community who judged what she did. The behavior of the community towards her actions and the dearth of any company for Sethe that would comprehend her love fuel her devastating desperation for forgiveness from Beloved that pushes her to the brink of utter disconnection. One of Sethe's very first thoughts after realizing Beloved's true identity is she "don't have to remember nothing... don't even have to explain. [Beloved] understands it all" (Morrison 183). All she longs for is someone she need not defend herself to, someone who recognizes her love and appreciates her for it rather than attacking her. We see more tragically that Beloved's intentions do not seem to be what Sethe had hoped either, and that she is hell-bent on punishing Sethe rather than forgiving her. Time after time, Sethe longs for understanding and is relentlessly deprived of it.
Clearly, Sethe's actions are incredibly difficult to stomach for anyone, even for someone like Paul D who has suffered as she has. The motherly love and the circumstances that led to the event were ones that cannot be imagined or understood, so to expect the community to come around to it is entirely unrealistic. But it is nonetheless one of the truly saddening things about this novel, that this beautifully complex woman who is cruelly faced with an impossible choice, is punished over and over for the "wrong" choice. She is forced to keep herself going with her own validation, and the sheer strength of Sethe's willpower and love is one that is almost disturbing in its resonance in the novel and in its readers. Beloved has painted a portrait of the most incredibly strong women I could imagine, and I leave this novel in awe of both the character and the hand that wrote it.
Morrison, Toni. Beloved. New York, Penguin Books, 1988.
Among the many excellent observations in this overview of the impossibility of judging Sethe's actions is the observation that Paul's choice of words to express his moral disapproval ends up being almost surgically designed to trigger Sethe's traumatic memories of Sweet Home and provide essentially the OPPOSITE of what she needs from Paul in this moment. Of course, Paul's implication that there's something inhuman or animalistic about Sethe's "rough choice" in the woodshed echoes the very language of schoolteacher and his "students" that provokes Sethe to get her children out of Sweet Home by any means necessary. But it also directly echoes the language of schoolteacher two chapters earlier, where he draws another "lesson" from the scene in the woodshed, confidently instructing his nephew about the consequences of "overbeating" a horse or a woman.
ReplyDeleteInstead, Morrison challenges us--through the book's title, the "name" of the haunting character, and through Sethe's characterization as an intensely and indomitably LOVING mother-figure throughout the book--to see the use of the saw in the woodshed as an unambiguous and even breathtaking ACT OF LOVE, the most definitively HUMAN kind of act imaginable. It's not just that Morrison suggests that Sethe is NOT animalistic in her "choice"--the fact that this mother CHOOSES this incredibly difficult course of action consciously and lovingly means that it is DEFINITIVELY "human." Your final paragraph expresses this idea very well. Readers of the novel have no doubt whatsoever that this character is human in every possible way.
Sethe's decision is undeniably the most thought-provoking element of the novel. At a surface level, it is easy to make a rash judgement and say that Sethe was wrong, as it is difficult to imagine a scenario where infanticide is justified. However, Morrison's narrative (sadly based on a true story) forces Sethe to make an impossible decision, and the outcome of that decision simply cannot be judged by those who cannot even begin to fathom such circumstances.
ReplyDeleteI think one of the most tragic things about this novel is that not only was Sethe put in a position where she had to make an unthinkable decision, but she was isolated from those who should have been most understanding and sympathetic towards her. To the community, she failed as a mother, but Sethe must have seen her community as failing her as human beings who also went through the vile institution of slavery.
ReplyDeleteHi Kruthi! I like how discussed that throughout the novel, Sethe just wants to be understood and validated. She wants someone to love her for her whole self. The fact that she keeps going, loving and validating herself, is at once one of the most beautiful and saddening things of this novel. Sethe is one of the strongest characters I've ever read, and I think you do an amazing job talking about that throughout this post. Great post!
ReplyDeleteThis book really makes the reader question how to factor context into their interpretations of a character's actions. Though I did find it upsetting that the rest of the community disagreed with Sethe's actions, I think it sort of represents what Toni Morrison wants us not to do. They made their conclusions without much thought, and seeing that, it makes us want to judge Sethe even less. Great blog!!
ReplyDeleteThis is a really interesting blog post! This was one of the themes I found most interesting in Beloved. I thought it was so heartbreaking that this impossible decision that Sethe had to make–one that she feels she needs to defend as love or she won't be able to live with herself for it–is so harshly judged, and her behavior after the event is viewed as prideful. I love your analysis of the reaction to Sethe's actions and I think that you highlighted all of the important things that make this action so hard to judge.
ReplyDelete