beloved. toni morrison. (111)

i read toni morrison's "beloved" because it is on flavorpill's 30 before 30 list.  i have to admit, at first i was weary because of the ghost and supernatural occurances in 124.  i am not one for ghost stories but it turned out to be a tragic yet beautiful story of endurance. 

"beloved" is the tale of a family and community coping with a tragedy and the appearance of a mystery woman.  the tragic event was when slaveowners found escaped slave sethe (the protagonist) to return her to the farm and in an attempt to keep her children safe, she kills her infant daughter.  sethe is jailed and the slaveowner frightened by the sight leaves her alone.  this infant daughter haunts her house and the community and then comes back in the form of an actual person, beloved.  

infanticide is a horrible crime yet is justifiable considering the horrors of slavery.  i might sound like a horrible person but i understand why sethe killed her baby.  better for that baby to die at the hands of her mother than later in life by her slaveowner or the clan.  also better to avoid a life of abuse and treatment like an animal.  actually as demonstrated in paul d's (an old friend of sethe who becomes her lover) story about how he was jealous of a rooster when he realized it was more free than him.  its horrible to imagine any situation in which a human is treated less than an animal but sadly this was how the american institution of slavery was.

in my post for art spiegelman's "maus", i discussed how "maus" allows readers to truly understand a part of history that one would only know due to history books but not as a human experience.  the same can be said for "beloved".  in school, we learn about slavery yet we have have no idea what it was really like.  in history books there are excerpts from slave narratives but unless you read one it's can not grasp the full experience of a slave.  furthermore, i would assume american textbooks present slaveflaw oils not be complete honesty about slavery and present it in a sympathetic light because american society would not want its student to see its country negatively.  to get a honest perspective one has to look elsewhere. "beloved" allows the reader to do just that, it puts things into perspective.  

for example, i knew that slaves were separated from their family members; families torn apart because they were viewed as property but it was different when i read about it in "beloved".  reading about baby suggs, sethe's mother-in-law, trying to find out which farms her children were taken to or how paul d was  amazed and envious when he met generations of black families that were able to stay together, framed it in a ways i could relate.  but the best example was paul d thought that sethe love for her daughter denver was "risky":

for a used-to-be-slave woman to love anything that much is dangerous . . . the best thing, he knew, was to love just a little bit; everything, just a bit, so when they broke it back, or shoved it in a croaker sack, well, maybe you'd have a little love left over for the next one.

it sad to imagine a world in which affection and love for your child was

dangerous because at any moment they could be taken away from you.  and yes all parents fear losing a child but for slaves it was a fact of life. furthermore, imagine your family bonds not being respected because you were not viewed as a person.  family relations were ignored because slaves were not viewed as having them because they were property.

another aspect of "beloved" that left an impression on me was the hopelessness of slavery and how individuals coped with it.  all the characters had to deal with it but i believe baby suggs was the best example because she was free and yet did not find happiness.  her son, sethe's husband, had bought her freedom but even than it did not result in peace for her. baby suggs was a spiritual leader but after the tragedy with sethe, her spirit was broken.  like she told her friend stamp when he asked why she didn't preach anymore and accused her of punishing god, she replied "not like He punish me".  it's hard to believe in a god that does not stop the suffering in one's life.  i have always said that i could never be job so i undertstand baby sugg's frustration with god.  as a result of her hopelessness, baby suggs went to bed and stayed there, her "wish was to consider what in the world was harmless" and she did that by thinking about colors because they never harmed anyone.  it was sad but beautiful how she found comfort in colors, she still had hope even if she didn't have faith in god.

another example of this hopelessness was the chain gang that paul d worked on.  it was explained that the gang would sing as they worked:

singing love songs to Mr. Death, they smashed his head.  more than the rest, they killed the flirt whom folks called Life for leading them on.  making them think the next sunrise would be worth it . . .

morrison's analogy of life as a flirt is quite clever though sad.  it's one thing to not have faith in god but quite another to not have faith in life.  

though "beloved" demonstrated the horrors of slavery, the lesson to be learn is to not hold on to the past.  (this is also the same lesson of "the great gatsby" which is also on the 30 before 30 list. hmmmm).  as explained before, sethe's dead daughter comes back to life as beloved and at first sethe is happy because it gives her the opportunity to right her wrong.  however, even though sethe wa regretful and tried to give beloved the love she needed, in the end, beloved destroyed her.  and that is how it is in life, if you cling to the past it will ruin you (like seen in "gatsby").  instead one must accept their past, mistakes and all, and continue to life on.  one can not let tragedy stop them.  an individual must learn to endure the pain that life can be at times.

i wonder if this is the one of the overall lesson of the flavorpill list?  so far two books about not holding onto the past.  but regardless, "beloved" was a wonderful novel and should be read regardless of your age.

maus. art spiegelman. (102)

i remember learning about "maus" in college, the premise was very interesting, a comic book about the holocaust with the jews as mice and the nazis as cats. but i never picked it up. what brought it back into my life was flavorpill's 30 to read before 30 so i finally read it.

what a beautiful story. the comic book is a memoir, the story of author's father, vladek spiegelman and what he endured during the holocaust. i am always so amazed by how fate worked in favor of those who survived the holocaust and how strong they were to have lived through what they did. however, i would not call their survival a blessing but luck because as explained in a therapy session of the cartoonist:

it was random who survived and who didn't. and surviving is not more admirable than dying. it sad because as discussed in this same session the guilt of those who survived for living. but their fate was out of their hands, it simply was luck. i always think of my friend larry's grandfather who survived the holocaust, because he knitted socks for the nazi. furthermore, he had a wrist injury that allowed him to knit as well as he did. just proving that life really does work in mysterious ways.

i was also impressed by how resourceful vladek was from the very beginning. he took the initiative to find a solution for his problems. vladek's intelligence had much to do with his surivivall. i was amazed by how he was able to deliver food and letters to his wife anja when they were both in camp. i would have never been that resourceful. also he was very innovative, for example how he used the blacket as a hammock while in the trains. it was impressive to see what how clever we was in finding solutions for his survival.

(sorry to the reader, i am sorry for my overuse of amazing and impressive but i am truly in awe of all that happen in vladek's life).

if you haven't read "maus" you should. i couldn't put it down and finished it in a day (granted it is a graphic novel). "maus" is a truly remarkable story and should not be rehashed via me but something you experience on your own.

i do think "maus" is an important read for everyone and not just before 30. we know of the holocaust and how horrible it was but there is still some disconnect from it. we know that hitler and the nazi were evil but for most people, the holocaust is an event in history books. "maus" show us the human experience (though cleverly through animal characters). it gives a soul to the individuals we read about as stastiscs in textbooks. since it is in comic book form, it's presented in a medium everyone can understand and thus relate to. i think it should be used as text for high school students when learning about the holocaust so they can have a better understanding of what occured. for the only way we can prevent history from repeating is knowing our past.

last but not least, i will say that it pained me to see art not wanting to be near his father. his father worked so hard for his son and i wish art was more patient with with him. but then i also get how it can be with parents.