Sethe's Love

One of the central events in Beloved that is constantly referred to throughout the novel is the murder of Beloved herself. This death at the hands of Sethe is the source for many passages that give readers a look in to the traits and feelings of many different characters and their interactions with each other. In the narration of the murder, schoolteacher along with some others find Sethe in the shed with the children in terrible condition around her. Howard and Buglar are bleeding nearby, Sethe has just cut her daughter’s throat, and she is about to inflict more damage on Denver. Stamp Paid interfered before it was really all too late, but the murder of one baby daughter had been committed. A while later, when Sethe gives her own account, she includes a bit in her tragic story of when she realized her children would be called for slavery. She claims that she was overwhelmed, so she went forward with her violent action. The decision she makes is portrayed as entirely out of love and a heart of protection, no malice included. Basically, Sethe wants to go forward with the ultimate wrong of taking away their lives so that they don’t have to go through the same slavery life that she dreads.

The reason why Sethe’s position as a mother allows for her to try to go so far as to take away the life of her children is because the past of slavery is so real and present in her feelings. There is a consistent theme of events never dying in the novel, and so the painful memories of slavery unfortunately strongly stick to Sethe. As a result, she is overwhelmed with the reality and there is a backlash in her actions. Overall, she does her very best to avoid thinking about the slavery days and the harsh times. Although it is a real struggle, she attempts to avoid traumatic experiences of the past at all costs. Due to this extreme reaction to the ongoing nature of slavery memories, when Sethe meets the older Beloved from out of the river she fails to recognize her as the reincarnation of her baby. Morrison makes the signs that they are connected so blatant, and so the failure of Sethe to connect just shows how much she has trained herself to forget the unforgettable past. In the text, Beloved is described as having extremely smooth baby skin and a strong tie to the water. And of all people, it would make sense for Sethe to connect to Beloved right off the bat, instead, she has blinded herself and is really unable to see even the clearest of hints. The other few people in the house take note of Beloved, but Sethe is just oblivious to it all. The influence of a story are evident in the moment that Sethe actually recites her version to Paul D, as the story envelops her and she describes it as if she were there again. Morrison continuously pushes the theme of undying events, and the storytelling of Sethe is one tool that is available for her to accomplish this goal.

Because she makes such an extreme decision to express her love, Paul D actually backs out from his relationship with Sethe. While most readers of Beloved feel a certain level of sympathy for her, these feelings are absent in Paul D and he initiates a dry, harsh split between them, breaking their long relationship because of the story rather than approaching Sethe by considering her side. He observes that she loves too much and that it seems like she forgets that she has “two feet…not four.” He means to say that her love is animalistic and that is primitive. Additionally, it carries the implication that Sethe does not know how to restrain herself. Paul D is so adamant in his belief that Sethe is not wise and worthy any longer that he leaves the household entirely. There is actually another character in the book that expresses some of Paul D’s sentiments. This figure is Ella. The two women meet each other through Stamp Paid, since Ella and Stamp Paid work together in the Underground Railroad and are connected in helping Sethe. It does not take too long for Ella to notice the way Sethe is glued to Denver, and she kind of resents that behavior. In her mind, she feels that Sethe goes too far in loving her children. In the end Paul D and Ella both tend to distance themselves from Sethe.

The reaction that Sethe receives opens up questions on why she gets such a cold response when sharing her sad story. Both Ella and Paul D have experienced a lot in the realm of slavery as well, so it makes sense that they have no patience for emotions being spent over matters related to slavery. Basically Sethe takes one option of becoming intense in her love because the slavery deprived her of love, and Paul D and Ella are oddly restrained because they are trying their best to forget slavery. The two parties take two entirely different paths for a shared interest: to forget the cruelty of slavery. Once they align near each other, it is natural that they clash and cause relationships to break. The fact that the way in which the characters want to deal with their memories influences them to their present days is testament to the undying aspect in experiences.