Critical Lens Experts- Marissa King

Figurations of Rape and the Supernatural 

by Pamela E. Barnett

In the Figurations of Rape and the Supernatural by Pamela E. Barnett, Barnett talks about the murder of Beloved and the pain that she brought from the past. Throughout the novel, Sethe deals with the trauma of rape and the loss of her baby as she fights through life. Sethe had a mental breakdown because she didn’t want her baby to suffer the way she did in times of slavery. Never did Sethe know her daughter would come back to haunt her for what she did to her.

Sethe had committed a terrible act out of love. She had killed her daughter to save her from the trauma Sethe had lived through and still does because of flashbacks of the past. Sethe has been raped multiple times in her life and that’s what she protected Beloved from. Barnett states that Sethe “ actually protected the baby from the deep despair that killed baby suggs, from “what Ella knew, what Stamp saw and what made Paul D tremble” (251): horrific experiences and memories of rape” (419). Throughout the text, Morrison is describing the different ways people dealt with their past events of rape, and torture. Barnett is just reiterating the fact that what Sethe did was a positive thing in the way that she was saving another soul from going through so much trauma starting at a young age.

When Sethe wanted to move on from her past with Denver, suddenly Beloved resurrected herself and changed their lives. Beloved saw a change in Sethe and noticed her she was separating herself from Beloved more and more. This caused Beloved to come back in human form. Beloved was presented as past memories coming back to haunt. In the Figurations of Rape and the Supernatural, Sethe and many other characters have pasts they like to hide, and not have to think about. But when Beloved comes back, all these memories come back with her, as stated in Barnett's article, “Beloved’s return to life corresponds to the return of many of Sethe’s painful repressed memories of her enslaved past” (419). After Beloved came back, there was a lot of heartbreak and hurt because the loved ones around Sethe were dealing with their pasts and the events they all had been avoiding. This ruined Sethe and Denver’ relationship. They weren’t as close due to Beloved splitting them up and Sethe paying more attention to Beloved so she could fix that relationship. Sethe would have different attitudes towards Denver and focus primarily on Beloved. This split between loved ones was Beloveds plan, she wanted Sethe to suffer because of the actions she caused against Beloved.

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She's Stealing More Than Just Your Man

Sex can traumatize a person. Rape and molestation especially can affect someone so much that they behave abnormally, and even dehumanize themselves. Pamela E. Barnett’s article, “Figurations of Rape and the Supernatural in Beloved” psychologically critiques Toni Morrison’s novel, Beloved; Barnett’s thesis revolves around the concept that the character “Beloved is not just the ghost of Sethe's dead child,” but instead symbolizes a “succubus, a female demon and nightmare figure that sexually assaults male sleepers and drains them of semen” due to the fact that most of “the memories that haunt Morrison's characters. . .involve sexual abuse and exploitation [which] hold particular power” over them. Because Beloved is the embodiment of succubus--or even  a ghostly presence of past memories of sexual assault--in two different assaults she takes “vitality” from Sethe as “Beloved [grew] bigger” with her “basket-fat stomach:” Sethe’s flesh begins to “fade” (285)--and “steals” Paul D’s semen to produce life.

Beloved symbolizes a succubus in multiple ways, but one quality that Beloved possesses which makes this theory even more concrete is her strong sense of sexuality. Paul D especially takes note of Beloved’s sexuality when Beloved starts to settle in 124. He does not trust Beloved one bit, and he senses that she is aroused all the time, but this arousal is not directed towards him because Beloved is not “shining” for him. Instead, she has this appetite only for Sethe, who "licked, tasted, eaten by Beloved's eyes," which Barnett correlates to a supernatural sexual violation.

Another quality Beloved owns that resembles a succubus is her behavior. Succubi are known for sexually violating their victims at night. Beloved shows her true desire to “consume” Sethe to Paul D when she tells him that "[Sethe] is the one [she] [has] to have" (89). This desire of Beloved’s causes her to act out; Sethe experiences Beloved’s desire during the night: Sethe is "sliding into sleep when she [feels] Beloved touch her. A touch no heavier than a feather but

loaded, nevertheless, with desire" (69). Just like a succubus, Beloved acts on her impulsive desires in the night, violating her prey in a vulnerable state of mind, as if her presence where like an eerie dream.

The final reason why Beloved symbolizes a succubus is the several sexual assaults she commits. Beloved violates Sethe during her stay at 124, by molesting Sethe as she “[slid] into sleep,” and violates her further when she kisses Sethe passionately on her neck. Unlike the time when Sethe was partially unconscious, Sethe stops Beloved and tells her that “[she’s] too old for that” (115). Beloved also assaults Paul D when she has sex with him because he resisted her offer to “touch [her] on the inside part,” yet Beloved “hoisted her skirts” and Paul D just went along with it (137). Since they engaged in ciotus, Beloved both violated Paul D by forcing him to “fuck” her and by doing so, she--just like a succubus--stole semen from him. By stealing Paul D’s semen, Beloved feeds her growing “basket-fat” stomach with Sethe’s vitality, further proving Barnett’s point. So, if a strange, young woman appears out of water and is always aroused, she might just be a succubus trying to steal semen and sucking the life out of her victims.

Critical Lens Experts: Figurations of Rape and the Supernatural in Beloved - Chris Bartee

In Pamela E Barnett’s essay, “Figurations of Rape and Supernatural in Beloved”, she tells about how the book is riddled with history and rape throughout it and uses them to bring out people’s real personalities and secrets.  In Toni Morrison’s “Beloved”, Sethe kills her own baby to save her from the pain and struggles of slavery.  Barnett says that Sethe did this to save her own child from rape when she says, that Sethe kills her daughter to keep “a gang of whites” from “invading her private parts”.  This is exceptionally interesting because when Sethe kills beloved in the book, neither the narrator or characters made any connection between it and rape until later in the book when Sethe finally describes why she did it.

Rape is brought up several times during the novel, one of the first times is when Sethe offered sex with the cemetery groundskeeper just so she could have the name “Beloved” engraved onto the baby’s headstone.  This gives an early look for the reader on how the book is going to evolve as it goes through the story.  Because they show sex and rape so early in the story, Barnett was able to infer that this would be a big portion and a causation of a lot of problems in the book.  Beloved uses “rape” to help tarnish Sethe and Paul D’s relationship when she found Paul D in the building apart from the house and forced him to have relations with her.  By doing this, Paul D’s character changed completely and turned and left the house of the ghost of 124 soon after.

After Paul D left 124, Beloved took control and started bossing around Sethe and Denver, this is when Denver hears about Sethe’s past and how she killed her own child to save her from rape and physical abuse.  Barnett says that after Beloved disappears and Paul D returns, they had experienced Beloved as a “sexually menacing nightmare figure” this could be because of the experience between her and Paul D that happened in the coal house or the experiences that Sethe had to go through to deal with the “resurrected” ghost of Beloved.

In the story, Sethe is traumatized about the murder of her baby beloved, and because of this, the baby’s ghost returns to make her pay.  This could be karma for Sethe killing the baby or it could be the ghost being stuck on earth because it’s life was ended before it was supposed to.  There is a strong correlation between rape and the storyline.  In the article, Barnett says that “Beloved serves as a powerful reminder that rape was and often still is a racial issue.”  By this, Barnett is stating that there is a racial difference between the white men and black women.  This is a cause of Morrison showing the discourse of rape between black men and women during the 20th century.  In the book Beloved, a black woman “rapes” Paul D while also representing the memories of the whites assault on blacks.

Overall, Beloved has many queues that there is a recurring tone of rape throughout the novel.  This is shown through many different scenes in the book including Beloved’s rape on Paul D, Sethe killing her daughter to save her from rape and slavery, and even Sethe having relations with the graveyard owner to get Beloved’s name written on the tombstone.  It is also shown in hidden meanings behind the words, which ultimately all returns to the theme of rape.

Close Reading Blog Entry - Chris Bartee

https://www.etsy.com/listing/110775617/vintage-union-leader-smoking-tobacco-tin

"Paul D never worried about his little tobacco tin any-more.  It was rusted shut...

...he didn't hear the whisper that the flakes of rust made either as they fell away from the seams of his tobacco tin.  So when the lid gave he didn't know it.  What he knew was that when he reached the inside part he was saying, 'Red heart. Red heart," over and over again

(Beloved, 137-138).

      In the story beloved, I studied the psychoanalytical lens.  Overall, the character’s mentality changed exponentially.  One scene in the book that I studied immensely is the section where Paul D is sleeping in the cold room and Beloved enters the room and wants to have relations with him.  During this, instead of thinking about what was happening, his “tobacco tin heart” broke open and he started saying “Red Heart” and memories of being a slave came back to him.  In this scene, Paul D calls his heart a “tobacco tin” that was “rusted shut”.  He calls it this because a tobacco tin is cold and hard on the inside.  Saying that it is rusted shut is saying that he is suppressing all his memories of the past, and closing off anyone in the present from being able to get close to him.

Throughout this scene, Paul D goes through a transformation.  In this scene, Paul D had a drastic change in character.  It shows his closing himself off from his memories through this passage, "Paul D never worried about his little tobacco tin any-more.  It was rusted shut" (Beloved, 137).  Slowly throughout the scene, the tobacco tin heart's rust "falls off" and lets the lid open.  There is a lot of symbolism in the tobacco tin being that when it breaks open during this scene, he finds himself repeating the words “red heart” (Beloved, 138).  When saying red heart, he is involuntarily opening up his heart again to the outside world.  Red is a metaphor for many different things such as love, pain, and death.  In this scene it means all three, seeing as it opens his heart to the death and pain from sweet home, but it also opens up his mind to finally forgive Sethe in the end.  Throughout the beginning, he is having nightmares about his past and is suppressing them, such as the scene where Paul D is escaping from the trench in sweet home.  After this encounter with beloved, Paul D has more flashbacks of sweet home, and starts to put the past behind him to look to the future.

      One quote that wasn’t from the book that I found stuck to the theme of the story is one by Buddha; “Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of future, concentrate the mind on the present moment” (Buddha, BrainyQuote).  This quote seems to be very prominent throughout the story, throughout the book, Paul D and Sethe are worrying about the past and the problems that could happen in the future, it is evident that this is one of the main downfalls of both of these characters.  In Pauly D, it is shown through his rusted shut tobacco tin heart, and in Sethe it is through her suppressed memories of her daughter beloved and Sweet Home.  

Citations:

Sources:

“Buddha Quotes.” Brainy Quote. Brainy Quote. N.A. 2015. Web. Oct. 27, 2015

Photos:
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That Green-Eyed Beloved

"He stood up and made her stay there while he held her in his arms. Her dress soaked up the water from his body. His jaw was near her ear. Her chin touched his shoulder. . .Beloved came through the door and they ought to have heard her tread, but they didn’t. . .She took a step and felt like crying. . .and it was so much better than the anger that ruled when Sethe did or thought anything that excluded herself. She could bear the hours. . .when Sethe was gone. Bear even the nights when she was close but out of sight, behind walls and doors lying next to him. But now--even the daylight time that Beloved had counted on, disciplined herself to be content with, was being reduced, divided by Sethe’s willingness to pay attention to other things. Him mostly" (p. 118).

                 Beloved revolves her life around Sethe, depending on her constant presence and attention. Much like a child, Beloved expects Sethe to prioritize her first before anyone else--in all aspects of life-- and this expectation causes Beloved to become extremely jealous when she sees Sethe spending time with Paul D instead of her.

When Beloved sees Paul D “h[olding] [Sethe] in his arms,” it causes Beloved to feel jealous because Beloved wanted to spend time with Sethe alone. We can tell that Beloved is jealous of Paul D’s relationship with Sethe when Beloved watches the lovers engage with each other; the couple is so wrapped up in each other as “he held her in his arms” that they ignore Beloved’s “tread,” resulting in Beloved feeling she’s jealous because Paul D is causing Sethe to “exclude” Beloved. Sethe “excluding” Beloved to spend time with Paul D causes Beloved to mark Paul D as a barrier between her and Sethe because “now--even the daylight time that Beloved had counted on” gets reduced, and “divided by Sethe’s willingness” to pay heed to “him mostly.”

    Beloved’s conscious conveys her jealousy especially when she states that her time that she counted on had to be pushed aside because Sethe had this willingness to spend her time with Paul D. Beloved’s word choice is meant to be bitter since she does not understand why Sethe would choose Paul D over her. The bitter way that Beloved uses to describe why Sethe “divid[es]” their time together can also be perceived as pejorative. By Beloved ¨bear[ing] the hours. . .when Sethe [is] gone” and even bearing the “nights when [Sethe] [is] close but out of sight, behind walls and doors lying next to him,” results in Beloved truly believing that she deserves Sethe’s love and attention more than anyone else. This pejorative voice that Beloved portrays how she is so jealous that Sethe would choose to spend time with someone who doesn’t even seem worth “paying attention” to; we can infer that Beloved views Paul D ominously because Beloved reflects on how Paul D hurts Sethe’s feelings, thus doesn’t love her as much as Beloved does because he did not “rescue” Sethe’s neck (p. 119).

Why I chose This Lens

I chose the psychoanalytic lense because I am interested in the internal thoughts and ideas and how they form in a person’s mind.  I also am interested in how people react to these thoughts, if the disregard it, or listen to it completely.  I have had many different thoughts internally that I’m not going to say or do out loud due to my filter, because they would be rude and hurt people's feelings.  I would want to see what’s behind a person’s filter and see the little particles of ideas that get caught and don’t make it out the person’s mouth.  I believe that internally, everyone is a different person than they show externally.  I wasn’t very interested in any other lenses, because some seemed biased and this one I felt I would learn the most from.  Hopefully by the end of this project, I will learn to see everything going on inside a person’s head and be able to tell what the hidden meanings of all their thoughts really are.

Looking Behind Different Lens.

In order to receive a deeper understanding of life in general, I like to place myself inside other’s shoes so that I can have a better grasp of their perspective. Questions and inferences are constantly running through my head when I’m around others, processing and analyzing their inner thoughts and feelings. I’ve always had a strength with reading other’s emotions because I--like a chameleon almost--tend to feel other’s--who are around me--emotions as if they were my own. After taking Psychology, my curiosity of human nature grew more. What caused that person to kill? What is going on in their mind? I think this lens is an insightful way of helping me understand how to be the best that I can by learning from other’s thoughts, and actions and applying them to my own life.

Psychoanalytical Lens

Why I Chose This Lens

By Marissa King

I chose Psychoanalytic as my lens for this project because I enjoy learning about psychology and why people think and act the way they do. I find it interesting when in a book, you are able to connect their thoughts and emotions about anything to their actions towards the subject. When a character shares internal thoughts you are able to analyze why they are who they are and what makes them who they are. You can see if they act because of their nature or nurture and what their Id, Ego and Superego are like. We can infer their future behaviors by analyzing a character's Id, Ego and Superego. This lens is interesting to me because I love psychology, and want to major in it. So if I am able to read this book with a psychoanalytic lens then I feel I will start making my way to being ready for college and using the skills I learned in this project.

Close Reading Blog Entry - Marissa King

            Beloved By Toni Morrison

"The baby's fury at having its throat cut, but those ten minutes she spent pressed up against dawn- colored stone studded with star chips, her knees wide open as the grave, were longer than life, more alive, more pulsating than the baby blood that soaked her fingers like oil" (6).

The characters in Toni Morrison's Beloved have been through multiple hardships and events no other could imagine. Sethe has gone through a hard life of slavery and rape and through this time has had four children, Howard, Buglar, Denver and Beloved. In the quote above, Sethe talks about the death of her child, Beloved. Toni Morrison uses multiple literary devices in Beloved, one of them being foreshadowing. Foreshadowing occurs most when Morrison is hinting off that the one who murdered Beloved is Sethe. Through the text she shares her internal feelings of guilt and regret, and how she deals with her baby haunting her.
You can only infer that “the baby’s fury”  haunts Sethe because she killed Beloved. Beloved’s rage and horror is focused primarily on Sethe and how Beloved died. As a 2 year old baby Beloved was haunting her mother for a crime that was committed to save Beloved. But Beloved does not understand that it was out of Sethe’s best interest. Not because Sethe did not love or want her.
Morrison also explains the ten minutes when Sethe chose to have sex with the grave digger in order to get Beloved's grave stone engraved with her name, “ten minutes she spent pressed up against dawn-colored stone.. longer than life.. more alive.. more pulsating” this evidence is stating that Sethe enjoys the rush she feels during this moment. She describes this moment as more exciting and fulfilling than when she killed her own daughter. This can also symbolize the birth of her daughter Beloved. The “pulsating” that Morrison is describing is Sethe giving birth to Beloved. She is representing the rebirth of her baby girl.
When Morrison says “the baby blood that soaked her fingers like oil” she is talking about Sethe and how the blood of Beloved was sticking to her fingers when she was bleeding out and did not come off. This is implying that this memory will never leave her, she will always remember the moment her baby’s throat was slit.
This quote is reflecting on the moment that Sethe is remembering the murder of her baby and how it will stay with her for the rest of her life. The remorseful Sethe feels overwhelmed her to where she tried to use the pain of slavery to remember the birth of Beloved.



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