A common theme that seemed to be interwoven throughout chapters fifteen through eighteen is the relationship between mother and daughter. These bonds seem to go far beyond any other relationship and the lack of a main father figure works to describe this sentiment. This is also why Paul D has met so much resistance from Beloved since he acts as a divider between her and Sethe. In this portion of Beloved, we are confronted with two motherly figures who sacrificed immensely for the sake of their children. Baby Suggs didn’t want freedom at the costs that would be associated with it, but she knew that Halle was uncompromising when it came to his mother’s wellbeing, so she reluctantly accepted to be bought freedom. Baby Suggs immediately felt the conflict that arose from this situation. Because Baby Suggs left Sweet Home before the Schoolteacher took over, she never knew that hardships of slavery that her peers did. But in particular, one event really stood out that makes me question Baby Suggs’ freedom. On page 180, directly after he grandchild died and her daughter went to jail, two children reminded Baby Suggs that she had to fix their boots. Even in freedom, Baby Suggs is indentured and still a slave to pay off her house.
We can find the parallels between this instance in Beloved and today, as many African Americans still treated as second class citizens. One example that I came across in Justice and Civil Society is directly related to the public school system in Richmond. Many predominantly black and poorer areas don’t have access to the same resources that much of America has. Because of this, these areas are stuck in self-fulfilling prophecies of poverty. The freedom that is promised to everyone and the “American Dream” are often illusions for many populations, even after decades of social growth.
We see a similar situation infold with Sethe, who would rather kill her children than have them go back to slavery. What I find interesting about this is that Sethe was not willing to have her children killed while they were in the midst of slavery. It was once she saw freedom that she realized just how bad their situation had been. What happens today when people don’t even know what they are deprived of? Regardless, these mothers were willing to risk everything in their lives, and even their children’s lives, for the sake of their children instead of themselves. It is the mother’s love that allows her children to move forward in life and work towards being truly free.
I like how you emphasized that, at its core, this is a story about the struggles of motherhood. Paul D is a character that comes in and tries to disturb the family dynamic, but he is not a central part of Sethe’s story. Sethe and Baby Suggs’ stories are about their hardships as mothers and how motherhood had to take an unconventional turn during the time of slavery. Mothers couldn’t show love the way one might think mothers should, but they did what they thought was right for their children at the time.
I agree with you in that motherhood is the central theme of the story. As we discussed in previous classes, too often mothers are left out of stories about slavery, when they are often the ones suffering the most when they are separated from their children and can’t protect them against the atrocities of slavery. Sethe was so worried of what would happen to her children if they were sold into slavery that she goes to the extreme and attempts to murder them.
I really liked your connection between Beloved and the volunteering for Justice and Civil Society. I volunteered at Overby Sheppard Elementary and immediately felt the issue that you discussed. Despite organized segregation having been abolished by the government, there are still echoes of the system in our country today and the public education system is one of them.
I like how drew a parallel between Baby Suggs’ indentured servitude and the struggles that people stuck in a poverty trap face today. Just as many newly-freed slaves ended up in a new form of slavery, people today exchange one bad circumstance for another that is nothing but the same situation wearing a friendlier face. Calling someone “free” or helping someone find a job today is one thing, but it does not matter if that “freedom” or that job doesn’t provide a means to advance and live a fulfilling life.