As the final novel of this
semester, I believe that Beloved by
Toni Morrison managed to wrap up many of the important discussions we had
throughout the semester. Two of those major topics include psychological issues
and the importance of the past. These themes were important in at least two
novels, and seeing the overlap in these books helps validate the arguments
being made by each author.
The first
theme, psychological disorders, was factor in both White Boy Shuffle and Beloved.
In White Boy Shuffle, we were exposed
to the issues plaguing Scoby before he committed suicide. In a novel that was
very humorous, this event was sad and, for me, unexpected. Although the novel
itself did little to address the illness itself (in the story it was never
actually diagnosed) we still talked about Scoby’s death at length in class.
Then came the next novel, Beloved, in
which this topic arose again. Although it was not as clear as in White Boy Shuffle, there were still
times when we saw problems in Sethe’s actions. The plot of the novel circles
around the events during which Sethe kills her daughter to keep her “safe”. A
critical point in the novel is when Sethe shares her story with Paul D, hoping
that he will understand, but even he cannot get past the fact that she doesn’t
know the difference between death and safety. This inability to see the
difference drives Paul D away, and I think it could be classified as a mental
illness. In both books, although the topic of mental illness is not openly
discussed, the class still had important discussions.
The other
topic that was shared in a set of novels was the importance of history and not
ignoring race. This occurred in Beloved
where the idea of “rememory” is crucial to the understanding of the characters
as well as arc of the narrative. We see throughout the novel that the past is
fluid and never dies. Sethe makes it very clear that her past will be a part of
her daughter, and there is no ignoring what happened at Sweet Home. Although the
idea of “rememory” is unique, it is still similar to ideas talked about in Invisible Man. In the novel by Ralph
Ellison, the narrator’s first encounter with the Brotherhood is not so pleasant
because of an argument about not seeing race. This is an important scene
because it talks about whether the “perfect society” that the Brotherhood wants
is good, let alone possible. The narrator does not do much analyzing, but, as
readers, we were left to see the issues with the Brotherhood ignoring race while
hiring the narrator based off his race. In two different ways, Beloved and Invisible Man managed to bring into play the theme of how important
the history is in forming the present.
Each novel
we read this semester had its own set of themes it addressed, and in these
cases (as well as many others) those themes overlapped. Looking at what each
author talked about in the novel helps to better understand both books.
