Critical Lens Experts Blog Entry

Toni Morrison’s novel Beloved is a book that has interesting issues of race, class, gender, families, traumas and politics  of the United States of the 1800’s. However, one of the focusing his novel has is on how women are treated at this time especially at during the 1800’s when society believed that men should have power of everything and woman were just submissive. Especially The white men were men that treated all women worse compared to the black men that also mistreated women but not as bad as the white men many may know that in 1800’s all woman did not have as much power as men, however Morrison’s message is about slave female, how they processed their lives after slavery ended and how both women and men have trouble overcoming.

Pamela E. Barnett claims in the novel Sethe's past was really abusive mentally and physically based on how Morrison showed in the novel. Pamela E. Barnett stated, “To confront a past they cannot forget”.Pamela E. Barnett statement is presented in the novel Beloved when Sethe cannot forget about her past of slavery that most of the time was getting rape and not being able to do anything about it, now that she have a family she was really focused on them, and save them from having a life as a slavery the way she did. These are several reason what Sethe did things that a mother would never do like killing there own kids. Based on the novel Morrison states, “More pulsating than the baby blood soaked her fingers like oil” (page6). When it says “baby blood soaked her fingers like oil” it means that Sethe had blood of a baby and that baby was her own child, Beloved. The reason she did this was because she did not want her daughter to grow up and suffer like her mother Sethe is a character that is scared from the inside of what all men have done to her just to show that they are superior and have the right to what they want to do with any women”. Pamela E. Barnett would agree with my statement because as she stated ,“She reenacts sexual violation and thus figures the persistence nightmares common to  survivors to trauma”. As you can see in overall Pamela E. Barnett’s article is to prove that Sethe suffered a lot in her past time, as did all women because of the men that just wanting to show how much they can control women and the superior.

Sethe’s life were really difficult because her past kept going everything that she was doing was to protect her family and to be a respected person.She might never be respected especially because she is african american women who killed her child for the sake of trauma slavery caused her and reflecte. The only thing that an african american family had in the 1800’s was love for each other, no one could take that away and feeling safe.

  

Close Reading Blog Entry

‘"They used cowhide on you?’ ‘And they took my milk.’ ‘They beat you and you was pregnant?" ‘And they took my milk!"’ (page 20)

Beloved by Toni Morrison have a lot of messages to the world but while focusing on Feminist/Gender lens, some of the important messages that the readers need it to figure out how were women or man portrayed like who had the most power in the book Beloved, the man or woman. Morrison uses imagery and  to show that woman had no power or rights, especially those woman in slavery that were treated really bad.

Sethe during her young time when she was a slave it was really hard for her she was treated really bad like she did not have power  of her self. Sethe is treated like an animal through the imagery that she describe when she says, “They took my milk” (pg.20). When Sethe was pregnant she had milk in her breasts so what men did was they went up to her and take her milk that was saving for the baby. The people that did this to Sethe were owners of the Seth that took her milk this meant Sethe got rape her. she is treated like an animal because usually human when they get milk they get it from a cow but this time this sick white men are taking milk from a woman.This represents how bad woman were treated. The reason this men were doing this and this was not only Sethe it was happening to all women especially at that time men wanted to be treated with power and respect and they got that by hurting woman. As you can see most of  men really did not care about women feeling, they just wanted to show that they are the one with power and woman to feel that they are no one.

In addition Sethe did not just got her milk away but she also got physical abuse based rape. Based through diction, when Sethe was having a conversation with Paul D, Paul ask, ‘“They used cowhide on you”’(pg.20). If you read the full quote Sethe never says cowhide but she admits that she was being abused by a cowhide  when Sethe says, “‘ And they took my milk”’ (pg.20) . When she says this she's admitting it. A cowhide is a whip that is used for animals but in the 1800’s it was used for slaves. As this white man used this special whip to demand they also used it on pregnant woman. Sethe was pregnant when she was getting abused by a cow wiped. This show how men minds work they just technically cared for them self because as they were hitting Sethe they were probably hurting the baby. Now imagine if man did this to all woman they probably kill so baby’s just so that they can show they are the one that have the power and that women are weak.

Men really never care about what a woman was feeling at that time of the story of Beloved was they just wanted to always put woman down not matter on what based on imagery and diction that Morrison used  so that they could feel be scared at man and get respect from them woman. Through this quote it it feels how Sethe really is when she think of this still hurts but at the same time like it really did not matter. Technically this is how women were feeling that they really did not care about them self because they were not safe around man. Even though his feminist/gender lens is about both genders this book can be focused on how female are treated by man with no dignity.

Why I chose this Lens

While I read the book “Beloved” by Toni Morrison I will  be focusing on critical lenses. The critical lenses that I will be focusing is feminist/gender lens. Even though this lens say feminist it does not mean that the main focus of this lens is how women are portrayed  in society but it can be though, this  main focus of this lens is on how men and women  are portrayed in society both of the genders. The reason I choose this lens for this book Beloved is because I want to focus on how women and men were acting with them self and other people in the 1800’s. What I only know about this book is that the setting is taken place after the civil war happen so there was a lot of racism and social classes. I believed that all humans in this world should be treating each other with equality and that there should not be differences just because that person is from a different color or gender. I am hoping to understand the author on how both of genders were  portrayed  at that time so that I can make a connection between nowadays and the times of the 1800’s.     

Close Reading Blog Entry

In the beginning of beloved Sethe and Paul D remember how slave men were treated back at Sweet Home.

“And so they were: Paul D Garner, Paul F Garner, Paul A Garner, Halle Suggs and Sixo, the wild man. All in their twenties, minus women, fucking cows, dreaming of rape, thrashing on pallets, rubbing their thighs and waiting for the new girl—the one who took Baby Suggs' place after Halle bought her with five years of Sundays” (13)  

When examining a passage through a feminist lens the reader is interested in the way both female and male characters are portrayed. This helps the reader understand what the author believes about feminism.

The slave men were not even able to have their own name all of them were named after the plantation owner. The definition of masculinity changes when talking about african american vs white men. The plantation owner is a wealthy white men. Part of the masculinity of white men was owning slaves it would make them feel powerful. In the other hand the slave men's masculinity was revolved around sex. They were called the “wild men” the word wild has the connotation of crazy and out of control. The slave men were being referred to as animals because only animals are wild. The wild men were not being treated like they were human. It is insulting to be called an animal and is used as a degrading term.

The slave men were all sexually frustrated because they did not have women in the plantation so to get rid of the sexual frustration they would “fucking cows”. They were engaging in sexual activity with animals making it seem like they actually were animals.

The slave men were “dreaming of rape” meaning they needed sexual activity, sex was part of their masculinity. Since they couldn't have sex with a women they had to dream it in the hopes one day they would. Word choice Morrison decided to use is vulgar trying to convey the idea that no one really cared about the slave men. Also, adding the men were viewed as vulgar and unimportant.  

The slave men would “thrash on pallets” which is a very violent act to do. The men were trying to release all their anger of having to follow the rules of another man that has superiority over them. Before Sethe came to Sweet Home the men were “rubbing their thighs” that interprets to masturbating. Masturbation could be done to release stress and that could be the reason these men were doing it. In the plantation they were probably experiencing trauma and stress from everything there owner was making them go through.

In the text the new girl was Sethe she was coming to work as slave at Sweet Home I slave the men were excited because finally there would be a women. These men see Sethe as a sexual object than actual person.

By looking at the quote from Beloved through the feminist lens, we can see how the relationship between the male characters in the story and their lust for women. As well as the way they express themselves living in a plantation in the south. Even though this quote showed a great amount of imagery about male life it lacked the portrayal of the thoughts and roles women had as slaves.

“‘Then she is of one mind and not you another? If you can call whatever’s in her head a mind, that is.’

‘Excuse me, but I can’t hear a word against her. I’ll chastise her. You leave her alone’” (54).

When reading with the Feminist/Gender lens, the reader must identify who holds the power and what impact it has on the surrounding environment.

During the time period this book was framed in, women did not have rights. They were treated as if they had less value than men. A woman was always supposed to respect and obey men. Paul D had actively tried to make a place for him in Sethe’s family. After Denver, Sethe’s daughter, rudely asks Paul D how long he plans on staying, he is immediately offended and a fight breaks out between Paul D and Sethe. The way in which one another speak to each other is surprising. Toni Morrison uses tone, syntax and diction to exemplify how women act equal in power and how they challenge social norms for the “typical behavior” a woman should embody.

The tone of Paul D and Sethe are equally harsh towards one another. The first quote is said by Paul D: “‘Then she is of one mind and not you another? If you can call whatever’s in her head a mind, that is’” (54). Here he speaks of what Denver asked him and questioning if Sethe actually wasn’t thinking the same as her daughter. When Paul D insults Denver’s mentality, it could be viewed as a rude accusation with a hostile tone. With a shocking remark in return, Sethe aggressively replies, “‘Excuse me, but I can’t hear a word against her. I’ll chastise her. You leave her alone’”(54). With such a sharp response, she battles to be acknowledged as the authority figure in the situation. She in turn, commands him to leave her daughter Denver alone. Here we can see how she challenges the societal depiction of women and their stereotypical behaviors towards men. Sethe projects herself to be just as hostile and takes charge like Paul D does. Morrison empowers former slave females in her novel by setting their tone similar to the men that typically talk down to them.

The syntax of Sethe’s dialogue can be viewed as demands. The sentence structure of her dialogue is short and swift. She does not request that Paul D leave her daughter alone, she directly demands him to leave Denver alone. This makes the overall dialogue seem bitter. What makes these short sentences turn into demands is the specific word choice used.

The diction used throughout this conversation emphasizes Sethe’s strive for power equality. Sethe directly addresses Paul D saying, “‘You leave her alone’”(54). The word "you" is charged with accusation in this phrase. With the setting of the situation and the tone of this specific sentence, the way in which the words are placed puts Paul D immediately at fault. This is how Sethe rises up in power next to him. Also when Sethe says she will "chastise" Denver, she defies the stereotype that women are dainty, fragile figures. The definition of chastise means to severely punish or beat another individual. When both genders are compared to one another, typically men tend to be the more violent out of the two genders in society’s depiction. For Sethe to illustrate a violent side to her, she not only controls the encounter between her and Paul D, but she also tests the stereotypical way women should behave in these instances.

Why I Chose this Lens

The lens I choose to focus on for this project is the feminist lens. Even though it is called the feminist lens it does not only apply to how women are portrayed, but men as well. The reason I decided to choose this lens is because I consider myself a feminist. I believe in equal rights among both genders. It would be interesting to analyze the way the author writes differently about both genders. Since the novel was written in 1987 women will most likely have less rights then men. People argue that feminism shouldn't be a cause because we came so far from how it use to be. Although, that is true there is still more progress that has to happen. My personal beliefs relating feminism is to “Crush the Patriarchy”. This is a modern term that means to get rid of the idea where men are the head of the family. Women can also handle the responsibilities a man is “assigned” through society. I am hoping to understand the author's views on gender roles and examine a different perspective.

Why I Chose this Lens

The lens I chose was Feminist/gender because my interest in knowing that both genders have an impact in feminism. It was interested in this lens because I know that in the book Beloved, it was going to show any events that had related to feminism/gender between the characters. My experience with this lens was that I only thought of feminism for women due to the movements they made to be treated equally as men, but throughout the years it involved men due to the lack of equality they didn’t have.  My personal beliefs in the feminism/gender lens is women and men have different usages of talking whether it’s by showing how either men or women are more powerful in the reading and how it impacts the other characters depending on their standard position.

Why I Choose this Lens

I will be reading the book Beloved through the Feminist lens. I am particularly fond of the Feminist lens because I identify as a female and discovering the ways that females are portrayed in a patriarchy society reels my interest. Also, learning of the gender roles in different time periods appeal to my curiosity in historically analyzing the way the society functions. I believe that women should be equal to men in all situations. No gender deserves to be deemed less than the other. This lens that I view this book in is relevant to my life as well, because I live in a patriarchy type of society. I would directly be able to connect to females in the book that live in this type of world. I am hoping to deeply understand the way each gender is portrayed in this book and I am looking forward to finishing this book with a new outlook on society.