{"id":488,"date":"2009-03-24T20:42:53","date_gmt":"2009-03-25T01:42:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2009\/660\/?p=488"},"modified":"2009-03-24T21:34:09","modified_gmt":"2009-03-25T02:34:09","slug":"past-present-and-future-in-beloved","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2009\/660\/?p=488","title":{"rendered":"Past, Present, and Future in BELOVED"},"content":{"rendered":"

I share some of the same uncertainty that others have expressed in previous posts regarding classifying Morrison’s work as “postmodern”. When I read the novel, I wasn’t actively trying to place it into a category. It was not until after I finished reading the novel that I started to think about it through a “postmodern lens”. I’m having the same difficulty that others are having. I found Alana’s comment about the narrative interesting. Alana suggests that “the narrative isn’t particularly fragmented (at least in the sense of point of view)”. I agree that Morrison’s narrative was not ground-breaking or earth-shattering, but as I read I was continually struck by her skill at flawlessly weaving in and out of the perspectives of the various characters. Some chapters contained multiple perspectives, weaving from the voice of an unknown narrator into the memories of various characters. While I guess this isn’t fragmented in the sense of The Female Man<\/em> and some of the other works that we have read, I do feel that it is distinct.<\/p>\n

After considering my own thoughts on how and why the novel is (or isn’t) postmodern, I was struck with the question of how many books are “postmodern” due to the time period in which they were written yet lack some of the key characteristics of postmodern works. This question made me think about how and why we classify texts, but I realize this pondering doesn’t get us anywhere with our discussion of Beloved <\/em>as a postmodern work.<\/p>\n

Aside from the narrative, and my ponderings on classifying works as postmodern, I was struck by several things while reading the novel. The motif of space comes up throughout the novel. Sethe feels that she can’t take any more memories, thinking, “I am still full of [the memories], God damn it, I can’t go back and add more” (83). Beloved talks about the lack of space on the other side, telling Denver there was “nothing to breathe down there and no room to move in” (88). Along with the idea of space is the selfishness of each character. Denver wants Sethe to herself and doesn’t want to share her with Paul D. or Beloved. But she also wants Beloved for herself and views it as her mission to care for and protect Beloved. Paul D. wants Sethe for himself and is jealous of their new boarder, Beloved. And Beloved wants Sethe for herself. This idea of space and selfishness is connected to Sara’s post about characters trying to establish ownership. It seems that Denver tries to establish ownership the most. Not only does she desire to “own” Sethe and Beloved, but she also seeks ownership over the past. She resents the fact that “her father’s absence was not hers” (15), and she “hated the stories her mother told that did not concern herself” (74).<\/p>\n

Of all the characters, Sethe’s desires seem unclear. She is obviously obsessed with the past and it seems that Beloved is the embodiment of what Sethe calls her “rememory”. It is interesting that Sethe believed that she could forget her past because Beloved was there and seemed to understand when, in actuality, Beloved’s presence made Sethe remember even more. At one point Sethe even says that “her mind was busy with the things she could forget” (227). We are told that “to Sethe, the future was a matter of keeping the past at bay” (51), and “her brain was not interested in the future” (83). Because of the deep hurt of her past, she had “no room to imagine, let alone plan for, the next day.” Despite her desire to “[beat] back the past” (85), the past seems to be Sethe’s obsession.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, while he remembers the past, Paul D looks to the future. He takes Sethe and Denver to the carnival in hopes of a fresh start, and when he comes back to Sethe in the end, he tells her, “me and you, we got more yesterday than anybody. We need some kind of tomorrow” (322).<\/p>\n

Finally, Denver is concerned with the present. We’re told that Denver “had her own set of questions which had nothing to do with the past. The present alone interested Denver” (141). Denver is lonely and feels that she is out of place. She is unaccepted in her society, and she realizes that she is not a part of the past that Paul D and Sethe share. She is also fearful of losing Beloved and her mother, just like she has lost everyone else. So, for Denver, life is about maintaining what she has. It is interesting that she seems to be okay in the end. While we are left with hope for Sethe and Paul D, it seems that Denver is the only one we can be sure of having a hopeful future.<\/p>\n

I really enjoyed reading Beloved <\/em>and was most intrigued by these views of past, present, and future. I do look forward to our class discussions of the various themes and motifs in the text, as well as its classification as “postmodern.” There’s too much to say about this novel for just one post!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I share some of the same uncertainty that others have expressed in previous posts regarding classifying Morrison’s work as “postmodern”. When I read the novel, I wasn’t actively trying to place it into a category. It was not until after I finished reading the novel that I started to think about it through a “postmodern … Continue reading Past, Present, and Future in BELOVED<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-488","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-week-10-beloved"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2009\/660\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2009\/660\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2009\/660\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2009\/660\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2009\/660\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=488"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2009\/660\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":493,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2009\/660\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488\/revisions\/493"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2009\/660\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2009\/660\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2009\/660\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}