I recently finished reading "Beloved" by Toni Morrison for my High school English class. I realize that I've just committed to writing an entire blog post about the book but I really cannot describe my feelings toward it. It was disturbing and engrossing and disgusting and revolting. I mean I didn't go into reading a book about infanticide and slavery thinking it would be cheerful, but OH MY GOODNESS. It was also the weirdest book I've read since I read "Winkie" which is a fantastic book about a teddy bear who comes to life, quotes transcendentalists and is taken into custody by the U.S. Government as a terrorist.
The most confusing character I ran into was Beloved. I mean really, who is this chick? She appears sopping wet by house 124 shortly after Paul D scares away the baby ghost that was haunting Sethe (the mom who killed the baby) and her family for the last 18 years. Some thinks she is the spirit of the baby ghost, some think she is just a girl who was kept in captivity her entire life and ran away and some think she is the re-incarnation of Sethe's mum. Other more intelligent people have given up on pondering nonsense and have decided that Beloved is just an allegory for the past infiltrating the future and left it at that. I would attend to agree with their approach.
Does it really matter if Beloved is a ghost, a spirit, or just a really screwed up human being? I don't think so. What matters is the effect she has on those around her. Sethe believes her to be the dead baby reincarnate and out of a strange mix of guilt and love she rearranges her life to accommodate her. In that way the past controls the future. Sethe and Denver almost starve because Sethe lost her job due to the time she spent coddling Beloved. This event led to Denver finally going out into the world and assuming a new, healthier identity. Whether or not Beloved was actually the dead baby, Sethe and Denver embraced their pasts by taking her in and when she left they were finally able to move on. This way of thinking about Beloved is a lot easier for me than trying to contemplate spirits, slave ships and reincarnation. It was the same way for me with reading "Life of Pi". I got so frustrated at the end when you realize that the tiger might not actually be real that I worked to omit the last chapter of the book from my memory. Sometimes analyzing complicated books in simple ways is the best.
I think Beloved is the grown up baby! She demonstrates a seemingly childlike adoration for Sethe, but at the same time she holds a certain level of anger and bitterness towards her mother. She wants Sethe to love her in a way that will heal her deep emotional wounds from being murdered, but no amount of tenderness and affection can truly ease her insecurity, pain, and anger. And although Sethe strongly desires to restore her relationship with her daughter, the damage that has been done cannot be repaired. The relationship then becomes parasitic as Sethe wears away under Beloved's constant demands.
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