#7 Obsession

04/30/15

Text: Beloved by Toni Morrison
Lens: Feminist
Blog: Close Reading #2

"Denver thought she understood the connection between her mother and Beloved: Sethe was trying to make up for the handsaw; Beloved was making her pay for it. But there would never be an end to that, and seeing her mother diminished shamed and infuriated her. Yet she knew Sethe's greatest fear was the same one Denver had in the beginning- that Beloved might leave" (295).

When read through the Feminist Lens, this quote demonstrates a stereotypical weakness in women. Sethe feels trapped by Beloved. She is almost scared of her but desperate to have her around. She drops to her knees whenever Beloved needs something. She is dependent on someone else for happiness which is extremely unhealthy. Denver notices her mother deteriorating because of Beloved and we see later that Beloved leaving made Sethe go into a state of depression. Sethe cannot be independent as much as she wants to be. She is damaged and needs others around so her guilt and loneliness doesn't eat her alive. Sethe killed Beloved out of motherly love and protection but Beloved doesn't see that. She is going to stop at nothing to make Sethe feel bad. And eventually that is what happens. It is very upsetting for me to see how women need others to depend on. In most cases society believes that women need a man. Sethe needs Beloved. She becomes obsessed with trying to fix their relationship and tortures herself when thinking about Beloved leaving. It almost seems like Sethe doesn't want to rebuild what she destroyed out of fear that when she makes up for it, Beloved will abandon her.