« Beloved | Main | Gratitude »
April 17, 2007
Better Late Than Never
In the final chapter of the novel, Morrison drives home the point that this story is "not a story to pass on" (274). If only she had come to that conclusion at the onset. That's not to say I disliked the book, in fact I think it's quite good. But it really wasn't a pleasurable read by any means. Morrison seems to have a sense for the macabre on par with Poe. Between the breast milk tainted with blood, Sixo laughing while being burned alive, and Beloved running naked through the woods with fish for hair (somehow the creepiest of all) it couldn't have been more disturbing in my mind.
What I find interesting about the final section of the book is how Beloved's impact on Sethe changes. Previously, Sethe had been elated simply by the presence of her resurrected daughter. But now Beloved has become like a tapeworm sucking the life right out of her mother. So with her newfound prosperity, why did Beloved disappear when she did? It seems to me there are two possibilities, though I'm not sure which is correct. Either it was a case of a parasite exhausting the resources of its host (Sethe was wasting away to nothing) or she had fulfilled her "purpose", whatever that may have been. It would seem the latter would have more literary function, but why would Sethe's misguided attack on Mr. Bodwin, a relativiely insignificant character be the culmiation of Beloved's presence in the novel? In the end, I find myself still asking "why?" to a few things from the story and I have yet to come up with a satisfactory answer.
Posted by adall at April 17, 2007 01:27 AM