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April 10, 2007
Love for her Children
When Denver says,"For a baby she throws a powerful spell," Sethe responds saying, "No more powerful than the way I loved her." This clearly shows the tremendous amount of love Sethe has for her children. So powerful a love that she killed one and attempted to kill the rest of her children when the schoolteacher came looking for them in Ohio. She did what she thought was right to make sure that her kids would not have to go back to sweet home as slaves. She loves them too much, as that is the only thing she has to love. She is completely dehumanized by her time as a slave that she is unable to love herself, instead she puts all of this energy into loving her kids. She feels motherhood is the best thing she has ever had and can be seen as her identity. She wants to live only for her children, and do whatever it takes for her to protect them, if that means killing them. She feels guilty for killing Beloved, but feels that this is what was right in order for her to protect her family and her freedom.
Posted by sriravi at April 10, 2007 10:35 PM