Psychotic Mother and Psychoanalytic Daughter

"Denver stood on the bottom step and was suddenly hot and shy. It had been a long time since anybody (good-willed whitewoman, preacher, speaker or newspaperman) sat at their table, their sympathetic voices called liar by the revulsion in their eyes. For twelve years, long before Grandma Baby died, there had been no visitors of any sort and certainly no friends. No coloredpeople. Certainly no hazelnut man with too long hair and no notebook, no charcoal, no oranges, no questions. Someone her mother wanted to talk to and would even consider talking to while barefoot. Looking, in fact acting, like a girl instead of the quiet, queenly woman Denver had known all her life. The one who never looked away, who when a man got stomped to death by a mare right in front of Sawyer's restaurant did not look away; and when a sow began eating her own litter did not look away then either. And when the baby's spirit picked up Here Boy and slammed him into the wall hard enough to break two of his legs and dislocate his eye, so hard he went into convulsions and chewed up his tongue, still her mother had not looked away. She had taken a hammer, knocked the dog unconscious, wiped away the blood and saliva, pushed his eye back in his head and set his leg bones. He recovered, mute and off-balance, more because of his untrustworthy eye than his bent legs, and winter, summer, drizzle or dry, nothing could persuade him to enter the house again."
-14

This passage defines several feelings encountered by Denver. It seems as if Denver is depressed and internally broken. However, Sethe wanted to "fix" her, and distance her from the darkness that cloaked Denver.

It's debatable that Denver's broken soul is inherited from her mother. The mother who "never looked away, who when a man got stomped to death by a mare right in front of Sawyer's restaurant did not look away; and when a sow began eating her own litter did not look away then either. And when the baby's spirit picked up Here Boy and slammed him into the wall hard enough to break two of his legs and dislocate his eye, so hard he went into convulsions and chewed up his tongue, still her mother had not looked away." Did these horrendous events and over-controlling mother, cause Denver to break? The very mother who "had taken a hammer, knocked the dog unconscious, wiped away the blood and saliva, pushed his eye back in his head and set his leg bones", is the one who gave birth to a daughter. On a psychoanalytical level, we're able to see who Denver really is. Is Denver the sweet-hearted, caring, daughter that greets Paul D? Or is Denver the twisted, internally ruined daughter who inherited darkness from her mother. Is Denver's darkness caused by the fact that she and her mother are alone, especially since "there had been no visitors of any sort and certainly no friends [for 12 years]"? Is Denver depressed enough, that she feeds on her mother's darkness? 

From the passage above, we're unsure about who Denver is internally ; however, we are able to infer that Sethe is broken. Sethe feels pain, darkness, and alone. From a psychoanalytical standpoint, we know Sethe is a dark character, scarred by oppression. 

Iron Eyes

“He looked at her then, closely. Closer than he had when she first rounded the house on wet and shining legs, holding her shoes and stockings up in one hand, her skirts in the other. Halle's girl--the one with iron eyes and backbone to match. He had never seen her hair in Kentucky. And though her face was eighteen years older than when last he saw her, it was softer now. Because of the hair. A face too still for comfort; irises the same color as her skin, which, in that still face, used to make him think of a mask with mercifully punched out eyes. Halle's woman. Pregnant every year including the year she sat by the fire telling him she was going to run. Her three children she had already packed into a wagonload of others in a caravan of Negroes crossing the river. They were to be left with Halle's mother near Cincinnati. Even in that tiny shack, leaning so close to the fire you could smell the heat in her dress, her eyes did not pick up a flicker of light. They were like two wells into which he had trouble gazing. Even punched out they needed to be covered, lidded, marked with some sign to warn folks of what that emptiness held. So he looked instead at the fire while she told him, because her husband was not there for the telling. Mr. Garner was dead and his wife had a lump in her neck the size of a sweet potato and unable to speak to anyone. She leaned as close to the fire as her pregnant belly allowed and told him, Paul D, the last of the Sweet Home men. There had been six of them who belonged to the farm, Sethe the only female. Mrs. Garner, crying like a baby, had sold his brother to pay off the debts that surfaced the minute she was widowed. Then schoolteacher arrived to put things in order. But what he did broke three more Sweet Home men and punched the glittering iron out of Sethe's eyes, leaving two open wells that did not reflect firelight.”

-page 10      

“The eyes are the window to your soul”

-William Shakespeare               

This passage speaks loudly to these infamous words of Shakespeare. Here, Paul D describes the depth of Sethe’s eyes and the power they hold. Through his detailed observations and metaphorical comparisons, a once simplistic description of Sethe’s eyes evolves into a complex analysis of Sethe’s past and how it has transformed her into the person she is presently. Paul D begins by generally describing Sethe as “one with iron eyes and a backbone to match”, inferring her strong and courageous character as remarkable even to him. Describing Sethe as iron, which is the base alloy to the strongest forms of metal, gives her a dominating strength that sets her apart from most women- and men- at the time. Going on in more detail, he describes Sethe’s eyes, which intern mirror her personality as a whole. He talks about how her eyes reminded him “of a mask with punched out eyes”. With this metaphorical comparison, a new, secretive angle is identified within Sethe. Describing her face as a “mask” suggests she is hiding her true face, and intern her true self, from the world. From one perspective, this “masking” of Sethe’s ability to express her emotions gives her more dominance, because it can be interpreted as her putting her strongest face forward, overcoming her cruel past to confront the present. This theme of masking emotions again can be identified when Paul D describes the “mask” of her face to have “punched out eyes”, suggesting that her eyes, which regularly can identify so much about an individual’s state of mind, aren’t even on her face. It infers that she doesn’t have any present emotions at all. Paul D’s description goes even further, as he explains that her eyes “did not pick up flicker of light”. With this observation, a very dark, ominous aspect of Sethe is identified. The fact that her eyes don’t reflect fire, one of the brightest, most pronounced aspects of life, gives way to the idea that Sethe has so much sadness that her darkness overpowers some of the strongest elements. This theme is carried on in Paul D’s analysis, as he compares Sethe’s eyes to “two open wells”. From this, it can be inferred that, though Sethe masks her true feelings, hidden deep inside her they are plentiful.  Just like at first glance a well seems empty, Sethe’s front makes her appear unemotional- invincible. Yet, deep down in Sethe lies her true emotions, just like deep down in a well lies an abundance of water. Paul D’s descriptions and observations of Sethe’s eyes shows how strong, yet damaged, she truly is. Breaking the common stereotypes and interpretations of women, Sethe is portrayed as a women powerful enough to defy her past, defy her emotions, to confront what the present brings to her. Adding to this, the fact that Paul D, a man, is describing  Sethe, a women, as shockingly strong, reverts the common stereotypical gender roles of a man and a women.

Looking Through The Feminist Lens

Feminist lens, a lens that you can use to discover the reality of women's rights through the views of political, economic, and social in comparison to men. I chose the Feminist Lens because I find a book interesting and fascinating when men are portrayed differently than women. Across previous cultures and centuries, it has been shown that men were typically more powerful and stronger than women, yet I do not believe that to be true. According to our passed history when slavery was an issue, women were generally considered a lower standard than men because they couldn't do what men could. Throughout history, men considered women to be less powerful and capable of doing certain kinds of work such as how it was in the 18th century when slavery was a huge issue. The men were the ones forced to do the hard work while the women had to stay home. My personal beliefs about the topics covered by this lens is that women should deserve the right to have a just as equal amount of respect and opportunity as men. Perhaps in the real world when doing such things like working at tough jobs like construction and other hard labor.

Notorious New Historical

For my blog I decided to go with a new historical lens. Based on the time period of the book I felt that this lens would be the best to analyze the book through. Beloved takes place in 1873. This was a decade after the slaves had been freed. Although they were free they still didn't get treated equally through out the next one hundred years. The white southerners in the years following slavery still oppressed the blacks and segregated schools restaurants and many more places. The historical time period of this story is going to be critical to look at to know why the characters are treated the way they are. By analyzing this text this way you can then see how the characters were affected by the time period and how they reacted to it.

Looking through the Marxist Lens.

The Marxist lens, a lens that you can fully utilize to see the characters’ response to their environment, their peers, and how they see the authority over them. You can do a lot with the Marxist lens as it gives you a different way to see the text, see the character’s development due to their upbringing and their environment. It has been always interesting to me to see if a character would be different if they grew up in a much different socio-economic environment. It’s always been interesting to me to see what can happen with someone’s upbringing in regards to their peers in different classes, upper, lower, middle, and working. This way, you get to see how they treat others, if they are selfless or selfish, and what their own agenda and goals are. When looking through a Marxist lens, you get to see many different examples of economic and political oppression, and how the characters may or may not know.

Post 1: Digging Deep with the Psychoanalytical Lens

The psychoanalytical lens fascinates me, because it allows me to dig deep into the mind of characters in the book. It allows me to see a double meaning behind every word, and understand words below the surface. Moreover, this lens allows me to connect more to the text, compared to other lenses. The feminist, historical, and post-colonial lens don’t allow me to understand the text better; these lenses confuse me and make the text blurry.

I have used the psychoanalytical lens in texts such as Macbeth, Into the Wild, and Malcolm X. Moreover, the psychoanalytical lens allows me to propel my thinking into deep waters. It lets me think about what the characters are thinking, and feel what the characters are feeling.

However, there are several limitations to this lens. It doesn’t allow me to  analyze the text through other perspectives; with the psychoanalytical lens, I can’t understand the text through the time period and I can’t understand the text through a perspective of gender inequality. This lens only limits me to the minds of the characters, allowing me to see what their inner beliefs are, and how they words dictate their actions and inner judgements.

Though these limitations exist, the psychoanalytical lens allows me to determine several major and minor themes. With books such as Beloved, which focus on the amalgamation of slavery, ghosts, and murder, I can predict themes such as: Ghosts allow us to see the raw beliefs of the characters they possessed and We are all slaves to death; we do as death wishes.

Thus, the psychoanalytical lens will allow me to dig into the minds of character in the book Beloved.

As visible in the image above, the conscience composes of several levels, like an iceberg. The tip of the iceberg represents general conscious, representing what's right and what's wrong. Below the iceberg, exists several deeper levels of the conscience, such as the superego, ego, and id.

Feminism and the Power of Its Context

The iconic image above defines the spectrum of feminism during WWII

Feminism: A controversial word that is commonly avoided on the grounds of its common day social connotation. Especially in relation to men, affiliation with the word can seem, from some perspectives, as emasculating- but that understanding is far from today’s truth of the word. As Emma Watson simply points out, “if you believe in equality, and stand for equality, than you’re a feminist”. Being a topic I am very passionate about, choosing a feminist lens to analyze Beloved with will bring the most passion and enthusiasm to my analysis. In previous years I have viewed texts, such as MacBeth, through this lens and have written some of my best essays through it. Power dynamics between male and female roles have always interested me, but even more so, what really attracts me to the subject is how historical periods have defined, and redefined again and again, what the word means based on the context of the time period. From the right to choose who you want to marry, to the right to work outside of the house, to the right to vote, to the right to equal pay for equal work, gender equality's strifes and achievements are constantly changing- evolving what “feminism” means through the centuries. With this project, I’m curious to learn in depth about a 19th century understanding of the word.