In Barbara Schapiro’s article, “The Bonds of Love and the Boundaries of Self In Toni Morrison’s Beloved”, she explores concepts of self recognition and psychic freedom. Specifically geared towards the experiences of freed black slaves, like Sethe, Schapiro explains how even though becoming physically free is extremely challenging for a slave at the time, the most difficult challenge of slaves, and all black people suffering from persecution, is becoming emotionally free. This is the central conflict of Toni Morrison’s Beloved. Though Beloved’s gruesome details of the physical strife slaves had to endure are plentiful, the psychic challenges, and how characters do or do not overcome them, convey the most about the atrocious experience of slavery. As Schapiro explains, “even if one is eventually freed from external bondage, the self will still be trapped in an inner world that prevents a genuine experience of freedom” (194). She goes on to explain how the worst atrocity of slavery is not the physical persecution -death even- but the psychic death that haunts slaves for the entirety of their life, free or not. This horrific internal struggle is what leads Sethe to her very worst: murdering her own daughter.
With this establishment of the internal struggle of a slaves loss of psychic self, Schapiro explores the ways in which the characters of Beloved overcome, or lessen the emotional pain. Simply put, she believes the solution lies in the self recognition that comes with relationships. As she explains, “The experience of one's cohesiveness and reality as a self is dependent on this primary relationship, on the loving response and recognition from another” (195). The most damaging repercussions of a loss of one’s psychic self is the feeling of not being whole- not being human. Without one’s sense of self, essentially without their spirit, how can they ever feel like themselves? Schapiro suggests the answer lies in the power of emotional bonds between two individuals, which most commonly is a mother and daughter in Beloved.
I find this concept beautiful and empowering. Though it takes away from the masculine persona of Sethe being self-reliant and independent, it illuminates the power of relationships- and community in general. Motherhood is a relevant and repetitive theme throughout Beloved. Sethe continuously looks to her children for emotional security for the exact reason Schapiro explains: to exist, both physically and emotionally. The strength of the bond Sethe grows to have for her daughter Denver, and for her supposedly reincarnated daughter Beloved, gives Sethe purpose to live. Prior to this recognition and feeling of purpose, Sethe’s emotional pain and psychic suffering leads her to, as Schapiro explains, kill “her daughter to save her from a similar fate; she kills her to save her from psychic death” (197). This actions illustrates the horror of the experience of not feeling spiritually present or emotionally free. But alternatively, Sethe’s use of motherhood as a method to feel recognized and whole illuminates the unique power relationships and communities gave to the struggling black community. With that, I completely agree with Schapiro that the Beloved’s central purpose is to explore the subject psychic damage and emotional reconstruction.
This post is really fascinating, in that you add your own opinion about the concept. The "internal struggle" is interesting, in that it shows the habit of bottling up anger and emotions, like Sethe does.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Parth; the "internal struggle" is interesting. Their internal struggle was so strong that it kept them actually living lives as free people. They were free psychically, but not emotionally.
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