1. Warming up with two quick rounds of Socratic ticket musical chairs
2. Considering the following: How is Beloved marked?
- What does our friend, Thomas Foster (from How To Read Literature...) have to say about marks?
- "...character markings stand as indicators of the damage life inflicts...[characters] bear signs illustrating the way life marks all who pass through it." (195)
- Find two or three good passages illustrating how Beloved is marked. What might these marks signify?
- How are the other characters marked?
3. Discussing Chapters 2 through 7 of Beloved, Socratic style
4. Wrapping up with questions, epiphanies, and kudos
HW:
1. For MONDAY AFTER BREAK: Read through Chapter 12 and prepare your Socratic ticket.
3. For TUESDAY AFTER BREAK: Solidify your project/paper poem and bring it to class for your metacognitive.
Starting question: What do you think beloved symbolizes for each of the character’s pasts?
ReplyDeleteThe house is like beloved, each person has an opinion that reflects on their feelings ex. Denver is lonely so the house is to. Denver sees beloved as the older sister she never had. Sethe sees her as the daughter she never had. And Paul D sees her as uncontrollable. Paul D is suspicious because his power comes from attention and emotional control and BEloved takes that away from her. Sethe says it is dangerous to love but she’s beginning to love Beloved. “Nothing better to start the day than beating back the past”
Denver doesn’t feel accepted into her mother’s past and Sethe lives in her past so Denver is lonely in that way. Sethe’s scar is symbolized as stuck. Sethe is rooted in her past like the tree on her back. She is unwilling to move on from her past or make drastic changes. The tree could also symbolize life but the scar is made of dead tissue. There is a juxtaposition between the tree and the scar because they are opposite. Out of death comes life. The roses are dying but from their death there comes a life to new friendships and fun. The life of a slave is not a good life and so there is a generational shift as Denver grows up out of slavery. Sethe sees trees as a symbol of death, while denver sees trees as a symbol of safety, Trees go through seasons like how people cycle through good and bad.
ReplyDeleteBeloved’s first action is to lean against the tree like trust. Beloved is something from the past that is reoccuring as Paul D comes back with memories. Beloved coming out of the water is like a rebirth of not only the ghost but of the past. Beloved could be the ghost because Sethe needed to pee after Beloved drinks a lot of water. The pee could also be like birth of beloved. On page 56 the weather is foreshadowing something but the characters do not know it is coming. Toni Morrison is suggesting something different than the characters believe. Look at the description of the scene versus Sethe’s description of the shadows and what that represents. The shadows have a lot symbolism. Shadows could be like memories, the past, etc. You can’t touch shadows. Shadows have an ambiguity to them. It could be a shadow from the sun, or a shadow of a stain.
ReplyDeleteIs beloved a good or bad character? She disguises herself as what all the characters need but could have bad intentions. As she came out of the water she smiled which could mean many things. For now she is a good character but could turn bad. The shadows show that Paul D is being excluded and as beloved arrives, Paul D gets more excluded.
ReplyDeleteWhat is the significance of her new skin and scratches on Beloved’s forehead? The three scratches could be that she was the third child. She wears lace around her neck because he throat was slit. The new skin is like a baby’s skin because she was birthed from the water.
3 is a sign of bad (three knocks, three furies, three gorgons. 3 scratches. The book has time stamps of 3pm a lot. The address of the house is 124 leaving out the third number. The evil is in the background but not overt. Anytime there is three or more people in the house someone leaves ex. The brothers, baby suggs.
ReplyDeleteIn a world of post slavery nobody should be shiny and lineless. Especially if she walked to 124 her feet would not have fresh skin. Because she is lineless she doesn’t have fingerprints which is very inhuman. She won’t tell anyone her backstory or life which is also inhuman. Like cathy from East of Eden; shows up needy on the doorstep, innocent and pure at first and then shows her evil side. Page 42 “Anything dead coming back alive hurts”. Is Beloved alive or is she just a memory or some form of mass hysteria. Is there a chance she is not evil?