The Perspective of Beloved
I have an idea about the story in Beloved, but as we’re still really early in the novel it’s just a prediction. I’ll try and come back to the idea later on: What if this story is from the perspective of Denver?
The novel is told in third person, obviously, so it’s not from her directly. But here’s the thing: the story is told in a way that there is a present-tense narrative, that is being intermittently interrupted by memories of the traumatic past. But those aren’t all separate memories - they’re the same memories, just cycled back to in more detail. So as you progress through the present-day narrative, the pieces of the story are filled in so that by the end, you have the full picture.
This reminds me of what a child’s relationship is with their parent. You grow up with your parents, and progress through your life as they are also progressing through theirs. But they had things in their life before you. So as you grow up and they grow older, you hear their stories and as you get older those stories get filled in because they tell you more and more. As you progress through life with them, their actions make sense as you look back on them. Perhaps by the end (apologies for being morbid here), perhaps you get a clearer picture of who they were. Or maybe you don’t.
But this reminds me a lot of how in Beloved there is a present-day storyline that involved Denver. She’s almost like the main character, because she still has a whole future ahead of her. Sethe’s problems are mostly rooted in the past, but Denver has things to deal with in the present, making her a character who the end of this narrative ultimately impacts. Additionally, a lot of the memories that Sethe does reveal are told to Denver when she asks about certain things (like in chapter 3 when Sethe is describing how Amy nursed her). Denver is going through her life with Sethe in I24, but as she grows at this important time in her life, she slowly has her mother’s trauma revealed to her. And there's the interesting thing again her Sethe was born into slavery, but Denver was born into freedom; I'm interested to see what this dynamic presents. I don't know what happens in the end, but I feel like this novel could be about Denver dealing with the past as she grows up.
The novel is told in third person, obviously, so it’s not from her directly. But here’s the thing: the story is told in a way that there is a present-tense narrative, that is being intermittently interrupted by memories of the traumatic past. But those aren’t all separate memories - they’re the same memories, just cycled back to in more detail. So as you progress through the present-day narrative, the pieces of the story are filled in so that by the end, you have the full picture.
This reminds me of what a child’s relationship is with their parent. You grow up with your parents, and progress through your life as they are also progressing through theirs. But they had things in their life before you. So as you grow up and they grow older, you hear their stories and as you get older those stories get filled in because they tell you more and more. As you progress through life with them, their actions make sense as you look back on them. Perhaps by the end (apologies for being morbid here), perhaps you get a clearer picture of who they were. Or maybe you don’t.
But this reminds me a lot of how in Beloved there is a present-day storyline that involved Denver. She’s almost like the main character, because she still has a whole future ahead of her. Sethe’s problems are mostly rooted in the past, but Denver has things to deal with in the present, making her a character who the end of this narrative ultimately impacts. Additionally, a lot of the memories that Sethe does reveal are told to Denver when she asks about certain things (like in chapter 3 when Sethe is describing how Amy nursed her). Denver is going through her life with Sethe in I24, but as she grows at this important time in her life, she slowly has her mother’s trauma revealed to her. And there's the interesting thing again her Sethe was born into slavery, but Denver was born into freedom; I'm interested to see what this dynamic presents. I don't know what happens in the end, but I feel like this novel could be about Denver dealing with the past as she grows up.
This is a really interesting post! I definitely agree that the way that a child learns about their parents' past is similar to the way the reader learns about Sethe's. Isn't it how we learn about the pasts of everyone around us though? I feel like to some extent, anyone you're around a lot will reveal things from their past to you in a similar way. Is it possible that Morrison is just trying to make the reader feel like a person who inhabits Sethe's world, rather than someone with access to more information? Especially since we start learning about Sethe's past when Denver is 18, and she presumably would have learned more about her mother's past in that time. If you're right, some of the details that we're given could be stuff that Denver filled in for us, which would account for this. Cool post!
ReplyDeleteGreat post Zona! I completely agree that readers learn about Sethe's past in a way that is very similar to the way a child learns about it's parents past. However, I would say that I feel like its almost more like the way a stranger would learn about other stranger's past that they're overhearing. It feels like you have much less information than if someone were actually talking to someone who doesn't know about the past. It feels like the characters are talking to each-other in a way that assumes that they know things about each-other's past already. This makes it feel like the reader is just an eavesdropper trying to figure out a strangers life from the fragments of stories they hear throughout the story. I could be wrong though.
ReplyDeleteI really love this interpretation and I definitely agree- the way that the memories are presented to us in Beloved is emblematic of the way that children grow up and learn about their parents' pasts. I think it's becoming especially clear now. We get Denvers realization of the pain and trauma that her mother went through. Before she loved the stories because they had to do with her, but she's finally starting to understand what they meant for sethe. She's starting to fill in some of the blanks for herself. In the last chapters we read we get a lot from denvers perspective, so I think she's becoming more and more of a central anchor.
ReplyDeleteHey, I'm future and your prediction was pretty good. As far as I can tell from this book, the story revolves around a lot of people's perspectives. Your post gives a much more detailed way of interpreting the book than I could think of. I just kind of read it and try to figure out what is happening, which is hard for me because everyone's names are so confusing. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThis is pretty interesting. Beloved is such a confusing novel to read (for me at least) so I can't really confirm nor deny your intuition. However, your analysis is really convincing so I can support this point at least. I think especially in the recent readings we've been given more insight into Denver and it makes sense that perspective would come from her. However in class we already discussed how we've been able to get into all three (Her, Sethe, and Paul D) character's heads. I'm not completely sure where the plot is going so I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
ReplyDeleteI love this. I'm completely on board with the idea that Denver is the narrator. Your observation that children gradually learn about their parents' backgrounds as they grow older is really powerful and fits the structure of the narrative. It also gives the novel (yet) another layer. Now, I think I will read it as if Denver is learning these stories for the first time. It's one thing to learn about a stranger's past, but to learn about the horrors of your own mother's life? Scary stuff.
ReplyDelete