Theo Neuner

Upon Paul D’s arrival to 124, he brings a different way of surviving the past than Sethe. Sethe is completely consumed by her memories of killing her daughter and the pain inflicted on her when she was a slave. Paul however, has learned to compartmentalize his pain, which he carries like a locked tobacco tin so he can carry on with his life.

Morrison uses this contrast to display their opposing methods of coping. Sethe confronts her trauma head on but becomes trapped by it, while Paul contains it to survive and maintain his life. This dynamic raises the questions surrounding how memory and healing are intertwined and are apart of one another in the story . Survival can take multiple forms and while Paul d’s method of coping may not seem ideal, It shows that Trauma doesn’t have to consume those it affects. Paul still Grieves and is mentally scared from his past, but he has come to live with it rather than being consumed by it.

In Beloved, Toni Morrison uses community to show that people can rebuild their lives, even after the deep hardships of slavery. One example of this is Baby Suggs who hosts community gatherings in the clearing so people can come together. This gives formerly enslaved people the opportunity to find joy and gives them the chance to feel human again. Another example of this is Stamp Paid who helps people escape to freedom in the underground railroad system. And when she becomes isolated from the community Stamp Paid is the one who directs Paul. D to her. Stamp Paid is a crucial part in keeping the community together and does it all without expecting anything in return. Denver also shows how community helps people heal and grow. At first, she is isolated in 124, but when she reaches out to the women in the town for help, she begins to connect with the world outside. These women come together to confront Beloved and support Sethe, showing that healing can happen when people work together. This shows how caring for one another in a community can help people move forward and face their past.

I had sugar for the motif we were supposed to be diving into throughout the book. I think that Sweetness in Beloved represents the joy and humanity that slavery took away from previously enslaved individuals. For Sethe, any memories of sweetness were very rare and only when she felt worthy of joy. Sugar then becomes a symbol of what she was never allowed to freely enjoy. When Beloved demands endless sweetness (her good memories/stories), it shows how the past (trauma) takes from Sethe. It takes every moment she enjoyed on Sweet Home and coats it in something bitter (remembrance of enslaved experience). Sethe’s struggle to give away such sweetness shows how she wanted to continue her life without facing the horrifying parts of her past. But Morrison shows that sweetness can be bad from another point. It becomes addictive to Beloved because she almost represents the trauma and stolen good memories of Sethe’s past. When Paul D tells Sethe to find more positive things in the present instead of thinking about the past, Morrison hints at the fact that healing is possible through love instead of remembering the past. Overall, I think that Morrison used sweetness to ask the readers if those who went through endless suffering can ever have true joy in order to reclaim freedom from the suffering.