“Breathless with the excitement of seeing white people loose: doing magic, clowning, without heads or with two heads, twenty feet tall or two feet tall, weighing a ton, completely tattooed, eating glass, swallowing fire, spitting ribbons, twisted into knots, forming pyramids, playing with snakes and beating each other up.
All of this was advertisement, read by those who could and heard by those who could not, and the fact that none of it was true did not extinguish their appetite a bit. The barker called them and their children names (“Pickaninnies free!”) but the food on his vest and the hole in his pants rendered it fairly harmless. In any case it was a small price to pay for the fun they might not ever have again. Two pennies and an insult were well spent if it meant seeing the spectacle of white folks making a spectacle of themselves. So, although the carnival was a lot less than mediocre, it gave the four hundred black people in its audience thrill upon thrill upon thrill” (57-58).
In this passage, Denver, Paul D, and Sethe are all at a colored event carnival on a Thursday night. They are attempting to live a new life and start being happy. In their efforts, they encounter remarks made by white men in the carnival. While it is offensive, they consider it irrelevant in comparison to the amount of fun they had that night. In addition, the experience of seeing “white folks” make fools of themselves makes it that much more worth it. This passage portrays power in multiple ways. It gives Sethe and her family a sense of authority for one night and allows her to realize she can dominate those who seem to have power with her thoughts.
The power at first glance is towards white people. The fact that a carnival is separately prepared for them on a Thursday night in comparison to white people shows how unimportant they are to them and the daily lives they live. Also, when Sethe and her family do go to have a good time, they end up embarrassing and shaming them as a way to remind them of their place in society. These actions alone show the tension between the two classes. However, the way Sethe takes the whole event into perspective is admirable. To her, it did not matter what insults were aimed towards her and her family. The fact that she got to see “white folks making a spectacle of themselves” was priceless. This in a way shows power over them. It shows the power of thoughts vs. actions. The value of what goes on in ones head and the intentions of others can be focused on all throughout this passage.
Although social dominance is inherently obvious, Beloved gives the reader a new perspective on what that actually means. We are able to view and appreciate the Marxist lens in a way that wasn't easily understood before.
I always that the carnival scene was interesting because like what you say, it flip flops the social norms between white and black people. It allows black people to feel free and civilized, to have fun and be catered by the white people.
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