Conclusion (Blog #7)

As I finished the book and wondered how anyone could possibly fathom a book like this because it is so crazy, that it actually makes sense. This defies the laws of common sense of if things seem crazy, they are. This book is crazy because people try to forget this part of America's history. People think of America's past and think of Heroic people like the founding fathers and incredible speakers like Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. and they seem to forget how America has produced more genocide/questionable acts than the Nazis did. Between the extremely poor treatment of the Native Americans and the centuries of slavery, Americans don't have the best track record with people not of white skin. This book points that out plus more. Many people read over the scene where the Cherokees or "Buffalo Men" helped Paul D when escaping from jail as just another scene but that scene was powerful because these were two hurt and destroyed races both damaged by the same group of oppressors who came together and helped each other because that was the right thing to do. Relating it back to Beloved, Denver is being a typical teenager, and only caring about the present and not the past when Sethe is attempting to answer Denver's questions I also found the motif that Denver is the emotional child that Sethe always wanted. Although many people saw Beloved as a burden, I think Sethe implicitly wanted and needed Beloved because she needed to feel that motherly feeling of being emotionally attached to another child. Sethe was very attached to Denver but as we later know, she also tried to kill Denver and I think it is because Denver is almost like a mother figure for Beloved even if Beloved has Sethe. Paul D even tries to help Sethe focus on the future by asking her to have a baby with him. The craziest part of the book besides the very descriptive murder scene was the symbolism behind each action in the book. When Sethe was breastfeeding Denver after she killed baby Beloved and Denver drinks some of Beloved's blood mixed with the breast milk.  The overall creepiness of that scene still makes me tremble thinking about how Sethe had that feeling come over her that killing her children would essentially save them from harm. Or in other words, in order for her kids to not have to deal with the past that Sethe had, she is making sure they never get to have a future. It is weird though, because throughout the book, many assumed that Sethe was a good person and that Sethe had almost a devil in the form of Beloved watching over her. But the truth is that Sethe's decision to cut her children's lives short was wrong and although she thought she was doing right by her children, she wasn't.