Throughout Toni Morrison’s Beloved, the house has a significant presence. “124 was spiteful. Full of a baby’s venom.” are the first words of the novel, but the reader has no context to know what that means. Soon after this strange introduction, we learn that 124 Bluestone Road is where Sethe and Denver live. We also learn that the house is haunted by the ghost of Sethe’s firstborn daughter, Beloved. Beloved’s possession of the house remains through most of the novel, even after the introduction of her “reincarnation”.
The haunting makes it seem as though the house has a personality largely based on the emotions and experiences of Beloved and how she is affected by the other characters. From being “spiteful” at the beginning, to “loud” due to conflicts between Beloved, Sethe, and Denver, to “quiet” around the time where Beloved disappears. As readers, during this haunting, we never really get the sense of terror by the characters involved, as there would be in a something such as a possession oriented horror movie. Denver and Sethe are not scared in any way by the house. Denver in particular shows a strong connection to it. She tells Paul D that it only feels “[l]onely and rebuked”
You make an interesting point at the end here, about the generally female nature of this house and its occupants--not something we discussed in class, but an important detail. Paul D seems to be the only man, apart from Stamp Paid for a short time, who has been inside 124 in years. The sons have taken off, and the house is occupied by a woman and a girl and a female ghost, who soon returns to occupy the house in quasi-human form. This maybe has something to do with the trope throughout--relevant to Hallie and Paul D--that men have the relative luxury of running away or dropping out, to deal with their problems, while a mother like Sethe has no such freedom, as she needs to do for her children. In any case, Morrison is primarily interested in exploring the experiences of women and girls in slavery and post-slavery--Paul D's most notable feature is his ability to get women to speak honestly and share their feelings.
ReplyDeleteIt's really interesting how Morrison personifies 124 to allow the reader to receive certain messages within her words. As you mentioned, Denver has a strong tie to the house, and I think it plays a large role in her coming-of-age. When Denver begins to separate herself from 124 and see the house and its occupants in a different light, she grows into a different person. Like Mr. Mitchell was saying, she doesn't exactly have freedom to just leave. Yet, she takes what autonomy she has, and finds help.
ReplyDeleteMorrison's depiction of 124 is really interesting, especially since the reader, right from the beginning needs to just accept all of the supernatural stuff that happens there as part of a novel that seems really serious. I thought that your observation of the house being of female nature is also something I hadn't really thought of but makes the interactions Paul D and Stamp Paid had with it make more sense.
ReplyDeleteI also found it weird that they didn't view the house as scary because of the ghost, for example when Beloved's ghost smashes the dog against the wall they accept it as Beloved and know they cannot do anything about it.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if there's any merit to the fact Mr. Bodwin seemingly associates 124 with women and female death, and then Denver isn't afraid of the house so much as sorry for it (?), but Stamp Paid for example is reluctant to enter the house? I don't know if Morrison intended any sort of maternal/female kinship between the house and characters like Denver or Sethe. 124 could be some sort of representation of a mourning mother, maybe, like Sethe supposedly wasn't?
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