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Tuesday, April 19, 2016

Loving Beloved: Notes from the NMHC Chair

Words of reflection and wisdom from the NMHC Chair, Doris Fields:

Morrison's Beloved is about so much. In part it is about pride and a kind of love that is difficult to describe: love of family, love of life, love of freedom, love of color, love of self, love of community and, so very much, grace. For a people who were dis-Africanized, subsequently racialized, and socialized to loathe all that is of Africa and, thus, themselves. Through Baby Suggs, Morrison urges all of us to love, to love ourselves. Not the plain old self we think about commonly but the detailed self, every inch of self. This passage is one to which I refer regularly, particularly when I think myself about to be defeated. It reminds me to love every part of me, to stand up for what I believe in. It reminds me to be gracious in my loving, in my family, and in my efforts for community uplift.

I found water to be a major theme in Beloved. Morrison shows its necessity, that water is life-giving and sustaining: the Ohio river marks a boundary and provides a passage from bondage to freedom. Beloved, a very special child, is born in water; there is a stream in the back of 124; Beloved and Sethe are repeatedly connected via water, whether at the sea, under the bridge (over water), or in the river; Sethe returns from the carnival and seems to pee just short of forever; Sethe recognized Beloved's re-entry into her life (although she never truly left her) because of her incessant drinking, cup after cup; she dribbles. What is Morrison telling us? I hope to hear/read other views and takes on Beloved. Shall I say I love this book and urge everyone to read it!?! The New Mexico Humanities Council made a genius decision in including all of these Pulitzer winners. I really did not mean to go on, so but I love this book! 

We love it too, and are always grateful to consider new perspectives! Thank you Doris!

2 comments:

  1. Thank you for the insight, Doris. I never considered the role that water plays in Beloved and it's fascinating to explore it. I keep thinking of the phrase, "Freeing yourself was one thing, claiming ownership of that freed self was another." Water-- especially many of the waters in Beloved-- is almost uncontainably free, but as you point out it is a force that traps both Sethe and Beloved in different ways. For Denver it seems like more of a refuge. I would be interested in hearing how others see the use of the many waters in Beloved!

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  2. It's interesting to compare Psalm 114, about achieving freedom from slavery, which also uses powerful images of water:

    When Israel came forth from Egypt, the house of Jacob from an alien people,
    Judah became God’s sanctuary, Israel, God’s domain.
    The sea saw and fled; the Jordan reversed its course.
    The mountains skipped like rams; the hills, like lambs.
    Why was it, sea, that you fled? Jordan, that you turned back?
    Mountains, that you skipped like rams? You hills, like lambs?
    Tremble, earth, before the Lord, before the God of Jacob
    Who turned the rock into pools of water, flint into a flowing spring.

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