"Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart."
for writing of all kinds. (concrit welcomed. ♥)
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- Created By bellpickle
The essay I was working on till 1:30 last night. :((
I'm still somewhat wary of the grade I'll get on this (the misreading incident still haunts me ._.), though I think this might be one of the better essays I've written so far. This centers on the scene in which Sethe explains what was going on in her head while she killed (D:) her baby.
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The prevailing binary throughout the passage from pg. 192-193 is that of freedom versus restriction. Depending on which side of the binary the reader considers more prevalent, Sethe’s thought processes and the consequences of her actions are seen in a more positive or negative light. At first it seems as though Sethe’s actions symbolize freedom, a way of breaking out of the cycle of slavery, but in reality, Sethe’s actions ultimately restrict her and her family.
One of the most common strands of this passage relates to prison. Sethe recalls experiences involving things such as a “tree cage” and “ankle ropes,” both of which relate to being bound in some way, to create an initial sense of restriction. Morrison attempts to dismiss this restriction by later comparing Sethe to a hummingbird in flight and by stating that Sethe “just flew” once she spotted the schoolteacher’s hat. The repeated references to flight, which traditionally symbolizes freedom, suggest that Sethe’s instinctual response to kill her children was liberating rather than destructive.
In a later scene, a sense of freedom is purportedly achieved once more following Sethe’s release from the jailhouse. She is described as feeling “glad the fence was gone” from the front of the house. Since fences are typically a symbol of confinement, it would seem reasonable to assume that the destruction of the fence was an act that liberated rather than restricted Sethe.
But despite Sethe’s attitude towards her situation, the destruction of the fence ironically isolated her family much more than when they were gated. Their fenceless house transformed from a “way station,” where so much traffic passed through that the gate “was always latching and unlatching,” to a place so “desolate” and “exposed” that only the valueless “shoulder weeds of Bluestone Road” dared to approach. The exposed house, rather than becoming more open and inviting of a place, actually became more isolated. By playing on the reader’s expectations, the text reveals how the destruction of a typically restrictive object still leads only to further restriction.
Even in the prior scene during which Sethe is related to the hummingbird, there is a dark implication hidden under the more obvious metaphor of flight as representative of freedom. The bird enters the scene in a violent manner, using its “needle beak” to pierce Sethe’s headcloth, a possible reference to the “flowered shift” Sethe wished to make for the baby using fabric “not enough for more ‘n a head tie.” (pg. 191) The hummingbird’s destruction of the headcloth while in flight foreshadows the destruction Sethe brings to her baby while she is also “flying” her children to supposed safety. Although the act of flying usually implies freedom, in this case, the aftermath of the event leaves Sethe and her family even more confined than before.
Thus, the text uses strands and anomalies concerning flight to depict the idea that destructive actions, even when done under the guise of freedom, leads to eventual degradation and restriction. Just as the destruction of the fence only signified further isolation, Sethe’s flight and its subsequent consequences only bound her family ever closer to the tragedies of slavery.
OK I'LL STOP PROCRASTINATING AND DO MY READING NOW BAI.
