![]() And the ‘message’ is that freedom is as much a state of mind as of body – that slavery’s after-effects still have Sethe in its toils, and that even the next generations, embodied in Denver and the missing sons, live their lives in its shadow. Beloved is an obvious metaphor for slavery itself, still haunting and torturing those who have apparently escaped its chains. It seems at first that he has driven the ghost away, until some weeks later a strange young woman arrives at the house – her name, Beloved.ĭespite the ghostly presence of Beloved, this is mainly a straightforward account of the horrific treatment meted out to many slaves and of the need for the characters to face their past in order to be able to create a better future in their hard-won freedom. Then one day a man from Sethe’s past arrives, Paul D, who knew her when they were both slaves on Sweet Home. And to Denver, the ghost is her sister, her only companion in her loneliness. The ghost is angry but Sethe understands why and endlessly forgives, no matter how cruel or violent her behaviour. To Sethe it is the other daughter that she lost, a child known only by the single word carved on her gravestone, “Beloved”. ![]() But Sethe and Denver see the ghost differently. Sethe’s two sons have already left, unable to take any more of the spiteful tricks played by the ghost. ![]() ![]() Sethe and her daughter, Denver, live isolated lives in their community, because everyone knows that their house at no. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |