Sethe's Fixation In Beloved, By Paul D

Have you ever questioned why and how the US government decided to drop those two nuclear bombs in Japan in the World War II? It is still a universal concern while many disapproval have made toward its humanity. In a book that I’ve read recently, from the point of view of an eyewitness, Yamaoka Michiko, the author of story “Eight hundred meters from the Hypocenter”, shows how humanity was exchanged with the ambition of a nation by reviving a heartbroken experience when she witnessed her hometown was destroyed by such a terrific violence in the war.

To Paul D, the biggest violation is that they beat Sethe while she was pregnant. However, through physical contact he is able to learn her story and further understand what she has been through. "...he held his breasts in the palms of his hands. He rubbed his cheek on her back and learned that way her sorrow, the roots of it; its wide truck and intricate branches." Paul D found a way to learn what she had been through, and feel what she has felt, by physical connection with parts of her which had been damaged, and more specifically, her scars. In this way, scars fulfill not only a storytelling role, but serve also as a means of connection. In the passion of the moment, Paul D sees her scars as a beautiful part of Sethe's person, on page 20 he refers to her scars as a "wrought-iron maze" which he wants to explore and to know. "He saw the sculpture her back had become, like the decorative work of an ironsmith too passionate for display. " Paul D has no real words to express his emotions at that time except for "Aw, Lord, girl", but on page 18 he shows his desire to heal Sethe and make things better in another way. "He would have no peace until he had touched every ridge and leaf of it with his mouth, none of which Sethe could feel because her back skin had been dead for years. What she knew was that the responsibility for her breasts, at last, was in someone else's hands." Again, the true communication and interpersonal connection

During the bombing of Hiroshima, casualty rates among medical personnel were in the range between 80 to 93 percent. Injuries resulting from the bombing often went untreated, and the survivors did not receive health care for some time. The book Hiroshima discusses this issue in great length, specifically why they were not given the necessary aid. The government of Hiroshima played a major role in this.

First, she “moves” him to the rocking chair in the kitchen, then to Baby Suggs’ old room, then to the storeroom, and then finally to the cold house. Her “moving” of Paul D meant that he wasn’t physically near Sethe as much as he once was, fulfilling Beloved’s selfish intentions to have Sethe for herself. For Paul D, the fact that Beloved was “moving” him meant that he was being controlled once again, as shown in the passage, “he had come to be a rag doll—picked up and put back down anywhere any time by a girl young enough to be his daughter” (Morrison 148). Being controlled like this, much like he once was by the hands of the schoolteacher, was a source of shame and humiliation for Paul D, for “there was nothing he was able to do about it” (Morrison 148), making him feel like he was back at Sweet Home and a “slave” once again. In addition to moving him, Beloved also requests that Paul D, “touch [her] on the inside part” (Morrison 137) and to call her by her name. For Beloved, this is sexual action symbolizes Paul D’s betrayal of Sethe and shows that he does not truly love her, perhaps giving Beloved the idea that the relationship between the two will eventually end and she will have her mother to herself. Paul D, on the other hand, wants to believe that the requests mean absolutely nothing. However,

The non-fiction book Hiroshima by John Hersey is an engaging text with a powerful message in it. The book is a biographical text about lives of six people Miss Sasaki, Dr. Fujii, Mrs. Nakamura, Father Kleinsorge, Dr. Sasaki and Rev. Tanimoto in Hiroshima, Japan and how their lives completely changed at 8:15 on the 6th of August 1945 by the dropping of the first atomic bomb. The author, John Hersey, through his use of descriptive language the in book Hiroshima exposes the many horrors of a nuclear attack.

Mr. Tanimoto consciously repeated to himself “‘These are human beings’”(Hersey 1946), as he attempted to save paralyzed, dying men and women, in the book “Hiroshima” by John Hersey. This nonfiction book was published on August 31 1946, a year after the atomic bombing fell on Hiroshima, Japan. This publication was raw, uncensored, and truthful. John Hersey unapologetically revealed the gruesome damages done by the bombing, while also silencing those who believed that the atomic bomb was a justified attack. Hersey’s brilliant journalism and ability to write this story without bias, is why this book was selected. The author did not want those who died to be remembered as casualties, but as mothers, fathers and children. Hersey wrote this book about the the physical, and psychological impact this bomb had on both survivors and victims of the atomic bomb. There were many historical events that contributed to the cause and effect of the atomic attack; historical events such as industrialization, the trench wars, and militarism. This was not just a simple bomb, but a complex attack on humanity.

The crises to which this work responds was the total annihilation of Hiroshima and the aftershock experienced by those left

When Sethe first meets Beloved, she welcomes her with a suspiciously large magnitude. Furthermore, it is clear that Sethe never revealed her past experiences to Denver, yet the moment Beloved asks about her lost earrings, it was “the first time she had heard anything about her(Sethe’s) mother’s mother”(61). This proves that Beloved, and not anyone else, is pulling Sethe to the past, by making her recollect of her days as a slave. In addition,“it is clear why she holds on to you(Sethe), but I just can’t see why you holding on to her,” Paul mentioned(67). This shows how Paul realizes that Sethe has taken in Beloved without much reasoning, and when Beloved hums a song that Sethe happened to make up, Sethe fully but blindly embraces Beloved as family. In fact, she “had gone to bed smiling,” anxious to “unravel the proof for the conclusion she had already leapt to”(181). This shows how consumed by Beloved she is.

Though people questioned why acts of war were committed, they found justification in rationalizing that it served the greater good. As time evolved, the world began to evolve in its thinking and view of the atomic bomb and war. In Hiroshima, John Hersey has a conversation with a survivor of the atomic bomb about the general nature of war. “She had firsthand knowledge of the cruelty of the atomic bomb, but she felt that more notice should be given to the causes than to the instruments of total war.” (Hersey, 122). In John Hersey’s book, many concepts are discussed. The most important concept for the reader to identify was how society viewed the use of the bomb. Many people, including survivors, have chosen to look past the bomb itself, into the deeper issues the bomb represents. The same should apply to us. Since WWII, we have set up many restrictions, protocols and preventions in the hope that we could spare our society from total nuclear war. The world has benefited in our perspective of the bomb because we learned, understand, and fear the use of atomic weapons.

After the bomb was dropped many people had developed serious health issues, many not knowing they had any. Father Wilhelm Kleinsorge, a German priest, had to have repeated visits to the hospital, to be treated for medical symptoms commonly found in the A-bomb survivors. “Back in the hospital in Tokyo for the second time, Father Kleinsorge was suffering from fever, diarrhea, wounds that would not heal, wildly fluctuating blood counts, and utter exhaustion. For the rest of his life, he was to be a classic case history of… borderline form of A-bomb sickness… many of which turned up in hibakusha…” (Hersey, 110). A few years after the atom bomb was dropped many survivors, commonly called hibakusha, meaning explosion-affected persons, had to make many trips to the hospital because the United States dropped the atom bomb. Dr. Fujii, a physician who has a private hospital, planned to have a gathering on New Year’s Day with his family, but never showed up. “At half past eleven, Dr. Fujii had not appeared, and

Sethe and her friends and family both witness and experience the atrocious institutionalized wrongs and unethical societal norms of slave culture. However, Sethe eventually escapes Sweet Home plantation, hoping to provide a better life for her and her children. She finds a home at 124 Bluestone Road with her mother-in-law, Baby Suggs. Like Sethe, Paul D escapes Sweet Home, but he subsequently suffers jail time and further mistreatment. Morrison explains how slavery destroyed Paul D’s ability to love and express himself, “Saying more might push them both to a place they couldn’t get back from. He would keep the rest where it belonged: in that tobacco tin buried in his chest where a red heart used to be. Its lid rusted shut” (Morrison 86). The metaphorical replacement of Paul D’s heart with a rusted tobacco tin illustrates how slavery removed a human quality from him, almost giving him attributes of a machine rather than a person. Slave owners, Mr. Garner and Schoolteacher, reduced Paul D to a worker without a heart. However, Paul D finds an escape from this with Sethe at

The novel Beloved is drenched in history, whether it is familial or on a larger scale, there is no escaping the past. For a character like Sethe, history means escaping hardships; slavery, her husband’s disappearance, as well as the brutal death of her baby daughter at her own hands. History is what makes her character, she takes the pain and she bears it, quite literally, in her skin. She does not want to hide from it, but there is no escaping it, as well. Her attempts to move on from the past are futile, but she still tries.

In the light of a political dilemma that doesn't have a clear solution, it seems as though the ethical question of Hiroshima and Nagasaki is haunting us (the United States) again. It seems as though that history is repeating itself and it is the Holocaust Part II. When Mark Hetfield, president and CEO of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society

In contrast to Paul D, Sethe lives within her memories. When Paul D finds Sethe she says him, “ I made the ink, Paul D. He couldn’t have done it if I hadn’t made the ink.” Sethe is talking about Schoolteacher and how he could not have written his observations Sethe and the other Sweet Home slaves. She is not living in the present, instead she worries and frets over her past mistakes and past experiences. Sethe sees Beloved as her daughter come back to life, but Beloved is much more than that.

"The Flame of Peace still flickers on, awaiting the day when the world is rid of nuclear weapons." "President Barack Obama last April, former U.S. Secretary of State George P. Shultz warns of "a very dangerous moment" in history and calls for zero weapons."(A Nuke-Free World) The text indicates that people believe now is the time to get rid of nuclear weapons. Even Barack Obama, the US president, believes there should be zero weapons. People know the damage that can be caused by atomic bombs and other weapons and do not think it is acceptable to even have those weapons at all. Barack Obama agreed to visit the Hiroshima Peace Museum. At the museum, the terror and pain that happened is shown. It is quite a powerful experience and people from around the world go to pay respect. At the end of the museum, there are little note-cards, which they ask you to fill out. The note-cards promise that we will never use mass-destruction weapons again. I personally have filled the cards out; For me, seeing how many people have filled them out shows you how many people care. A rule made by the Geneva Conventions gives this message as well. "All warring parties are required to collect and care for civilians under their power who have been wounded or are sick. Aid workers and hospitals must be spared from warfare. Aid convoys and humanitarian equipment also should not be attacked."(The Geneva