Sweet Home Short Story Analysis

In Sethe’s perspective when it came to whether or not she should kill her kids or have herself and her children all go back to Sweet Home, she rather kill them before they have the chance to become slaves based off of the past experiences she had as a slave. In Sethe’s view, “I told Mrs. Garner on em. She had that lump and couldn’t speak but her eyes rolled out tears. Them boys found out I told on em. Schoolteacher made one open up my back, and when it closed it made a tree. It grows there still” (17). This means that not only was Sethe violated by boys but she was also whipped hard enough on her back to cause scarring that resembles a tree. In the novel the word “tree” symbolizes her unpleasant past. For example the tree-shaped scar on her back and back at Sweet Home there would be dead slaves hanging on trees. Another example of Sethe’s past experiences was her getting violated being a sex slave. According to Sethe, “After I left you, those boys came in there and took my milk. That’s what they came in there for.” Morrison’s point is that slaves are not seen as human. This is important because slaves were seen as property like animals. For instance, the boys take Sethe’s breastfeeding milk as if she were a cow. In Sethe’s words, “Where I was before I came here, that place is real. It’s never going away. Even if the whole farm--every tree and grass blade of it dies. The picture is still there and what's

Paul D, a fellow ex-member of Sweet Home, the same place Sethe was stationed in during her slavery years, is a character who was a victim of cruelty done by a society and a communtiy and was forced to act cruely himself. Schoolteacher, the man who represents slavery, hurts Paul D by making him realize that he has less worth than a rooster named Mister. This makes Paul D question how much exactly he is worth, and where he belongs as can be seen as he travels the states based on the advice of a Cherokee member. Paul D eventualy finds that place in 124, with Sethe. One of the most obvious scenes of Paul D committing a cruel deed is when he

Sethe says she believes she won't even have to explain her motives for killing her (a love so great she can't let her be taken into a life of slavery). "I don't have to remember nothing," Sethe tells herself on page 183. "I don't even have to explain. She understands it all." Sethe believes the one true way she will find restitution and understanding with Beloved, is by knowing the mark she has left on her daughter. "I only need to know one thing. How bad is the scar?" Sethe feels that by knowing the scar, by touching the "memory of a smile under her chin," she can feel her daughter's pain and connect with her.

Sethe divulged to Paul D the catastrophic events that caused her to run away from Sweet Home, and then she surrendered her sons and daughter to a woman in a wagon because she was worried about the family’s future under the Schoolteacher’s reign. Her description of the assault was straight forward. She told Paul D and very succinctly the roughness and cruelty of those white people especially the two white boys who beat her while she was pregnant with Denver injuring her so badly that her back skin had been dead for years. She refers to the situation as

Even after she acknowledges Beloved's identity, Sethe shows herself to be still enslaved by the past, because she quickly succumbs to Beloved's demands and allows herself to be consumed by Beloved. Only when Sethe learns to confront the past head-on, to assert herself in its presence, can she extricate herself from its oppressive power and begin

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.

However, unlike Paul D, Sethe thinks about trees to calm the pain and suffering she went through as a slave. During her time spent in slavery, Sethe witnessed events such as whippings, lynching, and hangings. In her memory, Sethe choses to focus on other things such as plants and trees preventing her from reliving painful memories. “Boys hanging from the most beautiful sycamores in the world,”...“ Try as she might to make it otherwise, the sycamores beat out the children every time and she could not forgive her memory for that.”(Morrison 7) Another instance where Sethe looks to trees for healing and escape is when she describes the scar on her back to Paul D. “I have never seen it and I never will, but that is what she said it looked like. A chokecherry tree. Trunk, branches, even leaves. Tiny little chokecherry leaves.”(Morrison 18) Sethe also views plants as a life force and seems to always acknowledge them during the moments in which she is happiest. For example, living in freedom with her family, Sethe describes the beauty of the day. “The sky was blue and clear. Not one touch of death in the definite green of the leaves. She could hear birds and, faintly, the stream way down in the meadow.”(Morrison 162) Overall, Sethe's relationship with plants is that she views them as a life source with the power to distract and heal her from the abominable memories that still haunt

Sethe is not simply attempting to kill her children just for the sake of doing it; she sees no other option for the betterment of their lives. Sethe is attempting to take the lives of her children out of pure love and the opportunity to not drag them through a life of suffering.

Sethe understands that her history, filled with the pain of slavery, grief over losing her children, and guilt over Beloved's death, and tries to hide from all the anguish. However, she admits that the past seems to "always be there waiting," thereby emphasizing the idea that past horrors of life continue to haunt forever. It appears as though the power of her experience in slavery influences her so greatly that the memory triggers great pain, causing the horrifying incidents to "happen again." Even though Sethe understands that she cannot ever fully escape her history as it will come back to trouble her, she still tries to avoid them and thus attempts to shield her daughter from the horrors of history: "As for Denver, the job Sethe had of keeping her from the past that was still waiting for her was all that mattered" (45). It seems as though Sethe tries to deny the fact that history does not simply disappear. She still tries to protect Denver "from the past" even though history "waits," prepared to cause trouble and inflict the pain Sethe tries to repress. It appears as though Sethe continuously tries to fight against her memories and ignore her past in part one. For example, after she wakes, she begins "Working dough. Working, working dough. Nothing better than that to start the day's

Sethe tries to rationalize the actions that she commits in the past. “Nobody will ever get my milk no more except my own children (200).” The significance of this quote highlights Sethe’s very late approach to justifying the murder of her child. Sethe’s internal voice is presenting events from her past and shadowing her present which causes Sethe to become rancorous. Sethe’s behavior demonstrates some sense of resentment in the sinful act that she commits earlier in the novel.

Sethe lives in the shadow of her act of infanticide throughout the entire length of the book. This is because its legacy pervades itself throughout the entire novel, showing events leading up, and ways the future has been affected. The novel begins as such: “124 was spiteful. Full of a baby’s venom. (Page 1)” This baby refers to Beloved, who became a ghostly presence in Sethe’s house and continuously terrorizes the house

Finally, Sethe’s perspective defends her decision to attempt to kill her children, stating that, “It’s my job to know what it is and to keep them away from what I know is terrible. I did that” (Morrison 194). However, despite not agreeing on whether or not the murder was justified, each recount of the story all arrive at the general consensus that what Sethe did was unlawful and wrong. While Sethe doesn’t openly admit it, her perspective does provide readers with the idea that she realized her actions were drastic and wrong in the eyes of society, as seen by her constant “circling” and “spinning” around the subject.

Her community shuns her, and even a trusted friend like Paul D says “What you did was wrong, Sethe.” (Morrison 194) Margaret Garner was provided with sympathy and support from her enslaved community that recognized her desperation and fear, and outsiders that were inspired by the tragedy of her case. Sethe’s peers share her experiences with slavery, but are less compassionate in their response. She was isolated from her neighbors because she killed Beloved. The act was seen as a sort of betrayal to the community in which no one is left behind, even if they knew her circumstances. The trauma behind the crime was acknowledged, but not understood. Both Margaret Garner and Sethe experience immense stress in the aftermath of their daughter’s death, as people question whether or not what they did was right and challenge why they committed the crime to begin

 When Sethe finally arrives at 124 Bluestone Road, she is greeted with her loving mother-in-law, Jenny Whitlow, known to her as Baby Suggs.  A second healing takes place when Baby Suggs tends to her mutilated body.  “She led Sethe to the keeping room and bathed her in sections, starting with her face…Sethe dozed and woke to the washing of her hands and arms…When Sethe’s legs were done, Baby looked at her feet and wiped them lightly.  She cleaned between Sethe’s legs…”(Morrison, 93).  The methodical washing of Sethe’s body emphasizes the sympathy and love that fills Baby Suggs’ heart.  Putting her trust in Baby Suggs for the relief of physical and emotional torment, is the only way Sethe is able to relieve herself of her haunted past and suffering body.  Baby Suggs knows as well as Sethe, the haunting miseries of black men and women who have been brought low by slavery, yet she urges her daughter-in-law to keep going and be strong.

 Sethe learned the value of motherhood from an early age.  Not wanting the children of the white men that raped her, Sethe?s mother, Ma?am (as she is called in the book), threw all the unwanted children away.  But, Sethe?s father was a black man whom Ma?am loved, and so she kept Sethe.  Recalling the story, Sethe thinks back on what Nan (the woman who knew Sethe?s mother and raised Sethe, herself) said, ?She threw them all away but you.  The one from the crew she threw away on the island.  The others from more whites she also threw away.  Without names, she threw them.  You she gave the name of the black man? (Morrison, 62).  Thus having an identity because of her mother, ?Sethe learns Ma?am?s history and grounds her personality in motherly-love? (Kubitcheck 123).  Kubitcheck also says, ?mother-love offers the strongest defense against slavery.  When Nan tells Sethe that her Ma?am chose to conceive and bear her, Sethe acquires the base on which to build feelings of self-worth? (135).  She could also identify with her mother by the mark branded below Ma?am?s