My Beloved

Three weeks since I've written--quite an eventful time, too. You can read all about it on my personal blog--follow the link on the right to "My Journey." But I do have to thank all of you who have sent cards, notes, emails, and well-wishes. Thank you for all the thoughts and prayers--they're working. I am definitely on the mend and hope to see you all, if things go according to plan, after spring break. We see the doctor tomorrow and will then know more.

I read something today that made me think about the trees in Beloved. Clearly Morrison uses trees as positive symbols as well as negative ones. And some trees seem negative, such as the one on Sethe's back, which becomes a positive symbol of her growth and healing. This has a biblical tie-in. There are two gardens in the Bible--the Garden of Eden and the Garden of Gethsemane. Each of these is associated with a tree: Eden with the tree of life, and Gethsemane with the cross. Both of these trees have positive and negative connotation. The tree of life would have enabled Adam and Eve to live forever, but once they had the knowledge of good and evil, this could no longer be. The cross seems like a terrible kind of tree, but the message Christians associate with the cross is extremely positive--redemption. I think this is the kind of tree Sethe has on her back--one that reveals the depth of her suffering but also the miracle of her ability to heal and move forward.

I was very sorry not to be able to finish the book with you--did you finish it? It's hardly a book you can just stop reading once you're so far into it. I hope you noticed that when Paul D. finally opens his tobacco-tin heart, Morrison lists everything in it. Each of the items on the list has been used throughout the earlier parts of the novel by Morrison, as those teases we talked about. Paul D finally opening his heart to Sethe allows him to deal with all the hurtful parts of his past, reinforcing Morrison's idea about the importance of walking through life holding onto someone else's hand. We saw this motif too.

I hope you were able to forgive Sethe's violent act. I would like to hear what you think about it--feel free to respond. I'm writing my master's thesis on this subject, and your opinions are valuable to me. What do you think Morrison means when she ends the novel with "This is not a story to pass on"? Does this mean that it shouldn't be shared? Or that the events of the story shouldn't be repeated? Or that it shouldn't be passed up? Feel free to comment on this too--it's perplexing. Can't wait to hear from you.