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Cincinnati, Ohio, 183. 124 Bluestone Road. Only a mother, Sethe, and her daughter
Denver, are living in a haunted house. They are African ex-slaves, survivors of a painful
and traumatic life. It is Paul D, another slave from “Sweet Home”, that suddenly comes,
who brings back memories of a past that has been long since buried. The more Sethe and
Paul D talk about their past sufferings, the more they are healed. However, the ghost that
haunts the house remains as a mystery.
This book, “Beloved”, a touching and powerful social novel written by Toni
Morrison, is a deeply profound reading experience. Morrison uses the same techniques
as the most respectable and admirable authors. These include musical language, as she
stated: “I wanted my language to be musical”. This technique gives the novel poetic
lines, like: “Lay em down, Sethe. Sword and shield. Down. Down. Both of em down.
Down by the riverside. Sword and shield.” (page 86). Also, she uses small precise
images, that are described in detail. With this technique, the reader can feel as if he or she
can contemplate the image and see the beauty in it. An example of this is: “She frowned
and looked at her daughter-in-law bending toward the baby. Roses of blood
blossomed in the blanket covering Sethe’s shoulders.” (page 93). As the story unfolds,
the reader discovers the real human nature of the characters by Morrison’s excellent use
of stream-of-consciousness. The rememory that takes place throughout the novel
examines a cruel and obscene system of the not-so-old American society. Morrison
presents some demonstrative examples of that last century America, that could be called
“Hell on Earth”.
Sethe and her family were all victims of slavery in a place called “Sweet Home”,
where they worked at a plantation. Sethe was sexually abused while she was pregnant
of a baby she later called Beloved. She was so terribly whipped by the white nephews
of the owner that she carries permanent scars. After she gives birth, she cuts the baby’s
throat. She could not bear to think of the child living slavery.
The overall plot consists of sources of conflict that play an important role in this story.
These are race, gender, family and supernatural issues (which is the presence of
In the novel Beloved, the author, Toni Morrison, attempts to promote a variety of different themes and ideas by symbolizing them in minor events and situations. This symbolism is evident throughout the entire novel and is very crucial to the understanding and analyzing of the text. A good example of this is the ice skating scene. Morrison uses this scene to represent the slow, but consistent, deterioration of the family living in 124 and to foreshadow the ultimate demise of the family unit. Morrison writes repeatedly, “Nobody saw them falling,” yet in all reality they were falling, and falling fast (Morrison 174). There are a number of details, including the setting, Sethe’s emotions, the choice of shoes/ice skates worn by each of the three female characters, and the ultimate goal of reaching heaven, which demonstrate this idea.
Once punctum occurs we become fixated on that something that provokes us, a single detail of a photograph that holds our gaze without condescending to mere meaning or beauty.
The cycle began with the Sethe’s unnamed mother, who was the first generation of slave in the family. As a result of being a field slave, she was unable to breast feed her daughter, leaving the responsibility of to Nan who also “had to nurse white babies” who “got it first” leaving Sethe with “no nursing milk to call [her] own” (236). Her mother remains nameless because it was in the mother language which Sethe did not take part in as she was born, on a boat, into slavery. It was because Sethe knew “what it is to be without milk that belongs to you” and having to “fight and holler for it, and to have so little left” that she makes an extra effort to “get that milk to her baby girl.” (97) It was after Schoolteacher’s nephews milked her that there was not enough milk left from Nan’s sparse feedings for Sethe to accommodate her children.
From the beginning, Beloved focuses on the import of memory and history. Sethe struggles daily with the haunting legacy of slavery, in the form of her threatening memories and also in the form of her daughter’s aggressive ghost. For Sethe, the present is mostly a struggle to beat back the past, because the memories of her daughter’s death and the experiences at Sweet Home are too painful for her to recall consciously. But Sethe’s repression is problematic, because the absence of history and memory inhibits the construction of a stable identity. Even Sethe’s hard-won freedom is threatened by her inability to confront her prior life. Paul D’s arrival gives Sethe the opportunity and the impetus to finally come to terms with her painful life history.
To be an American has a big picture that can be described in many ways. Personally, to be an American is to achieve everything; however, the person next to may have a different opinion about it. History, America has been attracting immigrants from different parts of the world to live the full freedom and opportunity. To be an American means much more than living in the United States is to be able to expand the beliefs ones have. That is why people view the American Dream. The American Dream is an idea on were a perfect freedom is given to all people no matter social group or race. Many people have a definition of their mind on what is an American Dream. American are viewed as a person who can do the unlimited things. People freedoms and discoveries
After reading and evaluating both McClintock’s scholar-practitioner model and Capella’s scholar--practitioner learning model, My impressions were that McClintock's drew importance towards one achieving a high professional standard, Influenced by science, theory and research; intertwined with a balance of making connection with the real world and abiding by the ethical code of conduct. McClintock (2004) states, Scholar practitioner is committed to the well-being of clients and colleagues. Moreover, he emphasized that scholar-practitioners require unique understanding, knowledge and perspective through effective interrelations within the communities of practice. Capella’s scholar-practitioner learning model focuses on education identity, trainings, group knowledge, theory, application,and analyzing. Consequently, the aspects of McClintock’s scholar-practitioner model supports Capella’s scholar- practitioner learning model is that through these sets of guidelines, strategies and practices- scholars can become successful both personally and professionally while creating a balance of theoretical practice and connection through the real world.
Morrison stresses this idea of reliving the experience of slavery when Mr. Bodwin and Denver enter Sethe’s yard upon exorcising Beloved from her life. At this time, Sethe believes Mr. Bodwin is schoolteacher, and she feels that he is going to treat her the same way schoolteacher did back at Sweet Home. With that, Morrison appears to be deconstructing concepts of common family structure and brokenness of slave families in her novel by having Mr. Bodwin function as a bad subject that removes Denver from her life. Denver, after working for Mr. Bodwin, ultimately becomes a mother for herself, for she ends up providing for herself without much assistance. She simply crosses over to a side that Sethe associates with
Toni Morrison's Beloved Throughout the novel Beloved, there are numerous and many obvious reoccurring themes and symbols. While the story is based off of slavery and the aftermath of the horrible treatment of the slaves, it also breaches the subject of the supernatural. It almost seems like the novel itself is haunted. It is even named after the ghost. To further the notion of hauntings, the characters are not only haunted by Beloved at 124, but they are haunted by their past, and the novel is not only about ridding their home of the ghost, but releasing their hold on what had happened to them in worse times.
Toni Morrison's fifth novel, Beloved, a vividly unconventional family saga, is set in Ohio in the mid 1880s. By that time slavery had been shattered by the Civil War, the Emancipation Proclamation and the succeeding constitutional amendments, though daily reality for the freed slaves continued to be a matter of perpetual struggle, not only with segregation and its attendant insults, but the curse of memory.
At this day in age we bask in the luxury of having easy access to advanced technology at our disposal. From the World Wide Web, to cell phones, music, movies and video games the human race has thought of any and everything to keep us entertained. Over the years studies have shown reasonable concerns regarding the long-term effects of video games. These games can desensitize gamers to real life violence, which is usually seen in the younger crowd. The studies especially hit on the games containing player-on-player violence. Though these games are extremely entertaining and can get kids to settle down for a while, if not properly supervised, they can produce adverse effects. Other studies have shown that video games can be used as way to yield positive outcomes such as, good problem solving skills, cooperation in a group and the ability to flow. Although there has been psychological research on children learning through the actions of others some believe that children are automatically able to distinguish between what is just a game and what is reality. The longer they are allowed on their game system the more they become convinced that their games are real. Some researchers believe violent video games can channel the aggression of the child but the parents are to blame for what happens to the child after playing an excessive amount over a period of time. Children can become preoccupied with these violent video games which have been proven to be the cause of poor social skills, uncontrollable aggression and a false reality.
that a life in chains had left behind. For Sethe, slavery is not over, at least not in
Video games have improved a lot since they were first introduced. They have also made a lot of impacts in our generation by making gamers more social, teaching children through educational video games, and how video games can improve our health. Furthermore, the articles show many different ways that proves that video games aren’t bad for you physically and emotionally. Since video games were introduced they have changed our society.
Specifically, the way in which Paul D and Sethe animate the nearly twenty-year-old memories of Sweet Home Planation in an attempt to correct their current status. This article focuses principally on what Sivaraj defines as “two temporal planes” of memories; one of the past in Kentucky and the other of which is unceasingly being created within present day Cincinnati. Sivaraj focuses her interpretation upon the methods in which the characters appropriate the act of re-remembering since “each and every flashback from different perspective adds some more information to the previous once” (Sivaraj). Also, revealing how the narrative drives the reader to unquestioningly absorb the fragmented memories constructed by Sethe, which expels the multifaceted layers of Beloved’s narrative. Much like my own interpretation, Sivaraj also dedicates most of her consideration upon not only remembering the past but how one can stitch together the fragments of the communal memory in an attempt to alter their destiny. Furthermore, exploring the ways in which slavery of the Sweet Home Plantation penetrates the memory of Sethe and Paul D, ever manipulating their present-day image. Moreover, the author of this article brings attention the narrative’s voice that guides the augmented fragments of the characters
Studies have shown that there is a wide variety of physical and behavioral effects that video games can have on their players.
Video games have been argued about for decades. Some people have argued that video games are linked to violence. However, new research shows that video games can be used for therapeutic purposes, exercise, stress relievers, positive interactive learning, hand eye coordination, and different types of patient treatment for people all around the world.