Beloved 3

I first want to comment on the imagery that Morrison uses to portray Sixo murder. The imagery that Morrison uses really allows the reader to gain a visualization of what is exactly going on in the scene. As I was reading about this incident I couldn’t help but think that this was a positive scene even though something terrible was happening. The way that Sixo was singing and laughing made me think that he was ready to die. Dying seemed to be his escape from slavery and all of the horrors it incorporated. I didn’t see it as a murder really I saw it more as a celebration of a great man’s life.
Speaking more on Morrison’s writing style, I still had trouble understanding what was going on with all of the flashbacks. I think that her writing style is very unique and I just found it hard to follow, even after reading the whole book I was still lost and confused about what it was exactly that she was trying to do with all of the past references.
The ending of the book was great! I was a little worried for a while because the plot seemed to continue to grow and it seemed like there wasn’t enough pages left to answer the questions and lighten the suspense that was building throughout the novel. As soon as I read about Denver leaving the house I knew that the story was going to wrap up, I just wasn’t sure exactly how Morrison was going to do it. I think that the ending Morrison chose was a powerful and meaningful one. The way she described the assembly of women walking down the dirt road, it was like an unstoppable force of some kind. This really showed the sense of community and family that the women had for one another.

Beloved 2

I think the part in the story that describes the aftermath of the killings is pretty intense, but the reaction and thoughts of the sheriff are very telling of the differing mentalities and the interpretations of the business of slavery and its mechanisms. When he thinks “all testimony to the results of a little-so-called freedom imposed on people who needed every care and guidance in the world to keep them from the cannibal life they preferred”. He’s standing there looking at the carnage before him and it just seems that it’s irrelevant, like tying his shoes or a momentary burden, until he can get back home. I found that the statement brought more reality to the scene then the whole descriptions of the killings.

I definitely don’t like the term they use to remember the baby girl, crawling-already? I just feel that the author could have used another term it just throws me off every time I read it and frankly what is it describing so she crawled early.

I don’t practically like the flashback, reverse story telling of the book. I can’t figure out if she’s just trying to add to the jumbled thoughts or what, but beginning middle and end works rather well, without using her technique.

Beloved

It took me a little bit to get used to Morrison’s writing style in the first couple chapters. I found myself having to re-read a few sections that caused some confusion. I found this to be surprising because Morrison’s foreword was so well developed and gave great in-depth as to what she was going to talk about. Although I found the first couple chapters to be a little confusing, I particularly enjoyed the foreword. I believe it made the reading mean more from the start instead of trying to figure out what the authors intentions were throughout the reading like we have done throughout most of our readings.
Once I finally caught a grasp on what was actually going on I really began to enjoy this book. I am not particularly into ghost stories and what not but I found that it really helps to portray what I believe Morrison is trying to exemplify through writing this novel. For instance when Morrison describes how the two boys even ran away from the house because it was haunted, I found that Morrison showed weakness in men / boys through this scene.
This novel is written in feminine text and I found it to be easy to relate to. We have read a couple feminine texts throughout our readings and I found myself being able to relate to this one the most. I found this to be true mostly because Morrison’s style of writing seems to connect very closely with the contemporary issues of sexism.

Middle Passage part 2

The second part of this novel answered a lot of questions for me. The part when Calhoun talks about his family answered so many questions and also helped explain why he is what he is. The fact that he was basically abandoned by his father on top pf his mother dying when Calhoun was a young boy, I believe ads to the factor that Calhoun doesn’t want to get married and settle down. Calhoun himself didn’t have a positive upbringing as far as family went so I believe that is why he doesn’t want to make someone else vulnerable to those experiences and settle down and get married.
Another interesting part of this novel was reading about the Allmuseri. We have read from an Almuserians perspective when we read Equiano, so I found it really interesting to read about the other side, the captures. I found this to be very interesting because Calhoun, an ex-slave, was doing the capturing this time. It’s kind of ironic and funny at the same time.
The story really gained my attention when the slaves took over the ship. You get a sense of triumph when the slaves finally do overtake the ship and then Jacobs adds this character into the picture that makes you think. Rutherford, this character really confused me because I am pretty sure he is a slave and I just can’t think of any good reason for him to be confused about what side to take, the slaves or the whites.

Middle Passage

First I must start off by saying that I found this novel to be the easiest to read out of all of the readings we have been exposed to. I find myself just plowing through pages and not having to reread things over and over again to try and figure things out. I think that this novel it such easy reading for me because it seems to have a well developed plot, at least this far into the novel.
I found Calhoun’s master to be a very interestion character. I found him to be so interesting because we haven’t really read about good slave masters. They fact that he sets all of his slaves free really shocked me. I mean we have read about a couple of masters treating their slaves well. But never have we read about how a master frees all of his slaves one by one. We have also read about masters who educate their slaves, but the part that really entriged me was when Calhoun was talking about his stealing and how his master took the time to instill better morals and skills in Calhoun. By this I mean, he taught him to use his stealing skills to teach him other traits like writing and playing the piano. I am certain that these kinds of slave owners were few and far between but it is good to hear that not all slaves had it as bad as slaves did in equiano and the incidents in the life of a slave girl.
Another character that I found to be very interesting was isadora. I find her intersesting because I don’t really understand where she is coming from a lot of the time. The things she says I don’t nessesarily agree which makes me very interested to get to know and understand her bettter. For example when Isador refers to Calhoun as “clay.” I didn’t really understand this because she is saying that she can mold him into the man she wants him to be, I got that part, but I personally don’t agree with this. I don’t think you can mold anyone into anything, people are who they are, and one should love them for that. Also the way that isadora uses blackmail and perswasion to try and get Chalhoun to marry him I find to be weak and malicious. Although I don’t related or agree with Isadora in any of the things she does I think that she is a great asset to the book because we see people deperation and lifes struggles.
I also found this novel to be interesting because it involves exslaves transporting slaves by boat into america. I found this to be an interesting concept because it is like they are promoting slavery in a way. I mean without them working the ships no more slaves would be able to be shipped into the country. This really really took me aback because I would have never imagined any exslave supporting this transport.

Dessa Rose

The second part of the reading for Dessa Rose has really grabbed my attention. I have really enjoyed this reading so far, it is easy to read and keeps your attention and mind wondering. By this I mean Is Nehemiah, really interested in Dessa or is he still just trying to get her story. On page 50 Dessa quotes "You think," she asked looking up at the white man, "you think what I say now going help peoples be happy in the life they sent? If that be true," she said as he opened his mouth to speak, "why I not be happy when I live it?" Here it seems like he is trying to convince Dessa to tell her story and then just a couple pages further Nehemiah has Dessa sing a song for him and he states on page 52 "Nevertheless, the tune was quite charming when sung; the words seemed to put new life into an otherwise annoying melody and I was quite pleased that she had shared it with me." Maybe I am just skeptical about Nehemiah or something but even here when he seems like he is really getting to know her I still have to think that he is just trying to get his story.
Another part of this book that I found to be very interesting is Dessa’s want to keep the baby even after Kaine stated that he wanted her to go visit Aunt Lefonia because she was known for killing babies. At first I couldn’t figure out why Kaine would want to kill the baby because he seems like he really loves her and all and then I thought about it. Maybe he wanted her to terminate the pregnancy because he loved her so much; he just couldn’t stand to see their child grow up in the same situation that they were in. Dessa refuses to terminate the pregnancy because that is the only piece of Kaine she has left after he is killed. I completely understood why Dessa would want to keep the baby and then all of a sudden it seemed, Dessa was looking for a way to kill her baby. She didn’t thankfully but I found this to be a surprise because she was so determined to have this baby and then she wanted to kill it.

Flight to Canada (Ending)

The last section of reading for this book was much easier to read. I don’t know if it was because I finally got used to Reed’s style of writing or because there seemed to be less historical and literary references. I particularly found the ending of this novel to be very dramatic and filled with twists I didn’t see coming.
For instance I was glad to see that Quaw Quaw and Quickskill finally got things figured out between them, although I did not see their break up coming while I was reading I was glad to see it because now they can both pursue their desired futures. I felt like at time they were holding each other back from what each really wanted to do and now they can fulfill those dreams.
The part of this section that I was reallt taken aback was when we find out that Mr. Swille left his estate and money to Uncle Robin. I guess when I read that Uncle Robin was writing the will for Mr. Swille that I at first, never really thought that he was going to leave all of his possesions to Robin. I thought this because Uncle Robin stole Mr. Swille’s wife from him and I couldn’t imagine Swille leaving anything to him. Then I thought about it a little more, Mr. swille didn’t really leave him all this Uncle Robin simply set it up that way just so that he would receive all of the inheritence. I find this funny becaue it is like eh got the last laugh. No one thought he was intellegent enough to do something like this, mostly because blacks lacked intelectual respect from the whites.