ENG-216 HW#5

1. Find a quote which reveals how Beloved feels about Sethe. Identify the quote (include page number) and explain why you chose this quote. She dont love me like I love her. I dont love nobody but her.(137) Beloved is desperate for her mothers attention and affection. She gets jealous whenever anyone else gets either of those things from her mother. This is especially true of Paul D, who her mother spends a lot of her time with and who threatens to take Sethe away from Beloved. Beloved acts like a baby, only wanting her mother, because she wasnt able to mature emotionally past when she was killed, even though she has an adult body.

2. Find a quote which reveals how Denver feels about Beloved. Identify the quote (include page number) and explain why you chose this quote. No moment could have been better. Denver had worried herself sick trying to think of a way to get Beloved to share her room. It was hard sleeping above her, wondering if she was going to be sick again, fall asleep and not wake, or (God, please dont) get up and wander out of the yard just the way she wandered in.(79-80)

Denver has been trapped in 124 with no one her age to interact with. She is desperate to give attention to someone else, similar to how Beloved is desperate for Sethes attention. She wants to be close to her friend and is afraid that she will leave her stuck in 124, the way her brothers did. 3. Why does Morrison compare Paul Ds heart to a tobacco tin lodged in his chest (133)? What does this metaphor tell us about his emotions? This is what Paul D himself calls his heart. He is afraid to feel too much, because he has gotten hurt so often. He shuts away his emotions to prevent himself from getting hurt. He hides his feelings even from himself. 4. For each of the following quotes, explain: a. What does it tell us literally about the characters and what they are experiencing? b. What is significant about the quote? Does it have a deeper meaning than the literal one it holds in this context? Does it contain any literary devices that make it beautiful or interesting? So you protected yourself and loved small. ...A woman, a child, a brother -a big love like that would split you wide open in Alfred, Georgia (191). a. The characters could not afford to love anyone too much because there is a good chance that person would be taken away from them, or that the person would be harmed and the character would be unable to help.

b. The line refers to how Sethe associates freedom with being able to love anyone and everyone as much as you want. It also represents the way Paul D protected himself, by only feeling a little, so that he could only get hurt a little. You got two feet, Sethe, not four, he said, and right then a forest sprang up between them; trackless and quiet (194). a. Paul D is critical of Sethes actions to preserve her children at all costs, even at the cost of her own humanity. The characters have a bond based on the fact that they have both been treated as less than human. They are both then left to think about the ways they have allowed themselves to be treated like animals. After criticizing Sethe for loving too much or too thick[ly] (193), Paul D is left to think about his own faults, like living as less than a man, to preserve his own sanity, and of sealing away all his love in the tobacco tin. They have each questioned whether they are just animals, and their mutual assurance that they arent comforts each of them, but at this moment they each realize they have their own issues to deal with before they can truly love each other. b. This quote has colorful imagery representing the obstacle to their growing closer to each other. They each have a past they dont want to acknowledge and fears that they dont want to face. The trackless, quiet, forest is mysterious and untouched by humans. For them to move on in their lives and to really love each

other, they each have to go in and explore the forest, cut a swath to the other person. 5. Was Stamp Paid right to tell Paul D about Sethes past? He argues with himself about it. Give one reason it was a good idea, and one that is was a bad idea. What do you think? Stamp Paid was right to tell Paul D about Sethes past because Paul D had a right to know what he was dealing with and Sethe would not have told him for fear of reliving the incident. Addressing what happened is the first step for Sethe towards living her own life and it helps Paul D to reveal a little about his own past to Sethe and to himself. Stamp Paid was not right to tell Paul D about Sethes past because what Sethe had done was very personal and painful to her and she should have been given the choice to share it with Paul D or not. Stamp Paid is also irresponsible in that he didnt mention how the people in the community didnt warn Sethe, because they were jealous of the feast they were having. He and the community are partially responsible for setting up the situation which made Sethe feel she had no options.