Essay On Toni Morrison's Beloved: Sethe

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Toward the end of Beloved, Toni Morrison must have Sethe explain herself to Paul D, knowing it could ruin their relationship and cause her to be left alone again. With the sentence, “Sethe knew that the circle she was making around the room, him, the subject, would remain one,” Morrison catches the reader in a downward spiral as the items around which Sethe makes her circles become smaller in technical size, but larger in significance. The circle traps the reader as it has caught Sethe, and even though there are mental and literal circles present, they all form together into one, pulling the reader into the pain and fear Sethe feels in the moment. Sethe is literally circling the room, which causes her to circle Paul D as well, but the weight
It begins with a simple restating of observable fact, yet it ends with “she heard wings.” Even though the wings are not obvious, Morrison has forced the reader to accept them as such, just as Sethe is trying to force Paul D to accept her choice as obvious. Also, the wings belong specifically to a hummingbird, a bird with many unique characteristics. Hummingbird wings do not flap: they rotate in a figure eight direction, which is similar to the spiraling circle caused Sethe’s interconnecting circles. Further, a hummingbird’s heart beats incredibly rapidly, as fast as Sethe’s heart when she sees Schoolteacher. Perhaps most importantly, hummingbirds beat their wings faster than any other birds, are able to fly reliably in any direction, and can hover in place. Sethe wanted to do anything but go back to Sweet Home. Although the bird of Sethe’s mind can go any direction, she could not move either backward or forward because of Schoolteacher and knew hovering would, in the end, lead her back as well; therefore, Sethe had to choose to which side she could go. Her thoughts,“No. No. NoNo. NoNoNo,” beat in the same way as a hummingbird’s wings, so Sethe simply

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