Beloved's Happy? Ending
At the end of Beloved we see Sethe finally free from the memory of Beloved, and even the town is soon to forget about her. She's finally able to move away from her past at Sweet Home and what happened in the woodshed, and focus on making a better future for herself with Paul D. She even recovers back to full health after it seems she might be gone. Despite all this, the future will likely not be an easy road for Sethe, Paul D, and especially Denver.
Sethe has seemingly come to terms with her past and is willing to move past it, but realistically how will she be able to live her life without memories of Sweet Home weighing down on her. Yes, she's in a better situation now comparative to when Beloved was still around, but it's not like her vanishing undoes the events of the past. No matter how much Sethe has learned to accept her past actions and move on, trauma is trauma at the end of the day and it's sure to keep on taking a toll on her mentally.
And then we have Denver, who finally was able to be free of 124 and can now become a part of the community. But how does spending most of one's life in relative seclusion to the rest of your community affect someone's social development and long-term personality. A lot of Sethe's trauma was passed down to Denver, or she at least had to deal with the repercussions. On top of this Sethe's two sons, Howard, Buglar, both had to spend the second part of their childhood without a mother or a father. They were likely scarred from their experiences in the woodshed and permanently affected.
I'm not sure anyone would argue that the ending of Beloved is a fully positive one, so I'm not entirely sure what my argument is here. I guess it's about how even Denver, who was never a part of Sweet Home or the slave system, is still extremely directly affected by slavery and her family's experience with it. Even beyond all the lack of opportunity, racism, and the racist societal structure in America, Sweet Home affected at least one extra generation, and likely many more after.
I definitely agree. As you read the end of the book, it can be easy to see the ending as "happily ever after" because that's the type of ending you want for the characters. But realistically, you're right. This trauma will stay with them forever. I think the hopeful aspect of the story is that they're able to start working through it. Sethe has Paul D who is described as someone she can talk to about almost anything. Denver is working through her fears of leaving the yard and though trauma never really goes away, the characters are working hard so it doesn't have as much of an effect on their lives.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your statement that Denver was affected by slavery despite never being directly under the slave system. One could say that Toni Morrison was trying to infer to us readers that slavery is something that effected many generations of black people regardless if they were slaves. In general though, the novel had good closure for characters such as Sethe because she was able to forgive herself for the actions she committed against her children.
ReplyDeleteI agree that "happy" might be an overstatement when considering this ending, but words like "hopeful" or "healing" do seem appropriate. Denver is in many ways the most hopeful of these characters, at the end, despite the very difficult childhood she's endured--she goes out of the house on her own, reenters the community, lets Paul D know that Sethe really needs him, and seems to have struck up a friendship with Nelson Lord. The whiteman in the hat (Bodwin) is indeed arriving at 124 on this day to take Denver away--but in this case, it's to her new job.
ReplyDeleteBut Morrison does not let us off easy, and the ending of Denver's story is not uncomplicated. Did you catch the reference to the "Black Americana" coin dish at the Bodwins' house, which sounds a lot like the coin bank the narrator finds at Mary's place in _Invisible Man_? This racist caricature is printed with the phrase "At Yo' Service," which casts a dimmer light on Denver now taking a job "serving" this abolitionist family. I also think of Paul D's remark (which he chooses not to share with Denver) when she talks about Bodwin having a "project" he wants to work with her on (Paul says something like "be careful of white schoolteachers with projects," another reminder that the world they've escaped from has not been eliminated completely). We feel good about where Denver's character arc seems to be headed, but there are no illusions that life will be easy or perfect for her.
I agree, I think a big theme of the book is that trauma is trauma--even when the characters move past traumatizing events, realistically, the lasting impact of those events will stay with them forever. You brought up a great point that although Denver was never a part of Sweet Home, she still was heavily affected by it through Sethe. I think this goes to show that slavery was so horrible that it affects even more people that just the people who experienced it firsthand.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree, especially with your last statement, that despite the relatively positive (not exactly, but sort of) ending of Beloved, Sweet Home is sure to continue to affect the generations to come. I think the silver lining to the novel was that Sethe had perhaps regained some of her motherly purpose which she lost prior to the death of her baby, Paul D was now willing to open up his "tin box," and Denver felt less alone in the world. So I hope, that as time progresses, despite going through such horrifying experiences, they can take steps towards healing together.
ReplyDeleteThis is such a fascinating and great analysis of the end of Beloved! Super great blog post. I completely agree as well: trauma sticks around and will always find a way to “haunt.” Just because Beloved is gone at the moment, perhaps ending the most troubling or intense part of the haunting of the past (explicitly confronting an embodiment of the past), it doesn’t mean that Sethe has totally moved on and that her past will not affect her present anymore. Rather, I think Beloved’s return showed that even years later, this past comes back, even when you seem to be finally in a spot where you can move on (the shadow image with Paul D, Denver, and Sethe holding hands, for example, and Beloved coming in right after the feelings of joy and a potentially new future).
ReplyDeleteYou make a really great point about Denver as well and how she will be permanently affected and how Sethe’s trauma got passed on. Denver can represent the future, but it is certainly a future that was created by, and is still ever-affected by, the past.
Amazing blog post! Thanks!
Yeah, the ending is definitely more of a "things have the possibility of getting better from here" than any kind of certainty or knowledge that things actually will. Probably the most significant change in Sethe and Denver is just that they're now ready to try and move forward with their life - whether or not they'll succeed, or how much work it might take, is something different, but it's already miles better than them secluding themselves completely and not actively trying to escape the ghost of 124 and Sweet Home. I like your point of how trauma trickles down and affects at least one later generation very directly, and so many more. If Denver were to have children, I would not be surprised if she struggles with grappling with these ideas of motherhood she saw present in her own mother, especially if she were to have a daughter.
ReplyDeleteI don't think the point of this ending was to be a happy one, nor was it supposed to be a depressing one. It represents the possibility for change in the future. Pretty much every character has surpassed their struggles and is on the path to recovery. The example you brought up for Denver is perfect for this. She is finally free of 124, and is currently on a path to join the community. This is a slow process that takes time, but the fact that this is now possible infuses the ending with hope. While the direct events of the ending may not be entirely positive, they do create hope for the future of these characters.
ReplyDeleteI agree that everything that happened at Sweet Home and everything that happened after will stay with the characters for the rest of their lives. I think the ending has a happy side to it because it's suggesting there's a possibility they can live their lives without being overwhelmed by the memories constantly. However it's interesting that the presence of Beloved has left at this point - although I don't think Morrison is suggesting that the memories have completely left, she might be suggesting that the memories aren't holding them back to the same extent they were in the rest of the book.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your blog post! I think that the ending of beloved was hopeful but definitely not happy. I think that it's really interesting to think about how the trauma of all of the stuff with Beloved will live with Denver together. She seems to be turning out ok and hopefully, every generation will be happier and more fulfilled than the next.
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