Sethe's Independence in 'Beloved' Essay

The novels Eva Luna authored by Isabel Allende and Beloved by Toni Morrison have both shown great character development, through the overcoming challenges they went through.

In both literary works, the main characters struggle with “love”. Sethe in Beloved is an independent woman who made her way through life on her own, due to severe troubles with slavery, which took control over her life, trying to protect her children and herself. Clarisa is a short story in the novel Eva Luna, Clarisa being the protagonist of this story was freer than Beloved, even though she was still responsible for her two children with difficulties, she had a safe home, and a life of friends and family. Both works were written around the period of the 1980s. Thus sharing similar aspects and perspectives of gender norms, inequality, and justice.

Toni Morrison portrays Sethe to be this broken, incompetent black slave who over time we learn was a very strong woman, who got hurt too many times and went through enormous trauma, not only as a slave but as a human who has lost many loved ones and ought to have many emotional and physical issues after having experienced this. Morrison depicts Sethe as a mother whose death is far more disenthralling than life in the bonds of slavery. The novel is a faithful representation of the experience of a black enslaved woman. Married at the age of fourteen, and expecting her fourth child at the age of nineteen, Sethe was forced to bear this responsibility during the early stages of her life. The slave owner’s intention of using slave women was for childbearing. Furthermore, the novel is significant for the role that the mothers play, depicting the prosperity that the mothers had for their children.

Sethe manages to run away from the slave house, this is the first step in changing her life. Slavery strips individuals of their freedom, families, and sanity. Sethe was bought into slavery at the age of thirteen by Mr Garrner. When having lost her child/murdered her daughter she needed to mourn in some way, she wanted “beloved” to be engraved on a gravestone “Ten minutes for seven letters. She thought it would be enough rutting along with the tombstone” (Page 5), she had to have sex with a man who was going to engrave the name on the stone for free. This is one of the disgusting events that Sethe sacrificed for her family. Sethe’s endeavor to murder her children may be a coordinated result of the abuse she endured during the time she was a slave. Being a slave shatters one's self-esteem, self-worth, and pride. “Anybody white could take your whole self for anything that came to mind. Not just work, kill, or maim you, but dirty you. Dirty you so bad you couldn’t like yourself anymore.”(Page 125) Here, Sethe wants Beloved to understand the decisions she had to make. That being “dirty” is much worse than death, and living is greater torture than being killed, which would justify her killing her children, she never planned to be impregnated, yet chose a better option for her children than for them to experience what she had gone through. Over everything, in such a world, life beneath slavery compared to no life at all, death wins.

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Baby Suggs, Sethe’s mother-in-law is a fostering spiritual leader within the community. Sethe, however, is traumatized by her happenings as a slave and her maternal instincts become warped. As a consequence of this Denver; her daughter, took action, doing all the work to cover the expense of the house, as Sethe became too distracted in her love affairs with a former slave, Paul D. Denver took the initiative to confront Beloved when nobody could, this shows character growth, and the ability to overcome challenges. Denver who is only a child became mature, independent, and like a mother figure to Beloved. She transformed as a person and succeeded in dealing with a problem; communicating with Beloved. Sethe may have seen Beloved as a reminder of the crime she had committed, the spirit of Beloved could have been an analogy of the past haunting her. Ghosts symbolize a lingering warning to beware of adverse circumstances.

The short stories of Eva Luna look at gender norms, the concept of balance and justice, corruption, and lies. The novel is based on the personal experience of Isabel Allende. Clarisa explores the theme of gender norms in Latin American culture. “If you refuse your husband your body, and he falls into the temptation of seeking solace with another woman, you bear the moral responsibility.” (Page 53) This only applies to the men, if the women seek temptation it is considered a sin. Clarisa ensured the best lives for her children and the community. She does all kinds of jobs to help support her family, even in poverty, she contributes to others and practices charitable acts despite her poverty. Even when being robbed she was not scared on the contrary she was wise. She asks the robber jokingly “What will u possibly steal from me” (Page 46) she makes him realize that stealing is not the solution, he threatens her life and she makes him tea and gives him money. She was a saint and her only sin was that she had failed to please her husband. She had sex with another man, only so that her lastborns were strong and would help her take care of the family, due to her husband being in self-isolation all the time and never helping. Clarisa never accepted charity from others, many did not know her financial problems, yet she made sure to give to those who needed help and support moreover ensured that people received donations from larger companies.

Clarisa was obliged, to get rid of all their possessions and acquire multiple jobs, to keep her family sustained. As her husband was locked up in his office all day long, she brought him food and left it by the door for him. “Clarisa married him because he was the first person to ask her” (Page 44) This demonstrates that she was desperate for a family and her mother approved of him, as he is a Judge, indicating that he is smart and wealthy. However, he turned into a recluse, due to not being able to bear the disenchantment of having sired two “disabled” children, and is doomed to a life of self-imposed seclusion. Intimating justice, implicit in the theory of compensation, is that every advantage and disadvantage is balanced, and tilts a certain direction depending on how that person reacts to a situation. He could have had a life of joy with his family but decided on a life of self-pity and misery. “God maintains a certain equilibrium in the universe, and just as he creates some things twisted, he creates some straight; for every virtue, there is a sin, for every joy in affliction, for every evil a good.” (Page 48)

You are the only person responsible for your life. Nothing will change in your life if you are not working towards it, both Novels portray this in a way. The authors dispute Clarisa and Sethe to both be independent and fight for themselves, Clarisa needed help in the house and thus found a solution by giving birth to two strong and healthy boys, even if this meant sinning. Nevertheless, she did everything in her power to try and make up for having cheated. Sethe was distraught and chose to run away. Fighting the battles of rape, discrimination, and anguish, she chose love above all. Both of these characters fight with a sense of wretchedness, Sethe does not hide this, and Clarisa on the other hand seems too perfect. Having to care for two “disabled” children and being disregarded by her husband, pleasing everyone else, and seeming selfless must take a toll on her mentality. Beloved overcame the challenges of slavery, feeling alienated and the past quite literally haunting her. Likewise, Clarisa overcame the challenges of her alienated husband, the gender norms faced, and justice.

Both literary works of the 1980s have shown how two very different people, with different situations, can have very similar triggers and emotional struggles. The protagonists of Beloved and Eva Luna have fought for a better life, finding ways to cope with their wretchedness and live at peace. Through labor, strain, difficulties, and the overwhelmingness of being a woman fighting against the norms, Sethe and Clari