Critical Lens Experts Blog Entry

Text: “Truth in Timbre: Morrison's Extension of Slave Narrative Song in Beloved” by Peter J. Capuano

Critical Lens: Biographical/Historical Lens

Toni Morrison’s Beloved is a novel that explores the issues of slavery and racial divisions throughout American history in a deeper level. When reading Beloved, it mainly focuses on the racial divisions between slaves and whites in plantations such as Sweet Home throughout mid 1800s to early 1900s.

Specifically observing the characteristics of former slaves such as Paul D and Sethe, both Capuano and Morrison reveal the message that slaves are being treated worse than animals affecting their physical, mental, and emotional state.

Looking back to the article “Truth in Timbre: Morrison's Extension of Slave Narrative Song in Beloved” by Peter J. Capuano, Capuano explains the use of slave songs through two authors’ perspectives who are Toni Morrison and Frederick Douglass.

Sign of white people in need of “fifty able-bodied negro men” during mid 1800s (Swann Galleries)

Peter J. Capuano is a presidential fellow of University of Virginia’s doctoral program for English Literature and mostly focuses on novels that were published in the 1900s. Viewing Peter J. Capuano’s article, he reveals that slaves are being dehumanized and are being treated worse than animals. In Capuano’s article, he reveals that slaves are being treated worse than animals through the use of diction. Capuano recalls to Morrison’s novel Beloved which he states that, "They [slaves] sang the women they knew; the children they had been; the animals they had tamed themselves or seen others tame. They sang of bosses and masters and misses; of mules and dogs and the shamelessness of life. They sang lovingly of graveyards and sisters long gone. Of pork in the woods; meal in the pan; fish on the line; cane, rain and rocking chairs. (108)" Capuano uses the previous quote to illustrate what slaves sang and how each felt when singing slave songs. Reading back to the previous quote, Capuano describes slaves’ emotions through Morrison’s use of diction, this helps readers understand slaves in the pathos perspective even though readers can not fully relate to historical events. Although he was not a slave nor wrote a book based on slavery, he deepens his analysis by looking back the 1800’s previous author such as Frederick Douglass to determine the relationship between his narrative and Morrison’s novel Beloved.

Another way we can illustrate slaves being dehumanized is through looking at the image above by Swann Galleries. The image above shows a paper stating “Wanted, for the year 1856, fifty able-bodied negro men” and further explaining that the good quality security. This image represents the dehumanization towards slaves through the amount of money they’ll earn in a year and being addressed as “Negroes” instead of their own names. Being addressed as "Negroes" demonstrates that slaves do not have the same value towards whites therefore they were treated differently compared to whites. Acknowledging that slaves “earn $150” shows slaves’ lack of value as humans particularly when working in plantations. During slavery, segregation was also occurring which many slaves had little to no rights regarding to school, work, and government’s actions. This made it more complicated for slaves to utilize their voices to emphasize their value as humans throughout the mid 1800s.

Investigating Toni Morrison’s background, she is an American novelist, author, Pulitzer prize winner who wrote a novel describing slaves' daily living conditions at Ohio during the mid 1800s early 1900s. Reading Toni Morrison’s novel Beloved, she reveals that slaves are dehumanized and getting treated worse than animals by slave owners and authorities. However, through the use of slave songs, slaves begin to gain confidence and sing slave songs to confirm their value as humans to white slave owners and authorities who traumatized them to the point where they began to think the opposite. Recalling to part two of Beloved, Paul D and other slaves were imprisoned for attempting to escape their plantations. When Paul D and numerous slaves were imprisoned, they faced brutal working conditions but eventually began to sing slave songs to reassure their value as humans whereas authorities thought otherwise and forcing slaves into facing horrific working conditions in prison compared to their plantations. Paul D and other slaves are singing loudly to let authorities and slave owners know that they are still human and have the same value as whites. Through the use of slave songs, slaves managed to use their voices to express that they are valuable and no one is going to force them into believing the opposite. Overall, Toni Morrison uses diction such as slave songs to clearly illustrate that slaves are being treated worse than animals and are dehumanized by whites. Acknowledging that Morrison was not a slave, this makes it somewhat harder for her and readers to relate to past events that occurred in the novel and in history. Although Toni Morrison was born after slavery was abolished, she writes Beloved to describe slavery through different characters’ perspectives to help herself and readers understand the emotions slaves felt on a daily basis.

Looking back to an article “Truth in Timbre: Morrison's Extension of Slave Narrative Song in Beloved” by Peter J. Capuano, Capuano also explains the use of slave songs through Frederick Douglass’ narrative. Frederick Douglass is a former slave escaping from his plantation during the early 1800s who later wrote a narrative explaining his experience as a slave working in Edward Covey’s wheat plantation. Through the use of multiple facts and little amount of slave songs, Douglass reveals the brutal nature which many slaves are being dehumanized and brutally mistreated by white slave owners affecting their mental and emotional state. Although Douglass was cautious about “not insulting white audience members” who read his narrative since he only wanted to reveal the truth behind slavery instead of focusing on a specific person such as his slave owner. Because Douglass uses factual information to describe slavery, this helps him reveal the truths behind slavery. Examining Douglass’ Narrative, Douglass provides few slave songs not only help express his feelings when he was a slave, but also help readers understand how he felt when he was working in Covey’s plantation. Capuano states that Douglass used slave songs to explain “the emphasis on the sound than on the actual words,” he confirms that Douglass wanted to bring attention to readers about the extent where people can negatively change others and to the point in becoming cruel to each other when striving to improve their lives for the better. Freedom can be illustrated and felt in different ways for a slave; however, if a slave escapes or is released from their plantation does not fully prove that they’re completely free.

Overall, Capuano uses Morrison and Douglass’ books to reveal that slaves are being treated worse than animals. In Capuano’s article, he quotes slave songs to emphasize the pathos appeal to further help himself and readers understand historical events. Although he uses a credible author such as Frederick Douglass to further connect to factual information therefore making some of his statements credible. Including Douglass in Capuano’s article helps himself and readers further comprehend slavery through Douglass’ perspective in which Douglass emphasizes facts instead of slave songs. Furthermore, Capuano connects to Morrison’s theme to reveal that slaves were treated worse than animals, but through the use of slave songs, slaves emphasized their value as humans whereas whites thought the opposite. Throughout Capuano's article, Morrison was a major influence because they had similar themes also since each mostly looked at slavery through the pathos appeal.

The previous information presented can be corroborated in the following links:

https://goo.gl/caLzkw

https://www.prestwickhouse.com/samples/305396.pdf

http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1999/1/99.01.03.x.html

Close Reading Blog Entry in "Beloved"

"Otherwise you would end up killing what you were paid to bring back alive. Unlike a snake or a bear, a dead nigger could not be skinned for a profit and was not worth his own dead weight in coin."(174)

African American slaves being shipped to be traded to other slave owners throughout the United States during the 1900s by unknown artist (University of Michigan)

In order to read and fully understand a novel through the biographical/historical lens, readers must take a closer look at the author's life and any important historical events that occurred. Doing so will provide a better understanding of potential ways that the author's life and historical events can impact the way the novel is written. Finding different factors that can impact a novel will help readers learn the author's thoughts and attitudes throughout a specific time period.

Recalling to Chapter 16 of "Beloved", the 4 horsemen, schoolteacher, slave catcher, and sheriff have arrived to 124 in attempt to capture the slaves that worked in Sweet Home. Throughout this chapter, the horsemen, schoolteacher, slave catcher and sheriff are representing the higher authority and social class whereas slaves are categorized as the lower class and have little to no authority. Being the higher authority throughout the 1800s and 1900s brings lots of fear to slaves who are seeking freedom and a better life away from their plantations such as Sweet Home. Toni Morrison's use of diction and characterization throughout the novel helps illustrate the racial and social divisions between whites and slaves throughout the mid 1800s and early 1900s. Looking back to the quote above and examining it through a white man's perspective towards slaves clearly demonstrates that slaves are "worthless" and "inferior" compared to them. When a person describes the value of another human (slaves in particular) specifically stating, "unlike a snake or bear, a dead nigger could not be skinned for profit" represents that animals have more valuable whereas slaves have little to no value whether they're dead or alive. Understanding slavery at a deeper level, many slaves particularly women were devalued and the conditions each lived through were brutal. Brutal conditions that slaves encountered in their plantations were physical, emotional, and mental abuse which led to severe consequences once they managed to escape from their plantations.

When reading "Beloved," it is highly important to understand historical events where racial and social roles are being illustrated throughout the novel. Looking at the roles of slaves and white men, slaves are portrayed as inferior, uneducated, and worthless whereas whites are higher social class, authority, and education. Reading back to the beginnings of the novel, Mr. Garner begins to discuss with a farmer about his slaves and the pride he has because of the way he treats his slaves. Mr. Garner begins to tell the farmer, "Now at Sweet Home, my niggers is men every one of em. Bought em thataway, raised em thataway. Men every one." The farmer then claims, "Beg to differ, Garner. Ain't no nigger men." They keep discussing about the way slaves are being treated throughout different plantations until Garner states, "But if you a man yourself, you'll want your niggers to be men too." The farmer later argues that he "wouldn't have no nigger men round [his] wife (12)." Throughout this dispute, Mr. Garner is explaining about the dominance he has towards his slaves in becoming men which did not seem to satisfy farmers he talked to. While he claims that he "bought em thataway and raised em thataway" illustrates commonality the slave trade was becoming throughout the mid 1800s. Since the slave trade was becoming more common, many weren't as aware about the conditions that slaves endured because policies weren't being enforced throughout specific states leading to slave owners having the higher authority towards slaves.

The language Morrison uses contains a negative connotation when referring to slaves and the conditions they encounter on a daily basis. When looking at Sethe(main character), she is seen as a mother and former slave from Sweet Home that is still "enslaved" to her past because of the physical and emotional trauma she encountered when working at Sweet Home. Since the trauma she encountered was severely impacting her life, she refused to let her children work at Sweet Home due to her fear of her children encountering the same trauma she went through. The only method Sethe thought was best for her children was attempting to kill all of her children in order to "protect" them from getting captured by slave owners and never see her children again. If her children were to be forced to work as slaves, Sethe wouldn't be able to bear it because she's sacrificed her own life to make sure her children were safe and didn't end up living the same way as Sethe when she was at Sweet Home. Some memories tend to erase but the most brutal somehow tend to stay which was Sethe's case and she wanted to make sure her children didn't have to endure the same experience as she did throughout the time she was a slave at Sweet Home.

blogging through critical lens one

In Beloved one recurring theme is the history in the character background. One of the main historical events that affects the story is the main character's past with slavery.  Sethe's actions often reflect her past with slavery and how the slavery affected her.

One example of the effects of slavery on Sethe is that her current actions and feels still revolve around her past. On page 36 Sethe says "It's so hard for me to believe in. Some things go. Pass on. Some things just stay. I used to think it was my rememory. . . . But it's not. Places, places are still there. If a house burns down, it's gone, but the place-the picture of it-stays, and not just in my rememory, but out there, in the world". This shows us that Sethe seems to have little hope. When Sethe says things like this it makes the reader feel like Sethe is stuck in the past. This also helps the reader see that slavery continues to affect people even after it happens.

Another example of this is when Sethe says "Freeing yourself is one thing; claiming ownership of that freed self was another". Sethe saying this shows the reader that Sethe feels as though she has no control over herself and her own choices. Sethe often mentions or makes connections about freedom, and her lack of it. This shows the reader that because Sethe had no freedom in the past she still feels like the same person that does not have freedom and can not make choices for herself.

Sethe still feeling like she has no hope for herself or her freedom shows the reader how she was affected by her past in slavery. Although Sethe is no longer at her old home she still feels like she can not move past from it. Sethe's actions still reflect the pain and unworthy feelings she got from being a slave.

why I chose this lens

Biographical historical was particularly interesting to me because I am interested in history and seeing how events in the past affect the way that things happen. I have always found books with history more interesting so I am excited to look at the history in this book. Although I believe that slavery was terrible and wrong I am excited to learn more about it in this book. I was also considering cultural lens, I enjoy learning about different cultures so I thought that it would be interesting. I feel like culture and history are similar because they are both about character backgrounds. I’m hoping to learn more about slavery and the affects of it on people.

Why I chose this lens

When looking at the biographical/historical lens, it helps me understand the time period that the author wrote their story and how time period may impact their story as a whole. For example, in my junior year, I read The Great Gatsby which refers to 2 important historical events such as The Great Depression and Civil War meanwhile reflecting upon Fitzgerald's/Nick Carraway’s thoughts or feelings throughout the roaring 20s. When doing close readings during my junior year, I didn’t feel confident when analyzing a story that was impacted by time periods since I only focused on analyzing stories based on certain literary devices, and diction that related to the theme. If I were to look at a story based on a time period, I tended to repeat myself to the point where I’m confused because of the way I construct my ideas. I feel that looking at stories through the biographical/historical lens during senior year AP English Literature will help me understand what is going on in the story through the characters’ actions and themes that are conveyed without getting confused. Looking at the historical lens more often, I can see how a story can relate to the author’s life to the point where I get to know the story more and understand who the author is in general. Historical lens interested me more than the others because it gives an idea of where the author is coming from when looking at the time period that is used to convey certain themes. When referring to the historical lens, you can figure out how the society was structured and how the role of each person was portrayed throughout the story.