Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Beloved's "shining" is disturbing Paul D

“The next evening he did it again and then again.  He was accustomed to sex with Sethe just about every day, and to avoid the confusion Beloved's shining caused him he still made it his business to take her back upstairs in the morning or lie down with her after supper” (135).

In this passage, when Paul D is with Sethe almost everyday, he cannot pay attention to Sethe.  Almost everyday he spends his time with Sethe and avoiding Beloved.  He tried to keep his mind off Beloved, because something about her that is making Paul D to keep thinking about her.  He avoids her by spending more time with Sethe, in her room.  He does not tell Sethe what’s going on in the house, because there might be tension with him and Sethe.

This shows feminist, because Paul D sees something with Beloved and does not know what to do with it.  He spends most of his time with Sethe, but he does not tell her anything about Beloved.  Paul D is trying to avoid Beloved, “Beloved's shining caused him he still made it his business…”  In this part of the passage, he tells us that he would look at Beloved differently than Sethe.  Something about Beloved’s femininity is making him think more about Beloved being a little girl.

The relationship with Beloved and Paul D are portrayed different here.  I feel like Paul D is treating Beloved different because of her gender.  Besides Sethe and Denver, something about Beloved is making Paul D confuse about her.  How he says “shining,” makes me think that he looks at her as a feminist way, and wanting to get away from her, because something happens to her.

Paul D did not like looking at Beloved because of her “shining” to him.  He felt like he was being seduced from Beloved, but he is looking at Beloved as a “sex object” of how he describes Beloved as “shining”.  Paul D looks at Beloved differently, than to Sethe and Denver, because he sees something in Beloved that is different from Sethe and Denver.  Even though Paul D feels uncomfortable towards Beloved, because of her “shining,” he kept getting Sethe to her room and start to have sex with Sethe, so he would be able to avoid Beloved.  This is disturbing to me, because the only way that Paul D could avoid Beloved, was to bring Sethe in a room.

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Men > Women? or Nah?

Men > Women.

This is what has been taught since the beginning of time. Men are dominant. They are stronger. Give them the job that requires more strength. Women are inferior. They stay in the house. Give them the job that requires no strength at all.


Being a Tongan girl, I was treated very differently from my brother and male cousins. I was not allowed to go out with my friends. I was not allowed to play sports. I wasn’t even allowed to play outside! I was only allowed to do what my elders considered “girly”. Raised in this manner, my opportunities were always limited just as the opportunities of the women back in the days were . I have come to realize that that is just a part of my culture, but I have not yet come to accept this.

I choose to analyze Beloved through the Feminist Lens because I find feminism a sensitive topic and I can relate to it. I am excited to see how Toni Morrison portrays the different genders. Will she follow the stereotypes affiliated with each gender or will she switch the roles? Let’s see!

Thursday, March 19, 2015

Why I chose the lens


I decided to choose the psychoanalytical lens. This lens interest me more than others because I feel like when you analyze just one character you can connect with them some way or somehow even if you think they are completely different from you. When analyzing a whole bunch of characters sometimes you don’t really truly understand who all the characters are. But when you just analyze one you really notice certain little things they might do or not do. My previous experience with the lens I chose was I guess I am just interested to see what people do and why the reason they do it for. My personal beliefs about the topics covered by this lens is that there are just so many differences between people but there is just so much more to learn about people when you analyze them deeply. Another lens that I considered was the historical lens because this book deals with slavery and switching through time periods as the book goes on. Something I am hoping to get out of this project is a good grade and to learn about a certain character in depth. -Kyle Hom

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Why I Chose This Lens?


I picked Feminist lens, because many people are treated differently because of their gender.  This particular lens interests me more than the other lens, because I knew what to talk about.  Many people are portrayed different because of their gender.  My personal beliefs about the topics covered by Feminist lens would be when I was in my fashion class and a teacher told us a topic to talk about, which was being shirtless in public.  My friend and I were discussing about how women can be shirtless in public, like men.  As my friend and I discussed this and the teacher got the class together to talk about this topic, a student said, that only guys can do it, and not girls.  I got offended, because even though he has his own point of view, it still offended me because the student had portrayed women and men differently.  Another lens that I was considering would be Psychoanalytical Lens.  I thought about picking this lens, because I was interested in the inner thoughts of the characters.  Even though they do not say anything out loud, I wanted to examine how they would act towards people.  What I am hoping to get out of this project would be knowing why Feminist Lens are used, and how people are portrayed because of the gender they are.

Why I Chose This Lens

I chose to read the novel Beloved through the Marxist lens because of the focus on social and economic classes and their conflict. Social conflict and social structure is the most relevant and important to humanity as it is the basis of their existence and how they are raised. Compared to the other lenses, the Marxist lens focuses the most on humans and how they exist as society and class that is focused on in the Marxist lens is the basis for all of the other lenses. Psychoanalytical comes from the class and standing they are born into. Postcolonialism only occurred because of the changes in class structure and relation. The Marxist Lens forms the basis for all other critical lenses and focuses on the most basic driving force in people’s lives.

Some of the other works that I have looked at through the Marxist lens include: Crime and Punishment, Malcolm X, and Jane Eyre. I enjoy looking at the relationships between classes and the concept of being born into class. The idea interests me greatly as one can argue that no one should be born into a ruling class and they should earn it on their own merit. However, by that standard, no one should be born into wealth either. Therefore, communism is the clear option left by analysing society and literature through the Marxist lens. It encourages a meritocracy and a society where success is determined through natural talent and hard work.