After reading more of Beloved, I am still drawn back to the main shock of the story; that Sethe killed the baby that could already crawl. So, all right, Sethe had the threat of slavery over her head, which would be instilled upon her children. But was that enough to drive her into murder or was there an ulterior motive? As we discussed in class, I think that Sethe gained too much freedom and independence too quickly and she was not sure how to handle a difficult situation. Though Sweet Home was a plantation with slaves, I feel like the Garner family was not as harsh as possible (unless I completely missed some horrific actions.) Yes, I know it was slavery, the servants were beaten, the Schoolteacher raped Sethe and her milk was stolen, and there is also that vivid image of Halle with butter spread all over his face. However, things could have been a hell of a lot worse. For instance, Garner’s wife gave Sethe “earrings” for her wedding to Halle.
I personally believe that Sethe’s painful memory of her mother’s death, and trying to find her body, triggered something inside of her. She never wanted her children to feel the pain and agony of losing a mother, so she decided to kill them and live with the pain and possible regret. I can see both sides of this, both martyrdom and selfishness. Sethe sacrifices any chance of happiness she may posess, because she always has the thought of killing in the back of her mind, and she possibly saved her children from slave labor. On the other hand, she may seem selfish to some because she robbed her child of life and joy. By saying this, no matter how many times I go back and forth between these two sides trying to find an end to this difficult ultimatum, I can only stop to think that Sethe is either a masochist or she receives pleasure from other’s pain, what the Germans call, schadenfreude. Think about it, Sethe barely talks about her past and troubles, holding them inside which would undoubtedly cause pain.
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