The Impact of Gender and Intersectional Identity in Slave Communities - Beloved

Study the Masters by Lucille Clifton

like my aunt timmie.

it was her iron,

or one like hers,

that smoothed the sheets

the master poet slept on.

home or hotel, what matters is

he lay himself down on her handiwork

and dreamed. she dreamed too, words;

some cherokee, some masai and some

huge and particular as hope.

if you had heard her

chanting as she ironed

you would understand form and line

and discipline and order and

america.   

-  Callaloo 22.1 (1999) 54

Greetings, Class. 

In Beloved, we are exploring the ways gender and intersectional identity may have impacted the experiences of the characters, former enslaved people.  This poem by Lucille Clifton may help us to unpack some of the complexities associated with gender in slave communities.  

Consider how gender (male or female) and intersectional identity (black/African American and female) impacted the individual experiences of the characters because they were people that once lived in  enslaved communities.  

How are Paul D's memories of slavery different from Sethe's or Ella's?  How might the traumas associated with slavery impact the ways certain communities or individuals remember America and negotiate 'freedoms'?    

You may include examples from Beloved.  Feel free to include links and additional resources as examples. 

Dr. Hill

Naming in Beloved

“definitions belonged to the definers—not the defined.” – Schoolteacher  (Beloved)

from http://www.marketingtechnews.net/news/2013/may/17/11-tips-for-creating-great-brand-names/

Greetings, Students. 

Think about the names in the novel Beloved and what is named and unnamed in the novel.  You may have your own ideas about names in the novel or you may want to think about Beloved’s name and origin.  The unnamed ‘she’ that Beloved is always seeking is another instance of naming worth considering.

Draw connections between Schoolteacher’s quote and instances of naming  in the novel.  You may want to also consider drawing connections between the quote and other instances of naming  American culture.

Dr. Hill

Love and Bullying: Mirrors and Windows into Beloved

from http://www.imdb.com/media/rm483629312/nm0628601

Greetings, Students. 

Choose an instance of ‘love/affection’ or pick an instance of  ‘bullying’ from the novel (please include a page number) using 2 or 3 sentences.  

Then describe how the ‘love’ or ‘bullying’ example from the novel translated into a mirror or window for you to reflect on a personal experience or a similar situation in the larger culture. 

Dr. Hill

Sethe says…

from http://collider.com/oprah-winfrey-the-butler-color-purple-interview/

Greetings, Students. 

In Beloved, Sethe thinks ‘nothing ever dies’  and ‘anything dead coming back to life hurts’.  How do these ideas relate to some of the reading of the novel or concepts we have been studying. Consider how the intersections of memory and history impact the reading and our understanding of the novel. 

Dr. Hill  

The American Dream as a Lens for Interpreting Beloved

from http://www.citylab.com/housing/2012/04/evolution-american-dream-colonial-times-today/1862/

Greetings, Students.

In class we discussed how prevalent ideas associated with the "American Dream" are present in American literature, film, and popular culture.

We discussed that  "[t]he American Dream is a national ethos of the United States, a set of ideals in which freedom includes the opportunity for prosperity and success, and an upward social mobility achieved through hard work."


We also discussed that the idea of the American Dream is rooted in the UnitedStates Declaration of Independence which proclaims that "all men are created equal" and that they are "endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights" including "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.  -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Dream

Please post a comment below that expresses how ideas pertaining to the American Dream intersect with some of the circumstances and characters we encounter in the novel, Beloved.