· Baby
Suggs
o “Suggs
is my name, sir. From my husband. He didn’t call me Jenny.”
“What he call you?”
“Baby.” (167)
o After
she was freed she took a name more personal to her.
o Only
thing she had left of her husband
· Paul
D Garner
o “Shackled,
walking through the perfumed things honeybees love, Paul D hears the men
talking and for the first time learns his worth. He has always known, or
believed he did, his value – as a hand, a laborer who could make profit on a
farm – but now he discovers his worth, which is no way to say he learns his
price. The dollar value of his weight, his strength, his heart, his brain, his
penis, and his future.” (167)
o The
lack of identity
o To
whites, they are all the same
o Their
only importance is their monetary value
· Halle
o “God
take what He would,’ She said. And He did, and He did, and He did and then gave
her Halle who gave her freedom when it didn’t mean a thing. Sethe had the
amazing luck of six whole years of marriage to that “somebody” son who fathered
every one of her children. A blessing she was reckless enough to take for
granted.” (28)
o Halle
could be seen to symbolize the word hallelujah.
o Hallelujah
conveys thanks for any blessing one might receive
o I
think Halle was a “hallelujah” to his mother and Sethe, because he not only
bought his mother freedom, but also blessed his wife with having all her
children by one man
· Stamp
Paid
o “Born
Joshua, he renamed himself when he handed over his wife to his master’s son.
Handed her over in the sense that he did not kill anybody, thereby himself,
because his wife demanded he stay alive.”(274)
o Like
Baby Suggs, Stamp Paid also created a new identity for himself
o After
giving his wife to his master, he figured his “stamp” was “paid.”
o He
paid for his journey to freedom through his wife
o Morrison
shows us how deeply slavery controls one’s sense of self
· Denver
o “She’s
never gonna know who I am. You gonna tell her? Who brought her into this here
world?” She lifted her chin, looked off into the place where the sun used to
be. “You better tell her. You hear? Say Miss Amy Denver. Of Boston.” P. 100
o Named
after the last name of the whitegirl that helped deliver her
o She
was given an identity
· Beloved
o “They
forgot her. Like an unpleasant dream during a troubling sleep. Occasionally,
however, the rustle of a skirt hushes when they wake, and the knuckles brushing
a cheek in sleep seem to belong to the sleeper. Sometimes the photograph of a
close friend or relative – looked at too long – shifts, and something more
familiar than the dear face itself moves there. They can touch it if they like,
but don’t, because they know things will never be the same if they do.” (324)
o She
got her name from her tombstone
o Her
death was the result of her mothers love
o It
was the same mother that almost drove herself to death just to please her
o In
the end she doesn’t seem to be so “beloved” anymore, because she fades out of
everyone’s memory just as quickly as she came in.
1 comment:
I also think Morrison's use of names is another part of her genius. I would have never though that Halle's name was a symbol for "hallelujah." The way Morrison's slyly slips in those types of motifs and symbols makes the novel endlessly more captivating. They really do work so well in converting and capturing her overall themes of the novel.
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