Saturday, April 28, 2018
A Hot Thing?
After some intense thinking, I have come up with the therory thatbthe “hot thing” beloved is hinting towards is a body. I feel believed, in her stream of consciousness chapter, is possibly describing her star before she regained physical form and appeared at the steps of 124. Usually, ghost or just heat in general indicated life of some sorts because the circulation of blood emmits a specific body temperature. Beloved describes a rainy and dark landscape, reminiscent of a ship traveling the middle passage, which could be interpreted as a cold space because this is no indication of sunlight nor heat. The hot thing she must be talking about is a body because at the end of the chapter she emerges from a presumed body of water and into a drier place thus indicating she has been reincarnated.
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3 comments:
I personally think the hot thing is the womb just because of all this emphasis put on motherly love and parenthood in general. Also because of Beloved's obsessive relationship with Sethe, her mother. But I see what you're saying, D. If we consider her reincarnation and her emerging from that body of water at the end of the chapter, then I certainly see how the hot thing is connected with a body, a person, etc. A specific person, perhaps? Maybe a hot thing isn't the womb; maybe a hot thing is her mother in general.
Although it could also be a dead body and not someone specific after all (I can't make up my mind).
When I was reading the Beloved-narrated chapter, I considered a few different ways to interpret the phrase, but I think it's purposefully left ambiguous. I think considering the body to the hot thing is interesting, especially given the prominent role bodies play in the novel. To me though, when I was reading the chapter I thought that the hot thing referred to was using more metaphorical language. To me, a "hot thing" could be something that is difficult to comprehend or deal with. I guess this is kind of stretching the definition of hot, but I think it works both in reference to Beloved thinking about how own murder and to the horrors of the memories on the slave ship.
I think you guys bring up good points. I also at first thought it may refer to a womb, but I'm just a little stuck on the word "hot." I feel like the word carries an almost painful connotation; "hot" doesn't feel like it's a pleasant feeling. Wombs are typically described as comfortable situations (especially in a novel emphasizing motherhood), so I would think the womb would be described with a softer word like maybe "warm." I may be overthinking this, but coupled with the sense of agitation in the chapter, I don't think she's necessarily referring to the womb. But then again, I'm not really sure what she's referring to. Because Beloved is immature and has a limited vocabulary, "a hot thing" could refer to almost anything. It could be the weight of the bodies lying around her or an emotion she is feeling. It's really interesting to think about, and I'm curious to know what other people are thinking.
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