I know we've brought her up a few times, but I want to discuss Ella a little bit more. She's a really interesting character, and I think we should further consider why Morrison included her. Like Ally brought up, it's important to understand that she killed one of her children as well. However, the reasoning behind her decision was extremely different from Sethe's. Ella chose to not feed her child because it was the product of her rape; whereas, Sethe killed her daughter to protect her from a future of slavery and constant abuse. Ella's actions were derived from a sense of pain and hatred not only directed towards her rapist and child but towards the entire institution that permitted such brutality and agony. On the other hand, Sethe's actions came from a place of love and her need to nurture and shelter her children. However, regardless of the specific reasons, both women killed their children because of the horrible institution of slavery.
This brings me to my more important question. Why does Toni Morrison create Ella's character, and why does she bring up Ella up only in the last part of the novel? Clearly, Ella's character develops an interesting layer to the question regarding the morality of Sethe's murder. We sympathize with Ella when the narrator says, "She had delivered, but would not nurse, a hairy white thing, fathered by the 'lowest yet'" (Morrison 305). Thus, learning about and sympathizing with Ella's experience gives us more perspective on Sethe's experience.
More importantly, the way Ella deals with the present and future teaches us about Morrison's intention while creating Ella's character. As we discussed, Ella believed that the past should never obstruct one's future and that the past should even be "stomped out" if it interfered. By showing a woman that underwent the same horrible past as Sethe and was able to create a future regardless, Morrison shows us that Sethe and others should not allow the past to continue dictating their lives. Ella became a community leader, and her character, in a way, helps Sethe leave behind her past as well to build a future.
Also, I think it's important to note that Morrison only introduces Ella, a woman who also dealt with infanticide, towards the end of the novel. The novel would have been completely different if we had known about Ella's past before because then Sethe's situation would not have felt so much an anomaly. It really makes me think about how my reaction towards Sethe and her infanticide changed before and after meeting Ella.
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I also find Ella to be a very interesting character for many of the same reasons. The way Morrison introduces her and the role she ends up playing in the novel are both very unexpected and have an interesting effect. There are some obvious parallels between Ella and Sethe that I think Morrison explores, but the differing details in their stories are also significant. Like you said, Ella also commits infanticide and has suffered greatly under slavery. I think the most interesting comparison, though, is in their views of the past. Ella is disturbed by the stories of Beloved because of what she represents in Sethe's relationship to the past. Ella states that she can't stand they idea of the past materializing and coming back to haunt someone. I think this reflects on Ella's relationship with her own past. To someone who has such a traumatic past, dealing with the past internally is difficult enough without it physically manifesting and consuming someone.
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