As I read, I am constantly reminded of what Ms. Meltesen said at the beginning of class when Beloved was introduced. “You bring everything when you read this book”. While we may be reading the same words, different messages will arise for each and everyone of us. With all of that said, I think this is the best chapter that could have been given to me to write about for the blog post.
Being fascinated with the role of men in the novel, I was glad to see Morrisson use Stamp Paid to tell an outside perspective of 124 Bluestone. Of course, I was disappointed that he chose to reveal Sethe’s past with Paul D without considering Sethe’s feelings. “Afterward--not before-- he considered Sethe’s feelings in the matter. And it was the lateness…that made him feel bad” (200). I found this interesting because even though we have seen some displays of emotion, for me, most of them have seemed distant. I don’t know why but Stamp Paid’s feeling of guilt and remorse was the reprieve I needed from feeling like everyone’s emotions were either turned off or too heavy to deal with.
Stamp Paid’s relationship with Baby Suggs, I would argue, is much like a mother-son relationship. He talks about her “calling” others and reflects on her “marrow being tired”. Stamp Paid did not understand at the time that Baby Suggs was tired in her marrow. Her last straw was the white men coming into her yard, and after that she had now wish to go to the clearing and preach anymore. My favorite line from this interaction was when Stamp Paid says, “ You punishing Him aint you” and she simply replies “Not like He punish me” (211) It is so simple but perfectly explains her pain and her character so well. She just wanted to study color. Stamp Paid himself now feels tired in his marrow, and realizes how that can alter one’s perspective on life. It led to Baby Suggs looking for color and it led to him being unable to knock on Sethe’s door.
Stamp Paid “took the liberty of walking in your door as though it were his own”(203) once you were indebted to him. Throughout the book, Morrison has made us think about the role of men in her story. I had recently watched a video where someone said that men are taught that they occupy space wherever they are. Women are taught to minimize their space to accommodate men. Stamp Paid is unable to make himself enter 124 without knocking because 124 is a place in which he cannot make space for himself. Sethe’s love is too thick, Beloved’s spirit is too strong, and Denver is too protective of the both of them. When he finally knocks, no one answers and he gets frustrated. He can’t take up space in 124 and that bothers him.
Sethe and her daughters, as she finally recognizes Beloved as her daughter, ice skate to have fun after Paul D leaves. They are untouchable by others because “Nobody saw them falling” (205). I found it interesting that Morisson kept repeating this phrase while they were spending time together. I’m not quite sure of what it means, but my best guess is that since they are all family, with no intrusion of Paul D, their activities are unsupervised and are going unjudged. Sethe decides to live in the “timeless present” with 2 of her 4 children (217).
We also learn that Paul D has been living in the church for a few days since he left. Stamp Paid is enraged over the fact that no one took him in. We all know no one took him in because of his time spent with Sethe. During his interaction with Ella, we hear her say “You know as well as I do that people who die bad don't stay in the ground.” (221). Stamp Paid says that Jesus himself didn’t, so he couldn’t deny her words.
We hear much more about Sethe’s time at Sweet Home and how she escaped.We learn the extent of how dehumanizing Schoolteacher was, and the status of all the Sweet Home men once Sethe escapes.
After this chapter and the perspective from Stamp Paid, I realized how powerful Sethe’s actions were and how deeply slavery infects everything it touches. Stamp Paid says at the end of the chapter that it is a self made jungle. White people ended up being so scared of the jungle that they created, “the screaming baboon lived under their own white skin; the red gums were their own” (234). He has flipped the script, dehumanizing white people and reducing them to self made animals. The comparison is a powerful one, as I had to place the book down and re-read the passage to fully understand what he was saying. Stamp Paid’s feelings and interpretations were needed in this novel because he was not connected deeply to anyone in 124 (besides Baby Suggs) and he gives the reader a much deeper and nuanced understanding of the plot so far. Stamp Paid enriches the novel in a way I didn’t know I needed to fully understand the meaning.
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