With the schoolteacher fast approaching, Sethe has to make a quick decision about what to do with her children to prevent them from being put into the tortures of slavery. Sethe loves her children greatly and wants to keep them out of the demanding and dangerous aspects of slavery. In the beginning of this book we learn of Sethe's past at Sweet Home. We learn of "the tree on her back" which refers to the scars from the whipping she endured while being in slavery at Sweet Home. The scars still exist, years later, as a constant reminder of what to stay away from. By running away, Sethe attempts to create a better life for herself and her children. This dream of creating a better life is hindered when the schoolteacher comes to take Sethe and now her children back to Sweet Home. I believe that Sethe has two options in this situation.
The first being obvious is the one Sethe chooses. She decides that killing her children is better then having them go into slavery. In the wood shed behind the house, Sethe kills her daughter Beloved, and severely injures her other three children, another daughter and two sons. By injuring her children she ensures that they will not have to go into slavery. They will avoid the hard work, the ill treatment, and the memories that will forever follow them. Sethe is hurt, everyday by the memories of her time in slavery. Everyday she has to remember the sufferings that she went through. The tree on her back is a constant reminder not only to her, but also to the rest of the world. Paul D. notices her scars and also relives his past in slavery. The memory of slavery haunts Sethe everyday and it would be her worst nightmare to go back into it. Choice number one for Sethe was killing her children to keep them out of slavery and although it seems like a harsh decision it worked. But it was too much for one child because Beloved is murdered. So did Sethe have any other reasonable options? I believe so because a death shouldn’t have occurred. Death is always the worse thing that can happen because it can’t be reversed. Once life is taken you can’t get it back. I believe that Sethe could have picked a better option in order to save the life of her daughter Beloved
The second option would be to allow the schoolteacher to take her and her children back into slavery. Although this option is not ideal especially because of Sethe’s past in slavery, it is better than death. When the schoolteacher approached Sethe could have come to the realization that she would go back into slavery and prepared her children for what they were about to experience instead of killing them. Although it would be hard for Sethe to go back into slavery and the thought that her children would have to go through the pain and whippings that she had already would haunt her at least they would be alive. This option has two paths. The first being that Sethe and her children could be taken into slavery and they, without complaints or arguments follow through with what they are demanded to do. This obviously is unwanted and would be horrible to endure. The second option would be to go into slavery but fight to survive and escape. Although this wounds better than the other options it would probably be the hardest. The benefit of escaping would be to have freedom, however if Sethe or her kids were caught they could face severe consequences. These consequences include amputation of the feet, lynching, whipping, and other severe forms of beating. Was the risk worth it? I believe so. This option seems like the most reasonable because it keeps, hopefully, everyone alive. As long as the family is alive they still have a chance because as stated before at least they still have their lives.
Ultimately the decision comes down to whether Sethe believes that death or slavery is worse. To Sethe, she believes slavery is worse. Personally, I would have picked the second option and fought as hard as possible to get myself and my children out of slavery. To me death is the worse thing that can happen just because it can’t be reversed. So does Sethe have other options? Yes, she does.
-Priyanka
I'm not sure I would agree that Sethe has any options other than to kill her children. Though the optimist in me would like to think that perhaps, if schoolteacher did take them back to slavery, they'd be able to escape again, but the rational little voice in my head says otherwise. Priyanka writes her response as if schoolteacher was going to take Sethe with the children, but I'm not sure that was the case. If it was, then yes, perhaps Sethe could have escaped with them again. But even so, maybe not. It was hard enough the first time to escape, and now that schoolteacher knows they aren't going to be as 'tame' as he would like, he'll probably keep an even closer watch on them, if they went back. However, I don't think Sethe was part of schoolteacher's plan. I think he just wanted to raise the children as slaves, in which case, I'd have to disagree. I don't think Sethe did have any other options.
ReplyDeleteBy the time we got up to the murder scene in the novel, we had already heard most of the horrible details of Sweet Home. We already knew it was a place Sethe would never want to return to, never want her children to go. Perhaps, if we were in Sethe shoes, we would consider going back to slavery as another option, but for Sethe, that was out of the question. In addition, Sethe didn't have much time to consider any other option. Schoolteacher was coming, and she knew she had to protect her children. "Little hummingbirds stuck their needle beaks right through her headcloth into her hair and beat their wings. ... She just flew." So, unfortunately, there wasn't much time left for thinking. Though as readers who have not experienced anything nearly as horrible as Sethe had, we might think Sethe had many other options, but I think that to Sethe, killing her children was the only way out.
-Rachel H.