I'm pretty sure I missed a post...so here it is!

"It's a tree, Lu. A chokecherry tree. See, here's the trunk- it's red and split and wide open, full of sap, and this here's the parting for the branches. You got a mighty lot of branches. Leaves too, look like, and dern if these ain't blossoms. Tiny little cherry blossoms, just as white. Your back got a whole tree on it. In bloom." (pg. 93)

This excerpt from Amy's dialogue after discovering the whipping marks on Sethe's back unveils a corrupt nature theme that is widely used throughout the novel. Whenever nature was previously mentioned, it was always attached with a negative description, such as "rotten roses." After this passage, the reader can infer that anything in nature reminds her of her horrifying experience at Sweet Home. The openings on her back are the whipping marks that left her bleeding. This is the root of her pain, which grew the "tree" on her back. The branches are all her unresolved conflicts, both with others and herself. Looking around and seeing trees and what not reminds her of what she dealt with, and she cannot tolerate that. It's not until she embarks with Paul D on a journey to heal themselves that she starts to see things for their beauty. The imagery the author uses allows the reader to understand how Sethe cannot let go of things easily- which is why she never forgot her past in the first place, and why she cannot let go of Beloved.

OR post

"She who had never had one but this one; she who left a dirt floor to come to this one; she who had to bring a fistful of salsiy into Mrs. Garner's kitchen every day just to be able to work in it, feel like some part of it was hers, because she wanted to love the work she did, to take the ugly out of it and the only way she could feel at home on Sweet Home was if she picked some pretty growing thing and took it with her. The day she forgot was the day butter wouldn't come or the brine in the barrel blistered her arms."

The quote introduces the nothing motif that occurs in many novels. During slavery, those who suffered the most always returned to nothing. They may have had a job, but it was overly demanding. They had slaves who abused them. Their lives were anything but bliss. Seethe is holding onto the things she holds dearest ("she who had never had one but this one,") which indirectly characterizes as a hopeful, yet insecure character. The last sentence also indirectly characterizes Seethe as a responsible person. These actions are held so she will not receive any unnesscary problems; she already tolerates enough. Sweet Home is also mentioned as somewhere she could feel at home, which is ironic because of everything that went on there. The poetic diction also used in the sentence contrasts the brutal life Sweet Home gave Seethe.

#4

"The three of them, Sethe, Denver, and Paul D, breathed to the same beat, like one tired person. Another breathing was just as tired."

This quote captures an ironic idea. The rhythm of the sentence is choppy and uneven, but the author says that the breathing of the three mentioned characters is the same. This is also ironic because they all have different perceptions of the situation that just occured. The other breathing that is mentioned in the second sentence is not revealed. The author is showing how the characters keep the ghost of the house in the back of their mind (mentioned in a separate and short sentence,) and try to keep it a secret. This occuring theme/motif displays how all people sometimes hide things that are the least bit shameful. Doing this makes them all tired and weary.

3rd Outside Blog Reading Post

"Denver sat down on the bottom step. There was nowhere else gracefully to go. They were a twosome, saying "Your daddy" and "Sweet Home" in a way that made it clear both belonged to them and not to her. That her own father's absence was not hers. Once the absence had belonged to Grandma Baby- a son, deeply mourned because he was the one who had bought her out of there. Then it was her mother's absent husband. Now it was this hazlenut stranger's absent friend. Only those you knew him ("knew him well") could claim his absence for themselves. Just as only those who lived in Sweet Home could remember it, whisper and glance sideways at one another while they did. Again she wished for the baby ghost- its anger thrilling her now where it used to wear her out. Wear her out."
- Beloved by Toni Morrison, found on page 15

Denver is a very intense character, and this passage shows it. The author chose the name "Denver" to indirectly characterize her cold exterior and interior. Another intersering word choice is the name of the farm- Sweet Home. This name is ironic, since all of the memories from Sweet Home are not sweet in the least, even though they look back on those memories constantly. The author uses short and aggravated syntax ("knew him well," "Wear her out," etc.) to show the reader how the characrter in this passage (Denver) uses bad memories of the past to reassure herself that the future will be more promising. Once you hit rock bottom, there's no going back down, or so she thought.

2nd Outside Reading Blog Post

"Out of the dimness of the room in which they sat, a white staircase climbed toward the blue-and-white wallpaper of the second floor. Paul D could just see the beginning of the paper; discreet flecks of yellow sprinkled among a blizzard of snowdrops all backed by blue. The luminous white of the railing and steps kept him glancing toward it. Every sense he had told him the air above the stairwell was charmed and very thin. But the girl who walked down out of the air was round and brown with the face of an alert doll."
-Beloved, by Toni Morrison. (pg. 13)

At first glance, this passage seems to just be a simple description of 124 Bluestone road. Many interpretations can be drawn from it, though.

Diction plays a key part in this passage. This is first seen with the word "dimness." The dimness of the room is an allegory. It not only represents the fading ghost of Sethe's deceased child that lingers in the house, but it also represents the dimming relationship between Sethe and Denver. The ghost is the cause of the mother and daughter's friendship falling apart. The next sign of diction is seen with the description of the walls. All of the colors chosen to illustrate how the walls look are light and delicate- blue, white, and yellow. The prior statement also applies to the adjectives used- sprinkled, luminous, snowdrops, etc. All of these words represent how whites were viewed as the only delicate, innocent people of the time. Paul D's glancing shows how African-Americans desired to be like them (because of their "charming" aura, and how they got to live their life freely,) but knew that they never would be. When Denver walks down, she is described as an "alert doll." This shows how conscious African-Americans were of their presence. It can also be interpreted that Denver was so alert of her presence in an environment where she did feel she belonged. (Shown by the passage "They were a twosome...wear her out.") All of these interpretations are a microcosm to the slavery and racism issue that all African-American's had to deal with.

1st Outside Reading Blog Post

"Suspended between the nastiness of life and the meanness of the dead, she couldn't get interested in leaving life or living it, let alone the fright of two creeping-off boys. Her past had been like her present-intolerable-and since she knew death was anything but forgetfulness, she used the little energy left for her pondering color."

-Beloved, by Toni Morrison. (found on page four)

This selection from Beloved not only displays the thoughts that Baby Suggs pondered on while on her deathbed, but it also introduces one of the themes of this book-the complexity of life. The majority of characters introduced in the first "chapter" all have a complex interior because of their past. They don't know the difference between living it or leaving it. After all Sethe has encountered, from her life at Sweet Home to the death of her child, has left her trying to look for some kind of hope, which is symbolized by the color. Although she is trying to forget her past, the ghost of her dead child ("beloved",) is still haunting her. The history of the characters will determine the future for them. 

I had a difficulty understanding the significance of the summer reading novels, and I also have the same problem with Beloved. Regardless, I think the story it will present is intriguing, so I hope I will advance further in interpreting what the author really wants its reader to learn.