I'm Sensing a Theme in the Classes

The novel Beloved, written by Toni Morrison in 1987, is filled to the brim with symbols and imagery. All of which hint towards the divisions of the class, and the similarities across race in certain classes. In fact, there appears to be a pattern, where the lower and middle white classes tend to be kinder and more accepting to the freed lower slave class, which indicates that different races, if they belong to the lower classes look past their racial differences to help each other.

Most slave owners did not have huge plantations, they generally could only afford 5-6 slaves, and a small number owned more than that. Throughout the novel, it seems very apparent that these middle class slave owners, with a few exceptions, treat their slaves kindly, such as the Garners at Sweet Home and were described by Baby Suggs as treating her kindly and went so far as to say that she had never lived better on any other farm or house(171). The Garners only owned about 5 or 6 slaves and while life was not perfect, they were “encouraged” to “correct” Mr. Garner, and explain why they thought a different method would be better(147). The Garners were not extraordinarily wealthy, especially considering the wealth of some plantation owners at the time of the novel in the 1860’s. The Garners may have been seeing a little of themselves; struggling to survive with more wealthy people in the classes above them, and thus were able to look past the racial differences and treat those at Sweet Home as “men”(147). However, this was not perfect, as some middle class whites badly mistreated the slaves, though this was likely a product of the common beliefs at the time that blacks were inferior mentally to whites. Schoolteacher is an example of this, at one point Sethe remembers him telling the Garner’s nephews to put her[Sethe’s] “animal” features on the right side of page. Schoolteacher not only believes in the racist principles keeping the blacks enslaved, but he also teaches it to others. So while not all middle class whites are perfect examples of kindness towards slaves, there s definitely more of an inclination towards it in this class.

Another interesting example is that of Amy Denver, a white, runaway indentured servant, the same as the black, runaway slave Sethe. Runaway’s could almost be considered a class of their own, since they shared many of the same characteristics, but they could also be considered part of the lower classes. The article, To Be Loved: Amy Denver and Human Need: Bridges to Understanding in Toni Morrison's “Beloved”, by Nicole M. Coonradt points out that there are a great many similarities between the experiences of Amy Denver, in her indentured servitude, and Sethe’s experiences in slavery and their escapes from enslavement(Coonradt, 2005, 9). Morrison describes Amy’s eyes as “fugitive”, suggesting that Amy herself is a runaway from somewhere, which immediately puts her in the same class as Sethe, especially since if she is a runaway she has nothing that she truly owns, much like Sethe. Coonradt argues that the parallel description of the two indicates that they share a connection that is bigger than their simple meeting and time together, an almost supernatural connection. The two women are from different races, yet they share a connection that bypassess their racial differences, allowing them to break free of social constructs and help each other. Something that would have been impossible without their shared backgrounds. The backgrounds of a person do not necessarily indicate social class, but usually those of the same class share similar experiences. The slave class is a good example, as shown by the parallel description in Morrison’s novel.

Morrison's novel hints that the class structure often breaks down across races, so rather than there being a separate lower and middle class for both blacks and whites, there is more of a universal lower and middle class. Because the experiences are shared, the lower classes of a dominant race often can identify with similar classes of a different race, and subsequently treat them with more respect.
Nicole M Coonradt's 2005 literary analysis Article: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25115312?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

The Beard, The Lens, The Legend

Karl Marx went down in the history books for his enlightened ideas, world changing revolutionary political structure, and his facial hair.

We all have different experiences when we pick up a book, for some it’s relaxing, to others it’s just an assignment. We all find different aspects of a book's plot to be the most interesting, and we all have different takeaways or lessons we learned from the reading. The reason behind these phenomenons is simple, we all read through different critical lenses. A critical lens is the theme that you focus on while reading, using that perspective we get a deeper picture of what the book is telling us about that theme. Using critical lens we can figure out what a book is telling us about feminism, ethnicity roles, society at the time of the book. But the critical lens I’ve chosen to read through is my personal favorite, the Marxist lens. Through this lens I’ll be able to take a deeper look into the politics and the social classes inside the book.
I eventually decided to choose the Marxist lens because I’m fascinated by history and the political landscape of the world, both past and present. I’ve been studying Communism and Capitalism for years with help from my History classes at school, and the documentaries that I watch at home. I’ve also had previous experience thanks to my readings in books other than “Beloved” in which I used the same critical lens. Some examples of these are books like “No Easy Day” “The Rise of the German Third Reich” and “The Cold War: A New History”. However, for these books I mainly looked through the Marxist lens in the political sense, in “Beloved” I feel excited because I believe that the Marxist lens will mainly be about the social class of the characters. Also, I haven’t read many civil war or slavery books through the Marxist lens so it’ll be an interesting experience for me.
However, the Marxist lens isn’t the only thing that will form my understanding of the book, my personal beliefs will also play a role in that process. My personal beliefs for the Marxist lens has to do with my personal beliefs for social class in our society. I believe that the gap in social class is very apparent in our society today, however I also believe that the social class in the times after the civil war was even worse. When slaves were freed they quickly became the lowest class and in many cases their life was even worse then when they were slaves.
Even though I chose the Marxist lens, I came close to choosing a different type of lens. My second choice would of been the Biographical historical lens because I believe that the history behind the book is just as important as the history in the book. This is because what’s going on in the world around the author as they write can influence their point of views on very important issues that are in the book. I ended up choosing between these two because I’m very interested in history and I think that the civil war era would provide a very interesting aspect to literature.
However, I know that the Marxist lens was the right choice, and I can’t wait to get started. By the end of this project I hope to understand more about the political structure of America after the civil war. And how freed African Americans were integrated into the social classes. I hope to grow as a reader and as a history through this project.

If you want to learn more about Marxism watch this video: Marxism introduction
If you want to learn more about the Marxist lens read this article: Marxist lens

When Life Gives you Earrings, Don't Wear Them

From “Beloved” by Toni Morrison(1987):

“‘The lady I worked for in Kentucky gave them to me when I got married. I guess she saw how bad I felt when I found out there wasn’t going to be no ceremony, no preacher. Nothing… “‘I want you to have them and I want you and Halle to be happy.’”(70-71).

When a reader chooses to examine a work of literature through the Marxist lens, he or she is observing the connections between social classes and the interactions between those classes. Furthermore, the Marxist Lens examines the social values that are either condemned or supported by the work.

In the scene containing this passage, Sethe is trying to rest while after cooking something on the stove. As she is drifting off, she is approached by Beloved, a mysterious character who just appeared one day near the house. Beloved asks her about her pierced ears and where her “diamonds” are (69). Sethe then launches into the story about the crystal earings one of her previous owners gave her after her marriage. Morrison’s usage of dialogue, syntax  and this passage note how the two classes, the ruling, slave-owning, white class and the enslaved african-american class interact with each other, and how some interactions were not always the norm.

One of the most notable parts in this passage is how the woman Sethe is working for seems to care about her happiness, something that appears to go against the accepted thinking of the time, which was that african slaves were barely better than animals, with no real emotions. The dialogue in the passage further supports this by showing that Sethe’s owner wants Sethe and her husband to be “happy” (71). Here, it is apparent that she does care about her happiness, when her words are coupled with her actions, it shows that the ruling social class, the white slave owners, actually in some cases weren’t always cruel and punishing to the slaves below them. Building off of this , it would also seem that the work supported the way the classes were set up. Even though Sethe was caught stealing, there is no indication in the dialogue that her owner is greatly upset with her, and even gives her a pair of earrings from her own collection. So even though the institution was fundamentally wrong, the work does not appear to be criticizing the social class structure of the time, nor does it appear to be showing that the slave owners were always cruel to their slaves, and were kind to them in some cases.

Another interesting point raised by the passage is that how blatantly the enslaved african classes try and be subservient to the slaveowners. In the dialouge, Sethe is very careful to speak very little, and always addresses her owner as “ma’am” (71). Furthermore, through Morrison's use of language and syntax, it is indicated that Sether doesn’t really want to wear the earrings. Later in the passage, after the dialogue takes place, Sethe “thanks” Mrs. Garner for the earrings (71). However, Sethe doesn’t wear them until after she “got away” from the farm, despite the fact that the earring were intended for her to wear while she was working for Mrs. Garner (71). Morrison uses a short sentence to describe Sethe’s thank you, and the passage quickly moves onward. THis further supports that Sethe only took the earring because she felt that she had too, as her owner was giving them to her and Sethe felt saying no was out of the question.

LONG LIVE KARL MARX, and the Marxist Lens

Karl Marx, a philosopher well known for his philosophy promoting social, economic and general equality for all, and his great facial hair

I decided to view the book Beloved through the Marxist lens. This lens is of great interest to me because I enjoy looking at the politics and the interactions between social classes and those in power. A lot of my views about power and social structure are unconventional and I would like to see if there are any similar views in the novel. Furthermore, while there is a lens that looks at race and ethnicity, I believe that the Marxist lens will allow for more in depth analysis of the interactions between the enslaved and the slave owners. I have very little experience with this lens, which is another reason why I choose it. I have had a lot of experience looking at the psychoanalytical lens and the topics covered by it, so it would be relatively easy to find information relating to this topic and it, I think, too easy for me. I want something that I haven’t had any experience with before. I personally believe in a more equal distribution of power between the classes, rather than the upper class having more power and influence than those well below the poverty line. I also believe that there is a vast amount of inequality between certain groups of people and that there is an under representation in the government of certain ethnic groups and social classes. I am hoping to gain a deeper understanding of how the different classes interact and how power is distributed, something that can be applied to our lives today. I am also curious about the author’s perspective on the issue of power distribution around the time she wrote her novel and whether she agrees with the consensus of the time that there was a significant push to create equal rights for people of color. I did some careful consideration before choosing this topic, and nearly went with psychoanalytic, but at the last minute I decided that I would rather work with a different lens. Part of the reason I was so interested in psychoanalytical is because knowing what makes a character or person tick has always been one of my passions and interests. Furthermore, I thought it would be interesting to look at what was driving the characters to stay in the house, even though it was haunted, this was from a  section of the text we wrote before choosing our desired lens.