This is a focused handout on the Women’s Chorus in Chapter 23.
Examine significant quotes that highlight themes of motherhood, separation, and generational trauma, alongside contextual connections to historical figures like Margaret Garner.
With insights into Morrison’s narrative techni...
Beloved presentation handout: The Women's Chorus – Chapter 23 – p253
Quote 1:
‘you are my face; i am you.’
● This quote can suggest a reflection of beloved and Sethe's experiences.
It can be inferred that both are relating to each other through the challenges they faced- talking about
how slavery has negatively impacted both, Sethe going through the physical brutality which slavery put
upon her and beloved going through the brutality of being murdered by her own murder
This further vocalises the struggles of slavery e.g separation from families
This quote can also suggest the literal level of similar faces due to genetics between Sethe and
beloved - mother and daughter looking alike.
The ‘face’ is a reflection of Sethe.
Sethe and beloved’s personality traits may be similar - reinforces the relatability between their
experiences.
Further consolidates how they as mother and daughter carry perhaps the same
Quote 2: ‘I waited for you’
● This quote is ambiguous as it could be any one of them but however it shows that for each of
them their own separate journeys kept them intertwined, ‘waited’ suggesting them being
connected and destined for each other
Quote 3: ‘Why did you leave me…..don't ever leave me….you will never leave me’
● Imperatives being used - beloved poses a strong sense of power and superiority over
Sethe.
It seems here as if beloved is instructing Sethe to not leave her. Thus conveying her dominance. This is
also quite ambiguous as it could also reflect the dominance the white slave owners had upon the poor
black enslaved.
Key themes the monologue links to:
● Separation- Sethe being separated from Beloved when trying to protect her from slavery through
murdering her
● Motherhood - Sethe’s motherhood being questioned when beloved asks her:
‘Why did you leave me’
● Anguish & anger - beloved is conveying her frustration towards how she was separated from her
mother. Losing her ability to depend on her mother.
● ‘I love your face’ (pg.255)
● Black love (self love)
● - Sethe loves the features that were hers that have been inherited by denver and
Beloved, In a time of the favouring of eurocentric features, there is an appreciation for
more specifically black features.
● ‘Your face is mine’ (pg.254)
● Links to how daughters will inherit their mother’s features. Also can relate to
generational trauma - the phenomenon that parents will pass down the effects of their
trauma onto their children. ‘The trauma experienced is now the trauma you experienced’
● “I have your milk.
● I have your smile.
● I will take care of you.”
● - Significant in its vulnerability and the relief sethe feels where she can give her milk for her
children now. Healing themselves by loving each other. Being able to heal her trauma through
motherhood, when her trauma was caused by her motherhood.
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