In Beloved, Toni Morrison explains how slavery remains in our world today. While Sethe’s escape from slavery is remarkable, it is not the central focus of the novel. Morrison doesn’t focus on the horrors of slavery, but she instead explains how the destruction caused by slavery has effects far beyond the beatings, hangings, and other suffering. All of the characters experienced different hardships as slaves, and all escaped in different ways, yet they all ended up together on Bluestone Road. Toni Morrison encompasses characters and communities with the use of jewels. With the earrings gifted by Mrs. Garner, Paul D’s “neck jewelry,” and the name Bluestone Road, Toni Morrison uses jewels to explain the ghost of slavery in America and highlight
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Garner “laughing a little, she touched Sethe on the head, saying, ‘You are one sweet child.’” (31). Sethe had hoped for some semblance of a celebration of her marriage to Halle, but though a relatively kind slave owner, Mrs. Garner laughed at Sethe’s belief that she deserved a wedding. Mrs. Garner denial of a wedding highlighted that even though she and her husband were not overtly cruel slave owners, their slaves were still not given basic human courtesy. Sethe did not receive a ceremony, but Mrs. Garner did give her crystal earrings as a wedding present. More than a simple gift, the earrings come to represent Sethe’s freedom. Sethe wears the earrings for only a short time. When she first arrived at 124, Baby Suggs punched them into her ears so that she could finally wear them. But, after she is jailed for killing Beloved, the jailer takes the earrings to protect Sethe from herself. By giving Sethe the earrings, Mrs. Garner was giving her a hint of freedom and humanity. Sethe wore the earrings for her 28 days of joy, family, and freedom. The jailer took them because they could be used for harm. Since they represent freedom, he was right: her taste of freedom made her kill …show more content…
Bluestone refers to a sapphire. The creation of sapphire requires extremely high pressure and recrystallization. The people who live on Bluestone Road have experienced extreme pressures in slavery and running away, and they all have had to start over and become someone new. Baby Suggs knew that these people needed to recreate themselves as their humans rather than property, and “Bit by bit, at 124 and in the Clearing, along with the others, she had claimed herself.” (PAGE NUMBER). With Baby Suggs, the people of Bluestone Road were starting to recrystallize. Only with weathering is sapphire discovered, so although the community was beginning to reform themselves into a beautiful congregation, they had to face the elements of their world. Naturally, the elements that Bluestone had to face were the white people and slavery. Sethe, unfortunately, was the one who had to bear the elements, and she chose instead of accepting them to try to escape them with death. The community betraying Sethe by not alerting her of the white men coming to recapture her, the death, and the judgement all are impurities in the community. To become sapphire, the mineral must be impure, otherwise it will remain a clear stone rather than a beautiful blue gem used in jewelry. After high pressure, re-crystallization, weathering, and exposure to impurities, a beautiful gemstone is revealed.
Garner “laughing a little, she touched Sethe on the head, saying, ‘You are one sweet child.’” (31). Sethe had hoped for some semblance of a celebration of her marriage to Halle, but though a relatively kind slave owner, Mrs. Garner laughed at Sethe’s belief that she deserved a wedding. Mrs. Garner denial of a wedding highlighted that even though she and her husband were not overtly cruel slave owners, their slaves were still not given basic human courtesy. Sethe did not receive a ceremony, but Mrs. Garner did give her crystal earrings as a wedding present. More than a simple gift, the earrings come to represent Sethe’s freedom. Sethe wears the earrings for only a short time. When she first arrived at 124, Baby Suggs punched them into her ears so that she could finally wear them. But, after she is jailed for killing Beloved, the jailer takes the earrings to protect Sethe from herself. By giving Sethe the earrings, Mrs. Garner was giving her a hint of freedom and humanity. Sethe wore the earrings for her 28 days of joy, family, and freedom. The jailer took them because they could be used for harm. Since they represent freedom, he was right: her taste of freedom made her kill …show more content…
Bluestone refers to a sapphire. The creation of sapphire requires extremely high pressure and recrystallization. The people who live on Bluestone Road have experienced extreme pressures in slavery and running away, and they all have had to start over and become someone new. Baby Suggs knew that these people needed to recreate themselves as their humans rather than property, and “Bit by bit, at 124 and in the Clearing, along with the others, she had claimed herself.” (PAGE NUMBER). With Baby Suggs, the people of Bluestone Road were starting to recrystallize. Only with weathering is sapphire discovered, so although the community was beginning to reform themselves into a beautiful congregation, they had to face the elements of their world. Naturally, the elements that Bluestone had to face were the white people and slavery. Sethe, unfortunately, was the one who had to bear the elements, and she chose instead of accepting them to try to escape them with death. The community betraying Sethe by not alerting her of the white men coming to recapture her, the death, and the judgement all are impurities in the community. To become sapphire, the mineral must be impure, otherwise it will remain a clear stone rather than a beautiful blue gem used in jewelry. After high pressure, re-crystallization, weathering, and exposure to impurities, a beautiful gemstone is revealed.