Amy reimagines the marking as a chokecherry tree in bloom, trying to extract some beauty from the reality of the gruesome lashings that will be etched on her body forever. This passage appears at a time in the text when Sethe is trapped within her own body because of all of her pain. She can’t lie on her stomach because she is pregnant and, because of these scars, she can’t lie on her back. This mark was given as a form of punishment for when Sethe desired retribution and confessed to Mrs. Garner about her rape. The Schoolteacher torture the bodies of the slaves of Sweet Home, whom he considers to be subhuman creatures, in the most brutal of ways. The chokecherry tree is a constant reminder to Sethe about the brutality of the schoolmaster and
