In “Is ‘Hell a Pretty Place’? A White-Supremacist Eden in
Toni Morrison’s Beloved” David Cosca brings up many controversial issues in Beloved.
The main theme he focuses on is white supremacy. Cosca points out how people
that are in somewhat similar situations have extremely different perceptions,
specifically Sethe and Amy Denver. Both Amy and Sethe are escaping servitude
positions that involve men who can be physically violent, both are alone and on
the run. Cosca says, “We begin to understand through her interactions with
Denver that no matter how well-intentioned a whitegirl Amy may be, her
perspective of the world is deeply white-supremacist, and she insults Sethe to
her face without even seeming to realize the cruelty of her statements” (6,
Cosca).
I don’t think many people understand white privilege and how
it is still relevant today. Morrison brings in Amy who is currently facing the
same struggle as Sethe. Yet, at the same time Amy cannot possibly understand
everything Sethe has gone through. Cosca comments on Amy and Sethe’s
interaction saying, “Amy’s willingness to help Sethe (…) does not justify or
excuse Amy’s ill treatment of Sethe, but it does reveal something important
about Amy as a whiteperson: her sense of race-superiority is so deeply a part
of her consciousness that it exudes from her even when her actions are
intentionally benevolent” (7, Cosca).
Amy shows this by not addressing Sethe’s serious needs when
presented right in front of her. The only thing on Amy’s mind is velvet and at
one point it even seems like she is going to leave Sethe lying on the ground.
When she actually does help Sethe it is very minimal. Morrison says, “So she
crawled and Amy walked alongside her” (41, Morrison). Amy would not even let
Sethe lean on her so she could stand up and walk like a human being. By forcing
a pregnant Sethe to crawl on the ground while she walks beside her shows just
how little she cares about Sethe’s human dignity. Amy feels like she is doing a
lot to help Sethe by just being there, but she does it with so much disdain
that she reveals her feeling of superiority based on her skin color.
Works Cited:
Cosca, David. “Is ‘Hell A Pretty Place’? A White-Supremacist
Eden In Toni Morrison’s Beloved.” Interdisciplinary
Humanities 30.2 (2013): 9-23. MLA
International Bibliography. Web. 14 May 2015.
Morrison, Toni. Beloved: A Novel.
New York: Knopf, 1987. Print.
So I used the same article for the first part of my project, and I really like the way you went with it. The thought of everybody else serving white men, and their different perceptions is intriguing to say the least. And I do agree with you that Amy's behavior reflects her white skin, but I do think she played a crucial role in Sethe's survival. That little bit of provocation, chatter, and help seems to me to be the thing that Sethe clung to in near death and probably saved her and Denver's lives.
ReplyDeleteyes, I don't think Sethe would have survived without Amy's help, but I do think Amy could have helped in a more productive way.
DeleteThis is a fascinating comparison to other articles classmates used that explored Amy's role--it seems that she, too, is a complex character full of contradictions--at once helpful but also still beholden to racial stereotypes and biases.
ReplyDelete