Identity+Motif+and+Themes

= As the motif of Identity emerges, record moments when the theme is developed interestingly. Add your ideas about what Morrison is trying to say and how she explores the theme. See Motherhood Motif and Themes for an example =

> > Sethe had talked about how the slave wouldnt be treated right. like animals they would be mark with their owners symbol and that is how they would be recongized. Section 6 p. 72. " If somthing happends to me and you cant tell me by my face, you can know me by this mark."
 * Theme
 * p. # "quote"
 * pg.29 hardcover "the Thirty-Mile Woman"
 * Patsy is "the Thirty-Mile Woman" but she is rarely called Patsy. Not calling her by her name takes her identity away, and shows how women were viewed during this time period
 * p. 33 paperback
 * When Sethe meets Amy, Sethe lies and says her name is Lu. She does this partly from fear of somehow being traced back to Sweet Home and partly because she knows she cannot trust "the first person she saw" or anyone for that matter. This shows that even in a time of great need (going through a painful birth), Sethe is unwilling to associate or rely on anyone but herself. It also deepens our understanding of Sethe's desire to seperate herself from Sweet Home and her continual fear of ever returning to a place like it.
 * p. 14 hardcover "there had been no visitors of any sort"
 * When Denver first meets Paul D. there is reflection about how no one has been seated at their table in the past twelve years and she becomes shy. Not being around people has made Denver question who she is, opening the door for self discovery and finding of one's identity throughout the book.

pg.199 HC - Stamp paid, "He walked toward the house holding his head as high as possible so nobody looking could call him a sneak, although his worried mind made him feel like one."
 * Section 1.8 pg.100 Right before Sethe falls asleep she decides to name her baby Denver after Amy Denver. She may have done this out of appreciation of Amy or possibly because she wants her baby to be like Amy, Theme: A person's identity is more significant than their name. Their identity defines who they are as people as well.
 * Section 1.8 pg. 95 "'You know your daddy, do you?' / 'No,' said Sethe. / 'Neither me. All I know is it ain't him.'"
 * Often our identities are formed using the people close to us: parents, siblings, friends. To not know who your father was would leave a part of your identity missing.
 * Freed slaves learned how to have their own identity
 * Pg. 111 "All taught her how it felt to wake up at dawn and decide what to do with the day."
 * Section 1.9 pg. 95 "Freeing yourself was one thing; claiming ownership of that freed self was another." Sethe is learned to allow herself to take control of her life in the clearing.
 * When Beloved goes to ask Paul D for sex, she wants him to call her by her name. this shows a sense of longing to be the person she never got to be because of her death.
 * Hardcover, Section 1.11, pg. 137: "You have to touch me. On the inside part. And you have to call me my name."
 * Paul D begins to sleep in unusual places after we learn of this past. This shows that he doesn't have his sense of identity with Sethe in 124 yet. He can't find a place where he feels comfortable in his role.
 * Paperback, pg. 115 "...after supper, after Sethe, he came downstairs, sat in the rocker and didn't want to be there."
 * pg. 115 "...after supper, after Sethe, he came downstairs and lay on Baby Suggs' bed and didn't want to be there."
 * pg. 116 "...after supper, after Sethe, he lay on a pallet in the storeroom and didn't want to be there."
 * Denver feels like her identity is connected to Beloved. So when she thinks Beloved has left it seems like she has no identity.
 * pg.123 paper-back: "Then it was for herself. Now she was crying because she has no self. Death is a skipped meal compared to this."
 * (Paul D)pg 125: "He grew up thinking that, of all the Blacks in Kentucky, only five of them were men."
 * Section 1.15pg142-why Baby Suggs didnt use her "real" name (Jenny) "Suggs is my name, sir. From my husband. He didn't call me Jenny."
 * People aren't always who they seem to be. Sethe may have killed her daughter but she is not a monster. Her intentions were good.
 * From Stamp Paid's point of view, black people had no trace of identity in the eyes of white people. He believes that no matter how truely good of a person they were, blacks would never be able to share their real idenitiy.
 * Section 2.1 page 198 paperback "White people belived that whatever the manners, under every dark skin was a jungle."
 * Section 2.1 page 198 paperback "The more coloredpeople spent their strength trying to convince them how gentle they were, how clever and loving, how human, the more they used themselves up to persuade whites of something Negroes believed could not be questioned, the deeper and more tangled the jungle grew inside."
 * Self identity is the most important part of your identity, if not the only part

Baby Suggs' real name was Jenny Whitlow. She went by Baby Suggs because that is what her husband called her. This shows that love is more important than identity. It could also mean you become your own person when you are with the people that matter most to you.

Denver realizes she is like her father and needs to leave the house on Bluestone road and do something with her life. When Stamp Paid's wife, Vashti tells him that she is back (meaning she'll won't continue her affair with one their owners any longer) he is so angry he wants to snap her neck but instead he changes his name. Stamp Paid went through an emotional shift and important transition in his life so he changed his identity as well.
 * "Her father's daughter after all, Denver decided to do the necessary. Decided to stop relying on kindness and to leave something on the stump. She would hire herself out somewhere, and although she was afraid to leave Sethe and Beloved alone all day not knowing what calamity either of them would create, she camt to realize that her presence in that house had no influence of what either woman did." pg.252 3.1
 * "'They called me Joshua' he said. 'I renamed myself,' he said, 'and I'm going to tell you why I did it.'" page 232 paperback 2.7
 * "'Did you? Did you snap it?' 'Uh uh. I changed my name.'" page 233 paperback 2.7
 * "Bit by bit, at 124 and in the Clearing, along with others, she had claimed herself. Freeing yourself was one thing; claiming ownership of that freed self was another." Section 9 page 125. This quote explains the massive task Baby Suggs had to face, just like many other slaves, to claim their own identity and freed self. This was an incredibly difficult thing because of the many times and ways they were told they were equilavent to nothing. After this, Baby Suggs is able to help many others as well.