Love+Motif+and+Themes

= As the motif of Love 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 =


 * Theme
 * p. # "quote"
 * (1.2 pg 21 & 24) Sixo's thirty-mile woman. He showed his loved to her by walking 30 miles, taking 35 hours of his weekend, to meet the person he loved face to face.


 * When taking care of someone, one may grow strongly attatched and want to continue being around them even when they are healed.
 * Book One Section 7 (paperback) pg. 67. "Denver had worried herself sick trying to think of a way to get Beloved to share her room."

Section 1.2 pg. 31 "'Is there a wedding?' Mrs. Garner put down her cooking spoon. Laughing a little, she touched Sethe on the head, saying, 'You are one sweet child.' Then no more."
 * Sethe and Halle love eachother and want to get married. This was not a possibility for them. Mrs. Garner laughs at the idea of a wedding.

One kind of love in this book could be classified as lust or physical attraction. In this passage Paul D. seems in love with Sethe.
 * As hurt and traumatized as she is, Sethe considers maybe caring for Paul D. She considers maybe letting someone in again for the first time in a long time. Their lack of physical hand-holding represents that she has not quite given in. However the fact that she is even considering the idea and does not immediately look away from the shadows foreshadowing her potential future says a lot about her connection to Paul D. "They were not holding hands, but their shadows were. Sethe looked to her left and all three of them were gliding over the dust holding hands. Maybe he was right. A life." Section 1.4 (hardcover) p. 56
 * The love a child has for a mother is unconditional.
 * Section 1.8 p. 88 "'What did you come back for?' Beloved smiled. 'To see her face.' 'Ma'am's? Sethe?' 'Yes, Sethe.'"
 * Section 1.9 pg.108 When Sethe reaches the other side of the river with her baby she meets a woman named Ella. Sethe announces her concern for her baby's life. Ella replies with " Hard to say"..."Don't love nothing". Ella believes it is easier not to love that way you cannot become attached and hurt.
 * Section 1.11 pg.136 Hardcover "...whom he loved a little bit more every day: her hands among vegetables, her mouth when she licked a thread end before guiding it through a needle or bit it in two when the seam was done, the blood in her eye when she defended her girls... or any coloredwoman from a slur."


 * In Section 1.13 on page 154 it reads, "The threads of malice creeping toward him from Beloved's side of the table were held harmless in the warmth of Sethe's smile." This shows that no matter what the love that Sethe has for him will overcome everything.


 * In section 1.13 on page 150 it reads, "Sethe looked at him steadily, calmly, already ready to accept, release or excuse an in-need-or-trouble man." This shows that Sethe has had alot of hurt in her life so she is expecting the best, but Paul D will never leave her and isn't going to hurt her or let her down now because he loves her.
 * In section 1.13 pg 152 (hardcover) "Joyfully embarassed to be that grown-up and that young at the same time." This implies that they have the love of two youngins just falling in love, but they're so mature and old, but their love makes them younger and takes them back to a happier time,
 * In section 1.15 pg 161 (hardcover) "...healing the sick, hiding fugitives, loving, cooking, cooking, loving, preaching, singing, dancing, and loving everybody was her job and hers alone." This really emphasizes the amount of love Baby Suggs radiated, and the fact that it was repeated so often throughout the sentence really shows that to the reader. This also emphasizes the theme of how important love is to humans. People admired Baby Suggs so much because she had this unconditional love.

Again on the unconditional love... "Agape" ?
 * Section 1.18 - Pg. 190 Hardcover "Perhaps it was the smile, or maybe the ever-ready love she saw in his eyes--easy and upfront, the way colts, evangelists and children look at you: with love you don't have to deserve--that made her go ahead and tell him what she had not told [anyone else]..."


 * Section 1.16 page 175 hardcover, "She did not look at them; she simply swung the baby toward the wall planks, missed and tried to connect a second time..." Sethe is trying to protect her baby by killing her so she won't end up as a slave or worse. People can do crazy and irrational things for a person, family member, or anyone that they love.

Section 1.15 pg. 164 Sethe says, "Love is or it ain't. Thin love ain't love at all". Showing her opinion on love and that if love isn't powerful it isn't real love.