Healing+Motif+and+Themes

= As the motif of Healing 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 =

> Wounds will heal but you will forever keep the scar.
 * 1) Theme
 * p. # "quote"
 * 1) The rememberance of someone you know can help to heal. Not only did Paul D not press the girl because he thought he was helping her to heal from whereever she came from, but by not pressing her, he helped the family to heal.
 * Book 1, Section 5, p. 63 "So he did not press the young woman with the broken hat about where from or how come...She looked at this sleepy beauty and wanted more."
 * 1) Section 1.1 pg. 20 "Schoolteacher made one open up my back, and when it closed it made a tree. It grows there still."

4. People who you don't always trust or who you don't believe are on your side, might actually help you in the end and mend some of your wounds. A white girl named Amy Denver helped Sethe when she ran away and massaged her feet back to life. Section 1.3, pg. 42 "Then she did the magic:lifted Sethe's feet and legs and massaged them until she cried salt tears."

5. Beloved on the way to healing seems strong and curious, like she has been reborn.
 * Book 1 section 5 pg. 67 hardcover. "Acts sick, sounds sick, but she doesn't look sick. Good skin, bright eyes and strong as a bull.

6. Sex or finding someone who relates to you isn't enough to heal your internal wounds.
 * "They encouraged you to put some of your weight in their hands and soon as you felt how light and lovely that was, they studied your scars and tribulations, after which they did what he had done: ran her children out and tore up the house." 1.2 hardcover: pg. 26

7. "Good for you. More it hurt more better it is. Can't nothing heal without pain, you know." (section 1.8, pg/92. hardcover) Amy works her magic not only to heal her body, but give sethe the inner strength to move forward.
 * Along the same lines as it is healthy to hurt.
 * Section 2.1 Hardcover pg. 215
 * "...Denver woke completely and groaned. / 'Back stiff?' / 'Ooh yeah.' / 'Sleeping on the floor's supposed to be good for you.' / 'Hurts like the devil,' said Denver."

8. "But gaiety she had never seen. Not ten minutes had passed since Beloved had fallen backward to the floor, pop-eyed, thrashing and holding her throat. Now, after a few seconds lying in Denver's bed, she was up and dancing." (Section 1.8 hardcover, pg. 87) Beloved is starting to assimilate into the family and her wounds from the past are starting to heal.

When Amy Denver sees the "tree" on Sethe's back she takes it upon herself to heal it with spiderwebs. However, the physical act of soothing Sethe's back is not what truly heals Sethe. Amy's words coupled with her actions are what calm Sethe.
 * Section 1.8, pg. 80,81 "She stood up then, having finished her repair work, and weaving about the lean-to, her slow-moving eyes pale in the sun that lit her hair, she sang... Suddenly she stopped weaving and rocking and sat down, her skinny arms wrapped around her knees, her good good hands cupping her elbows. Her slow-moving eyes stopped and peered into the dirt at her feet. 'That's my mama's song. She taught me it.'"

Hardcover, 1.7, Page 94 - "Well, spiderwebs is 'bout all I can do for you. What's in here ain't enough, I'll look outside." When Amy uses spiderwebs to calm and cool Sethe's back, she is assisting in the healing process.

Paul D and the other men are forced to work, but they seem to try to emotionally heal themselves by imagining the faces of those who hurt them as they work as if their work is helping them get revenge.
 * Page 128 Hardcover (1.10) "And they beat. The women for having known them and no more, no more; the children for having been them but never again. They killed a boss so often and so completely they had to bring him back to life to pulp him one more time."


 * Section 1.12 on page 143 It says, "The cider jug is heavy, but it always is, even when empty." This implys not healing because of the fact that they have to carry around the baggage that they have endured in their life, which makes it hard to heal.

Sometimes the best 'doctor' is a loved one. In this case, a father.
 * Section 2.3 Pg. 246 hardcover "My daddy was an angel man. He could look at you and tell you where you hurt and he could fix it too. He made a hanging thing for Grandma Baby, so she could pull herself up from the floor when she woke up in the morning..."