Which doesn't mean that this is the last paper I will have to write for the class (there's still the final 5-7 page paper ;__;), but it's the last that will focus on one specific passage from the text. I'm not sure how plausible some points of my argument are, but hey. I only have one night to read and write this stuff so stfu. >_>;;
The use of first person throughout the chapter on pg. 248-252 clarifies previously unclear characteristics of Beloved. This passage is very significant in understanding Beloved because it explores her inner thoughts and her own self-concept in a way that third person cannot. By utilizing first person, the text accentuates Beloved’s confused sense of identity, and suggests that Beloved’s self-perception is so flexible to the point that, even when she describes herself in her own words, she is still unknowable.
Throughout this chapter, “I” and its possessive forms “my” and “mine” are used to depict how Beloved’s sense of identity is constantly shifting. In regards to Beloved, first person is used only in accordance to whomever she identifies with at that moment in time. When taking the body of the woman thrown off the boat, Beloved’s wording transitions from “I see her face which is mine” to “I have to have my face” to “I am loving my face so much.” (pg. 251) The shift in identity from one body to another is clearly seen as third person is completely dropped from her sentences. This suggests that her identity is shifting in both a physical and metaphorical sense; she is physically switching bodies, but at the same time, she is also switching the people whom she identifies with. Because these people greatly affect her self-concept, Beloved’s identity is impermanent and ever-changing.
Although the use of “we” throughout the first half of the chapter seems to imply a connection between Beloved and her greater community, it actually is another word used to establish Beloved’s self-concept. When describing the other prisoners on the boat, Beloved states: “They are not crouching now we are they are floating on the water.” (pg. 250) Beloved’s “we” are the prisoners alive on the boat, whereas “they” are the dead prisoners being thrown off the boat. By clearly distinguishing between “we” and “they,” Beloved sets up a group of “others” to compare her current identity to. The people included in and excluded from the group “we” is entirely determined by and interlinked with Beloved’s current identity.
Furthermore, “we” becomes just as impermanent of an identity as Beloved’s individual identity “I.” Once Beloved switches to the body of the woman in the water, there is a noticeable and sudden absence of the word “we” and a greater abundance of the word “I.” Because Beloved switched bodies once more, the prior definition of “we,” the other prisoners onboard the ship along with Beloved, no longer applies. “We” is not relevant to Beloved’s new identity, and so she abandons the word, completely dropping it from her vocabulary. This allows her to focus entirely upon her new self, her new “I.”
However, at the end of the chapter, Beloved’s shifting identities do close in on one person: Sethe. Beloved refers to Sethe as having “the face I lost” and “my face,” (pg. 252) suggesting that Beloved ultimately identifies most with Sethe. Like with every person whose identity she has assumed prior to this scene, Beloved equates herself with her assumed identity, never forming her own sense of self.
First person is typically used to explore a character’s identity, but here it instead is used to explore Beloved’s lack of identity. The chapter culminates with Beloved associating herself to Sethe more than any of the others she’s inhabited, but this association in itself is not enough to create a whole identity. Even when equating herself with Sethe in the end, her self-concept remains muddled and unsure. Like a doppelganger, Beloved constantly assumes the identity of others, never revealing her true form.
I PROMISE I'LL POST SOMETHING MORE FUNNER WHEN I GET THE CHANCE TO. :(((
Though I do think that my conclusions are getting better. :DD
*off to do reading~*
