After the Attack

I think this poem is about a boy who is fighting death but lets go in the end. His perspective of death also changes when he looks at the painting unlike before when he had his backed turned to it. It tells how the boy is sick and still. "The bandage around his jaw reminds one of an embalming" which is a way to treat a corpse with preservatives to prevent decay. Also his spectacles are thick as a diver's which could symbolize being buried and going under the surface. These two statements show that he is on the verge of dieing and knows it.

But when he looks at the wheat field painting he feels the peacefulness of death. Wheat is a symbol of life and resurrection. When he sees the man in the field but can not see his face may be saying that he boy does not want to look death in the face. The picture begins to grow on the boy and have deeper meaning to him. He lets go and sees the light. The idea of the wheat head throwing off light as if to wake him up could symbolize resurrection because when the boy sees the light he has died but when they wake him back up he is resurrected. "He comes nearer" the man is coming closer to the boy meaning the boy is about to pass.

I Crave Your Mouth, Your Voice, Your Hair

I think this poem is about a man who is deeply in love with a women not of his social status so they only can go out and see eachother at night, much like Romeo and Juliet's secret realtionship. But I think it is talking about the man searching for the women who did not show up one night. The man in this poem seems very attached to this women and by the time darkness comes around he can not wait to see her. "I prowl though the streets" suggests that in the night he is looking for her without being seen. The speaker talks about how the dawn disrupts him because then he can not be with the women. He can not stand to be with out her, but because of their statuses he has to wait to see her. So instead of actually being with her it sounds as if he just watches her through out the day. He notices every little thing about her and loves and strives for it. In the end the speaker talks again about searching for her in the night. He compares searching for her heart like a puma in the barrens of Quiltratue. This symbolizes a puma hunting for a deer in a dessert. The idea that the puma will not find the deer or survive in the desert symbolizes how the man can not find the women tonight and can't live with out her unless he moves on.

Beloved

24.) "I don't even have to explain." Sethe starts to acknowledge the fact that Beloved is her daughter and begins to like her there knowing that she does not have to explain herself on why she was killed.



25.) " Paul D. must know who she is or what she is." Stamp Paid is frightened when he sees Beloved and the fact that he thinks of her as something and not a person can suggest that she doesn't even look human and Sethe is too sucked into her she doesn't even recognize it.



26.) " Everything they touched was looked on as stealing." This just reenforces on how ruff it was for them in slavery and they were always being judged and watched.



27.) "The deeper and more tangled the jungle grew inside.....It was the jungle the whitefolks planted in them." This is saying that the slaves are compared to as soil and the white people are planting seeds into them and controlling their life. The fact that their lives are compared to a jungle suggest that they have many wild attributes and characteristics.



28.) "When Sethe locked the door, the women inside were free at last to be what they liked, see whatever they saw and say whatever they liked." Once the three girls are in 124 they feel protected and free. The house can symbolize freedom and is as if it is not even attached to the earth and they are seperated from everyone else.



29.) "I won't never let her go." Once Sethe acknowledges Beloved is her daughter she comes too attached and feels she can not live without her. This quote is a foreshadow on how things become bad when she comes to attached.



30.) Sethe's perspective on killing her child changes and she starts to say how she really didn't want to and it was her only choice. This shows that she really is messed up and kind of has a second look on everything once Beloved comes back.



31.) When Beloved has the section where she is talking there is no puncuation. This shows her age of her being only two. It also talks about the connection between life and slavery and how you do not have a voice when you are in slavery.

32.) When Beloved, Sethe, and Denver voices come together it symbolizes them becoming a family.


33.) "He stayed alive to sing songs, that murdered life." Sixo was always singing songs. And he would never stop which is why he was killed.

34.) "Night gives them more time and protection of color." Throughout the book many good things and bad things happen in the dark. Being in the dark is usually scary forsomeone but it is a sense of protection for them.

35.) When it says that Sixo was singing and shouting seven-o seven-o this could be saying that the thirtytwo mile ladie is carrying his child and he is now numbering him meaning when he is born he is not going to be free.

36.) "My house is your house too." Once again Stamp Paid thinks of everybody as family and has a strong connection to them. I think because he helps them across the river and become free he probably thinks they are his responsibility and he has to help them survive and live a better life than what they had on the otherside of the river.

37.) "It was as though her mother had lost her mind." A reoccuring sighn that Sethe is not who she used to be and is now acting totally different around Beloved and giving her all the attention.

38.) "Denver began to drift from play.......Beloved was in danger." Denver realizes that her mother is becoming way to attatched to Beloved and might repeat history.

39.) "Beloved accused her of leaving her behind." This shows that Beloved does not understand why Sethe killed her and shows her age of two not being able to understand.

40.) "Ax the trunk the limb will die." At this point Beloved can be compared to the trunk and Sethe can be compared to the limb. Beloved is all Sethe is living for and takes care of her more than she takes care of herself.

41.) "Honor thy mother and father that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee." This is an important piece to the book because it shows how Sethe thinks Beloved is just honoring her and how nothing but her is a really big deal.

42.) "Her mother serving a girl not much older than herself." Sethe is aging quick and Beloved is sucking the life out of her. This suggests that Beloved knows she will not last for ever and is trying to make this the most life like experiance before it is all gone again.

43.) "Change from one mind to another." Beloved and Sethe have pretty much changed minds and Beloved has brainwashed Sethe in a way making her serve her. Sethe's memories are also what making her be Beloved's slave. She is trying to get them out and she is now feeling a sense of guilt.

44.) Beloved takes action to go get help. Once she gets a job she becomes free because she is doing things for herself and healing the past.

45.) Not only did Denver leave 124 but Paul D. also left 124 to become free and heal the past. It is as if 124 enslaves people and makes it so they get to the point where it captures them and makes it so they do not realize how bad it is.

46.) "Everybody's child was in that face." This shows that Denver has a childish face. In this book it was better to be a child than a man. It might be the same for women and Denver having a child face symbolizes that she has an easier time to forget because she was so young. It also shows how she never aged when she was lonely in 124. The idea that she has not aged can mean that she has much more life and that she has room to start over a new life.

47.) "Nobody needs a visit." This fits into the theme of family. It is as if everybody knows when somebody needs help and they all have gone through the same thing in slavery so they share many memories.

48.) "124 was a way station." A way station is just a stopping point on a journey. Many members of the family leave 124 to endure on their journey of life and becoming a free individual. Sethe does not leave 124 and is eventually enslaved by Beloved. Denver starts her journey of becoming a free person when she leaves 124. 124 is still like a way station to many people.

49.) "Rain, Rain." Beloved is screaming this in her sleep. Water symbolizes rebirth but what Beloved is talking about is her death. This can show that Sethe is going to be reborn when Beloved leaves.

50.) "Ella didn't like the idea of past errors taking possesion of the present." This shows that Ella knows Beloved is her daughter and that she thinks people need to forget about the past. This suggests that she had a very rough time in slavery that is hard for her to forget.

Belove Part 1

1.) "The boy's chased off by the dead one." (pg. 6) This shows that the ghost is displayed as a reoccuring image that scares the boys off.

2.) "Fire and brirmstone all right, but hidden in lacy gloves." (pg. 7) This is saying how evil is hidden and people can hide there past to themselves and cover it up.

3.) "Annoyed that she had not needed Halle or him in doing." (pg. 9) Paul D. is annoyed at the fact the Sethe has been taking care of herself and Denver with out the help of a man. This shows that the women in this book are strong and the men feel they need to be needed.

4.) "It's not evil, just sad." (pg. 10) Sethe is telling Paul D. that the spirit in the house is nothing to be afraid of. This can foreshadow that when Beloved comes Paul D. should not think of her as a threat.

5.) The pulsing red light is a symbol of the babies spirit and their sadness. The red light can also be a danger signal or an instruction to stop or discontinue. This could be telling Sethe to move on.

6.) Shoes are a motif and can be seen as protection and security. When you do not have shoes it shows you are not very weathly and is one less piece of clothing you have to take off.

7.) Colors in this book are seen as comfort and fortunes. The orange squares on the blanket make Beloved happy. Grandma wants a certain color of tea. Amy wants purple silk.

8.) "No body comes around." (pg. 17) Denver is saying how they have no company. Sethe has shut both her and her daughter out from the rest of society because of her grief and pain of memory.

9.) Sethe's back looks like a chokecherry tree because she has been whipped so much. A chokecherry tree is a common wild cherry tree with small bitter black berries that are favored by birds. The tree can be compared to how she is providing for everyone else, they can be compared to the birds.

10.) Paul D. calls a tree brother and that shows how the people of Sweet Home are connected to the land and it is a big part of their lives.

11.) "But he to was nothing but a man." (pg. 27) The men in this book are known to leave and are known as nothing but if he is a boy is somebody because he doesn't leave.

12.) Denver's birth was brutle for her mother and herself. She was born in a canoe and a kind white women helped deliver her. The way Denver's life started could foreshadow that she is going to have a hard end.

13.) "Sure you can, Lu. Come on!" (pg. 41) Amy is seen as a very encouraging and positive person. If it weren't for Amy, both Denver and Sethe might not be alive.

14.) Snakes are a symbol of poison and death. Snakes are always referred to as killing people. Sixo tells the girl he loves to use the excuse the excuse that she got bit by a snake and that's why she's late.

15.) "Anything dead coming back to life hurt's." (pg. 42) This is foreshadowing that when Beloved comes it's going to hurt other's. Paul D. because of her presence and Sethe and Denver because she leaves.

16.) Denver says nothing ever dies and she can be referring to memories. Her mother's bad memories will never go away. Denver will always have Beloved in her heart.

17.) "None could appriciate the safety of ghost company." Everybody knew of the ghost in the house but thought it was there for the wrong reason. The boys knew but it scared them. Grandma baby knew but it sadned her. Nobody loved it and saw that it was there for the wrong reason.

18.) The idea of abandonment and death is a reoccuring theme and is seen in the wrong way. Sethe thought the Halle abandoned her and the children but really he abandoned them because he couldn't live with what he saw.

19.) When they first run into Beloved, Sethe recognizes she has nice shoes and hands and she analyzes the situation. This shows that Sethe is smart and has a very good thought process.

20.) Paul D. assumes that Beloved has cholera because of her symptoms which shows he is educated.

21.) " It there had been an open latch between them, it would have closed." This is talking about the relationship between Paul D. and Denver. They never really had a connection or understood each other. They also have different feelings towards Beloved which tares them even further apart.

22.) Shadows is a motif in the book. The image of a person as a shadow isn't very clear and it doesn't tell you much about them. A shadow is also just the outline of a person. When they are seen in shadows they seem to be getting along.

23.) Once Denver meets Beloved she realizes how it feels to have her mother. Having Beloved ask her mother all the questions help her realize her mother's past. Denver feels more comfortable with having another girl her age and not so alone.