Focus: Seriously, who/what is Beloved?
Please sign up for a February or March conference. Bring at least two timed writings with you to the conference, as well as anything else you'd like to discuss.
1. Warming up: Trying out a few alternative interpretations of Beloved
a. Beloved is the ghost of Sethe's murdered child.
b. Beloved is an actual girl, not a ghost; until her escape, she was long abused by white men. Sethe welcomes her as own her child to ease her own guilt and to fill the hole left behind by the true Beloved.
c. Beloved is a symbol of any and every escaped slave.
d. Beloved is a vampire.
(If you recall, Foster states that vampires are about "selfishness, exploitation, a refusal to respect the autonomy of other people...the figure of the cannibal, the vampire, the succubus, the spook announces itself again and again where someone grows in strength by weakening someone else" [16, 21]).
2. Discussing the narrative voices of Part 2, Chapters 2, 3, 4, and 5 in smallish groups
3. Wrapping up as a large class
HW:
1. Complete your next poetry for Monday; however, you will get a respite next week from poetry response since you're working on your critical reviews.
2. Bring a draft of your critical review essay to class next Wednesday for editing.
3. Read through the ending of Part 2 for Monday. Create a manly, manly reading ticket by analyzing one or more of the men in Beloved (they deserve some attention): Mr. Garner, Paul D, Halle, Sixo, or any of the other Sweet Home men. The format can be whatever you prefer...perhaps a found poem? A metacognitive of a certain passage? A straightforward character analysis? A creative narrative from that character's perspective?
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