Responses to 2 articles by Professor Diana Paulin

Tidmore Response

ktidmore2552 — 2025-04-10 00:57:38 UTC

Trudier Harris's article brings light to the representation of female bodies as evil in literature. Much of this can be explained by the fact that many men who wrote about females feared things that they didn't understand. This can help to explain the negative connotations regarding a woman during her menstrual cycle and many other tall tales that aimed to explain the evils of a woman's body. With this being said, I found two examples from the article to be particularly interesting as they related to Beloved. The first comes from the bottom of page 132. It says," the female spirit

who drains the male's life force even as she drains him of his sperm.

Beloved makes herself irresistible to Paul D, gradually forcing him, through each sexual encounter". This was a memorable scene for me from the book, as Beloved preyed on Paul D, and they had sex. Until now, I haven't thought about how this was draining Paul D's body. After reading Harris's article, I can see how Morrison used lore from these old tales on the woman's body to create a scene in which Beleoved, in a way, steals life away from Paul D. The second part of the article that I found interesting was on page 133 when she said," But the parasitic Beloved is not content to destroy maleness; she also attacks femaleness". I found this particularly interesting because throughout the book, we watch Sethe suffer while living with Beleoved. It wasn't until Paul D returned at the end of the novel that Sethe got better. I feel like Morrison used this perfectly. Not only can a female destroy a male like Paul D, but she can also destroy women like Sethe.

Paige Wright

paigenation101 — 2025-04-10 01:34:54 UTC

Trudier Harris’s article “Woman, Thy Name is Demon” made me think about how Sethe and Baby Suggs’s characters challenge traditional ideas of gender and power. Harris’s argument that women who step outside of expected roles are often demonized made me realize that Sethe’s actions are framed as dangerous or unnatural not just because of what she does but because of how she disrupts gender norms. Sethe has to be both mother and father to her children; she is described as being “strong as any man” in her determination to escape slavery, give birth, and protect her children, even to the point of killing them to spare them from a worse fate (133). After reading Harris, I now see more clearly that Sethe’s “masculine” strength is part of why the community turns against her, she embodies a kind of power that doesn’t fit the traditional, “safe” model of womanhood. She claims her power over her children and their lives, something women, especially enslaved women, are not privileged to. The violent act, though done out of desperate love, is only seen as violent by those around her. Like Sethe, Baby Suggs steps into a leadership role often coded as masculine: she becomes a spiritual leader, guiding and uplifting the community. She is described as “the archetype for leadership among those sometimes drifting masses,” someone who gathers people together and breathes life back into them (147). Her version of leadership, nurturing, communal, and life-affirming, is praised rather than feared. Unlike Sethe’s rugged individualism, Baby Suggs’s masculine-coded authority is accepted because it strengthens the group rather than separating her from it. Harris’s article made me think more carefully about how not all performances of power are judged equally. Sethe is demonized for her fierce independence, while Baby Suggs is celebrated for channeling strength into collective healing. This distinction helped me see that both women step outside traditional gender norms, but the community’s response depends on whether their power is seen as threatening or supportive.

Trudier Harris Response

rivwil16 — 2025-04-10 01:53:56 UTC

Trudier Harris’ essay Beloved: Woman, Thy Name is Demon definitely introduced a more nuanced way to look at Beloved. While I always saw Beloved as an evil spirit, I also saw her as a bereaved child, one that haunted 124, more so, for attention. Beloved’s evil tantrums demanded to be remembered and catered to. Her traumatic death and reincarnation seemed to serve more as a parable for the legacy of trauma – one that forced Sethe, Paul D and even Denver to confront their history. In other words, Beloved’s character served as a constant inescapable truth. However, Harris’ essay argues that Beloved embodies a demonic presence, serving to drain and consume the life force and vitality from those around her, particularly Sethe. Harris points out that “the title character [is] a witch, a ghost, a devil, or a succubus, in her manipulation of those around her,” she goes on to say that “she exerts a power not of this world.” (129) She then continues in saying that “she is inhumanly vengeful in setting out to repay the one upon whom she places the blame for her too-early demise.” (129) Wow! Harris goes on to explain that as Beloved grows stronger, Sethe weakens and loses her sense of self. While initially childlike and dependent Beloved gradually assumes power in their relationship. Sethe, who was once independent and determined, after all, she escaped slavery, becomes almost enslaved, this time mentally, attempting to cater to Beloved’s every demand. Harris continues …”But Beloved does not decay. Like a vampire feeding vicariously, she becomes plump in direct proportion to Sethe’s increasing gauntness. Vengeance is not the Lord’s; it is Beloved’s.” (132) Harris reads this shift as a demonic reversal of roles, where the ghost becomes a master over 124 and the mother the servant. It was an important shift reversal I hadn’t noticed before.

Michael Sawyer

sawyermichael1999 — 2025-04-10 03:57:29 UTC

Trudier Harris’s nuanced take on Beloved is interesting, instead of focusing on Beloved as a manifestation of the horrific memories of “ sweet home” that would compel Sethe and the rest of 124 to go on this journey of undoing their traumas. He would view Beloved as this spector of malevolence that is out for revenge on her mother who wronged her, Harris would state “ Vengeance is not the Lord’s; it is Beloved’s. Her very body becomes a manifestation of her desire for vengeance and of Sethe’s guilt” (page 133) This idea critically challenges my interpretation of Beloved’s role as a childlike spirit in search of bridging a fallen connection to her mother and the reasons of her wickedness is of the manifestation of enslavement. However now having read Harris’s article both can be true, seeing the possibilities of Harris interpretation of Beloved being somewhat of a “succubus” is further explored by Harris where he mentions the seducing of Paul D “ Beloved makes herself irresistible to Paul D, gradually seducing him through sexual encounters, to retreat farther and farther from the territory she has claimed as her own” (page 133) this reveals that Beloved could be a very calculating and cunning entity who is for destruction and in a sinister way alters on the lines of victim and perpetrator. Harris also further explains how Beloved “attacks femaleness” (page 132), altering the gender identity of a “virtuous” woman, showcasing that feminine agency can be chaotic and cruel, and in Beloved’s point of view, she was vindicating herself from being unrighteously barred from her life and it is why she would do whatever it takes to get her revenge.

Michael Sawyer

sawyermichael1999 — 2025-04-10 05:00:24 UTC

Perez-Torres intriguingly introduces the idea of absence within the book Beloved in a way I have not thought of. With the book Beloved, absence is seen or mentioned in many parts, from the absence of family members, community, color, and many more; however, Torres frames absence as not just physical, cultural, or historical loss, but that absence is used as a way to shape one's identity. “ Absence is made tangible in Beloved from the first page of the novel…the historic and geographic specificity that opens the narrative stands opposed to the equally concrete absences evident in the story”(page 181). The absence of so many things from the characters within the book builds these characters' identity. An example is how Beloved, who passed away, still holds a significant presence within the family, and this absence has shaped so many of those who lived in 124 identities. This can also be said for lack of memories or even the loss of humanity; it is ultimately the story of the black diaspora, and these absences shape all of our stories, gone but still present. This furthermore continues on Torres' idea that the interactions between the black and white characters are a “commodification” (page 183), in which is very true many of the black and white characters' interactions with each other are based on inhumane transactions, an example would be of Schoolteachers nephew assault on Sethe by taking her “milk” or Paul D’s market value shows how white society viewed the black body as something to be used for commodification and their personal use but never treated or met with any ounce of human dignity because of the forced absence they put on black folk.

Teddy McGahan

teddymcgahan — 2025-04-10 05:54:26 UTC

Trudier Harris's article "Woman, Thy Name Is Demon" makes several arguments about the ways in women have been portrayed historically in literature, folklore, and media, and in particular, how they are portrayed in the works of Toni Morrison. The first point this article made that will help me to think in a more nuanced way about "Beloved" is this: the bodies of black women have often been demonized and othered in literature. Morrison is aware of this, and so she made the decision to portray the titular character as something that may be described as "a witch, a ghost, a devil, or a succubus" (129). The woman's body in "Beloved" can be seen as dangerous to both men and women. Beloved's spirit takes power away from Paul D, makes him helpless. And Beloved's spirit also feeds on Sethe in a vampiric way. This demonization of Black women has it's roots in the historical oppression and discrimination that they have faced. Black women are portrayed this way because they were thought to be inferior both physically and morally. Harris is arguing that this demonization shifts blame away from the institutions responsible for oppression onto the individual Black women. The second point that will help me to think about "Beloved" in a more nuanced way is about Baby Suggs. Baby suggs is, according to Harris, "on par with the godly" (146). The novel portrayed her as a christ figure. She has "the calling" so to speak. However, she denounces this calling because of the trauma she has experienced in her life. This point will be useful in thinking about the way Black Americans deal with and respond to trauma.

Genet Tewalt

gtewalt1 — 2025-04-11 01:06:54 UTC

I had viewed Beloved’s departure as a moment of abandonment, concluding she was cast out rather than choosing to leave. But Harris reframes this arguing that Beloved departs not out of spite or rejection, but because she has fulfilled her purpose. Throughout the novel, Beloved reappears in spite of efforts to remove her, driven by an insatiable, childlike need. I had interpreted her behavior as a test of Sethe’s love, staying until there was nothing left to take. When Sethe lets go of her hand, it might feel like exile to Beloved, but Harris made me reconsider this conclusion. She writes, “Beloved can leave instead of being sent away because she has accomplished two things... she is able to see as an adult: that her mother’s action... was indeed one of love” (137). This shifted my understanding, throughout the book we have seen that Beloved acts out of her own will, which would make her exit as a choice, not a reaction, fitting.

Harris also developed the way I thought about Beloved’s symbolic role. While she is a painful reminder of the past enslaved, I also see her as a combination and manifestation of the women’s different representations of desire. Baby Suggs having the abundant feast, Sethe’s “thick” love, and Denver's devotion to Sethe. Beloved being a culmination of these unnatural desires and behaviors, to the freed community, are understandably seen as a threat or manifestation of something demonic. As Harris writes, “the destructive, irrational force is pure desire... perhaps the most otherworldly” (135). Her framing made me realize that Beloved is feared not just for being a ghost, but because she embodies a longing that the community has learned to suppress.