Beloved

In Beloved we see that community solidarity plays a role in the events in this novel. The setting of the novel is in Ohio and mostly at the house 124. We learn that when Sethe first gets out of slavery she becomes part of the community. Throughout the book we get the sense that the community wants nothing to do with Sethe’s family. We find out why, which is that Sethe had killed her infant daughter to avoid her getting taken away and put into slavery. Community plays a big role in this event. The failure of the community to alert Sethe of school teachers arrival into town results in the death of Sethe’s daughter, which is the reason they have distanced themselves from the family afterwards. We also see how important a tight knit community is when Paul D is still in Georgia and all the inmates are able to escape by working together. They are all chained to one another and Paul D said, “ if one lost, all lost.

I think we see how community solidarity is important in our lives today. For instance, there have been riots breaking out in cities recently. The people in the riots are causing the communities to break apart, but there are some who pull together and stand up against that to keep the community together. When communities stick together and are strong it leads to a safer and also more stable and functional community. The relationships in the community they lived in had some traditions. An example of this is when Stamp Paid talks about how after he did a favor to a family “ he took the liberty of walking in your door as though it were his own”. This means that they were a close community and they had a close relationship between them, they helped each other and worked together. I think this concept is relatable to everyone. Everyone is part of a community, some closer than others and also with our own traditions. I think this book shows that all it takes is one initiative move to bring people together if there is no closeness.

At the end of this novel Denver realizes that the situation in which they are living is complicated and that she has to do something solve the problem.

“She would have to leave the yard…Leave the two behind and go ask somebody for help”. Denver then goes out and asks lady Jones for help, by doing this she opens up the community. She tells them the story about Beloved and by doing this she ends up being part of the community again. We see that because of this, the community pulls together and everyone starts contributing with what they can. “Every now and then all through the spring, names appeared near or in the gifts of food”. The people started sending food because they knew Sethe and Denver didn’t have much to eat anymore. After finally discovering the whole story they came together and go to 124 to get rid of Beloved and help save Sethe. Without the help from others Denver wouldn’t have been able to help Sethe. By doing that they are coming together to release themselves from the past that has emotionally chained them down for so long.

       I can’t imagine living as an outsider as Sethe and Denver did for so long. I think having a community to lean on is important. You should be able to trust your neighbors and all pull together in hardships. I think feeling all alone, especially like Denver did, is not good for people. We all deserve to have the feeling that we have someone to lean on when we need it the most. I think it’s sad how they community distanced themselves when Sethe needed them the most. I think it’s ironic how the death of the baby distanced them, but Beloved( who I believe is a representative of the baby that had died) brought the community back together.