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Trauma and Grief in Ceremony and Beloved

4/5/2014

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Two American novels illustrate post-traumatic stress well: Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko, dealing with life on the Native American reservation post-Vietnam and Beloved by Toni Morrison, dealing with Civil War era slavery. Characters in these stories feel emotion, mental, and physical stress and it affects their behavior in a manner consistent with symptoms of grief[8], depression[5], and post-traumatic stress syndrome [7]. Characters suffer on all levels--their race attacked, their bodies abused, their beliefs challenged, their personal relations and families destroyed, and their minds reel with the horror of what they experience. By the end of both novels, characters have survived and in doing so, overcome some of their problems. 


Because both writers depict trauma in a manner consistent with mental health definitions, readers understand how post-traumatic stress can be a lifelong ailment, yet are very much surprised that they've enjoyed the journey. How did these two writers manage this accomplishment?


How Toni Morrison and Leslie Marmon Silko Depict Physical Pain and Trauma

Both authors briefly touch on what happens, their tone matter of fact. The action in both stories occurs primarily after the traumatic events, which are shown out of sequence, many times in a confused fashion similar to having a flashback.


Beloved’s heroine Sethe’s physical pain is partly due to her whipping and partly due to the trial of her escape[2, 99].


In Ceremony, protagonist Tayo doesn’t seem to suffer from injuries except physical weakness [1, 16] although he and the other men of his village who return from the Vietnam War all received a Purple Heart[1, 20].


How Toni Morrison and Leslie Marmon Silko Depict Emotional Pain and Trauma


Toni Morrison uses several techniques to enhance the effects of flat facts-- the use of repeated phrases for emphasis i.e. “never look away”[2, 14]and “wore her out”[2,35] and examples to make them additive i.e. Baby Suggs broken hip, Sethe’s mother’s brand[2, 72], the use of the collar and bit[2, 268]. Examples of the emotional trauma include the portrayal of having both animal and human characteristics; slave’s lack of love[2,32], and the tearing apart of families[2,28].


Silko offers anecdotes of emotional pain interspersed within stories and uses rich natural sensations in contrast. Examples of emotional trauma Tayo endures include disrespect as an Indian[1,60], the cold-hearted treatment of his dead brother [1, 7] and meeting Japanese citizens after the war[1,17].


Pain and Trauma Mental and Physical After Effects in Ceremony and Beloved


Silko uses two techniques to show Tayo’s Post-Traumatic Stress. One is repeating facts such as Tayo hasn’t slept[1; 2, 6, 8, 83]The other is using flashbacks to previous times, good and bad to show his mental replay of events.


Morrison depicts Sethe as having lost color, i.e. her ability to notice the world outside[2, 46]. She eventually is unable to cope, losing her job, and nearly starves to death[2, 282]. Others lose what they value--Paul D. trembles[2,125], Denver goes deaf[2,122].


Pain and Trauma Behavioral Effects in Ceremony and Beloved


Both writer’s show characters mentally ill[3][4]—Tayo references himself in third person and as hollow[1, 17]. The effects on Tayo and other characters show PTSD behavior including anger[1, 25], drinking[1,22], an inability to work[1, 32] and withdrawal from relationships[1, 39].


Silko uses real life situations such as the police arresting Tayo[1, 63] and being sent off the reservation[1, 106] to reinforce the message that the characters aren’t fitting into society.


Morrison uses the co-dependent relationship [9] between Beloved and Sethe visually as feeding off each other for their needs[2,282-4]. Other behavioral effects include: Paul D. inability to settle down[2, 261], and character’s saying, don't love too much[2; 54,109]. Sethe, Denver and Baby Suggs withdraw from the community.


Why Do Beloved and Ceremony Work?


Toni Morrison starts and ends her tale in happier times. She uses extended metaphors of color both good and bad and of a "tree on Sethe's back". The tree is used at Denver’s birth [2, 93], to start lovemaking[2,20], to show Paul D.'s fascination with family history[2,258], to be a place of hiding for Denver [2, 34]and renewal with Baby Suggs[2, 103]. Details about trauma emerge over several chapters i.e. what happens with Beloved. 


Leslie Marmon Silko also delays her revelations of Tayo's suffering, allowing them to emerge over time. She, too, uses an extended metaphor of the story being a culture's means of reinforcing itself with poetry sections that tie into the heroic mythology of the culture and which sets pain at a distance. She is able to use the idea of story as a way for people to gain perspective on events and emotions that are larger than than the individual.


Both writer’s use the positive effects of culture to offset and cure the bad effects of culture. Both writers douse their characters in the immediacy of positive experience, allowing the trauma and pain to wane.


[1] Leslie Marmon Silko, "Ceremony", Penguin Books, 1977
[2] Toni Morrison, "Beloved", Vintage Books, 1987
[3] http://www.helpguide.org/mental/emotional_psychological_trauma.htm
[4] http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2009/10/19/what-is-a-nervous-breakdown/
[5] http://www.webmd.com/depression/symptoms-depression
[6] http://www.foh.dhhs.gov/NYCU/StressReaction.asp
[7] http://www.apa.org/topics/ptsd/
[8] http://www.adhd.com.au/grief.htm
[9] http://mentalhealthamerica.net/co-dependency


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Comparing Class Stereotypes in Never Let Me Go, Beyond Black and Atonement

11/30/2013

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Class Stereotypes in Atonement by Ian McEwan include Robbie’s wishy-washy attitude i.e. successful people go do what they are meant to do, Robbie’s assumption he is leading is buddies, when they are obviously rescuing him again and again and the sex for money relationship that cousin has in her marriage. 

Briony, the protagonist in Atonement, presumes to speak for the intent of the actions of another and allows people to back her up. I think initially her desire to write was a desire for attention that comes from being spoiled. Only later, after she has her hands in the lifeblood of those she is caring for does she test her desire against what the industry will say. And only later does she come into her true maturity and pursuit of her desire to write when she has the time. I think Atonement is a quest into how truth is reached which paints class as a filter through which people look. I don’t think it is a critique of class differences so much as an acknowledgement that they exist.

In Beyond Black by Hilary Mantel,  the poor boy that couldn’t eat a sandwich without criticizing the bacon, is an example of a class stereotype, he's so poor he needs to beg for food but then doesn't appreciate it when he gets it. The neighbors that want to pry are also class stereotypes, because they make assumptions that don’t quite fit reality and never back away from them. The protagonist and her roommate also are class stereotypes since they are from the middle class with not enough education to wonder what the business of being a psychic involves.

With  Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguoro, the clones versus non-clones is a class distinction based upon whether or not a person originated naturally or came from the cells of another. That Hailsham differed from the other schools was based primarily upon the additional privileges the students received including education about themselves and their self-worth.

Contemporary fiction as well as politics has divided the world into three classes, the First World, Third World, and those transitioning from one to the other. The assumption is that people of third world countries have no voice, at least in the sense that the First World has, since the printing presses publish much more prolifically in English. 

There’s long been the sense that if a person must assimilate to the culture of the conqueror or those that hold power, that you have lost some of who you really are.  

Cultural anthropologists have lead the way of questioning what culture is, what is of value, what makes identity, what defines sexuality, etc. and much of this has been captured by contemporary fiction.  In some sense, they deny the lack of voice issue, instead they say if you assimilate another culture it adds on to who you are, just by means of the process in which they use, although even there, anthropologist are tending to look for someone inside a society to document the society rather than someone learning from outside. 

I think value comes either way. 

Sometimes the lens used differs based on knowledge, experience, values, etc. Outsiders can teach insiders about where they make assumptions and also about things their culture has not learned because of their own knowledge base doesn’t contain the same experiences., i.e. its hard for a non-metal working society to know about forming gold objects especially if they have no gold.

Is it inevitable that we divide into classes—yes, I think so—it used to be two opponents winner vs. loser or slaves versus slave owners or blue collar versus white collar.  I think the sense of class has begun to transform to more of a gradation in terms of privileges, knowledge, experience and a revived looked at alternative views of what society values including explorations of religion, race, political systems, even language. The internet has increased the number of classes one can belong to based more on interest than on the lottery prize of birth and I think we’re beginning to see a better representation of the population in the news, writing, etc.  No one likes change, but one thing that has proven throughout history is the society that refuses to embrace other societies and learn from them, as well as the individual that fails to learn new knowledge and skills, become the ones that eventually fail.

I think Kathy, the protagonist in Never Let Me Go is shaped by society as well as her own inclinations. She wants a baby—she knows this won’t happen. She ends up caring for others and being very satisfied in that role. Society shapes her though because she learns there is no use fighting for what she wants. She often steps down from things that others would pursue i.e. she accepts that she will be a donor and no way tries to run away or hide yet there is an entire society that believes that others should give up their organs to prolong their own life. She doesn’t intend to prolong her own life. I think the novel makes the statement that humanity is a social construct, anthropology, too in that the students make up their own mythology about the three year break from donation if you are a true lover. 

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