Baby Suggs and Colors
Baby Suggs and Colors
Baby Suggs is somewhat the head of the remains of Sethe’s family. Her character has a major shift in energy the day that Sethe kills Beloved. She goes from a preacher to a part of 124, stuck in the memory of the tragedy that occured in the shed. The first time she brings up colors is when Stamp Paid confronts her about missing the clearing for several weeks. This is after Sethe has gone to jail. She says to Stamp Paid “What I have to do is get in my bed and lay down. I want to fix on something harmless in this world” (211). Her whole life has been defined by the colors black and white. The white people causing harm to black people is what she has to constantly witness and experience herself. When she is referring to something harmless, she is talking about the colors in the world that are free from this oppression. She begins her studies with blue. She says “that don’t hurt nobody” (211). The color blue has not brought pain to her life. It is something so simple, but it means so much because her life is determined by the color of her skin.
Later on Sethe recognizes Baby Suggs' study of colors. She says “Now I know why Baby Suggs pondered color her last years. She never had time to see, let alone enjoy it before” (237). Baby Suggs was forced into the idea that colors determined who you were and how you were meant to be treated. With time at a stand still at 124 though, all of the girls being stuck within the house gives them the opportunity to enjoy the freedom of color around them. There of course are colors that Baby Suggs avoids such as red, because as Sethe said “me and Beloved outdid ourselves with it” (237), but the observation of other colors is Baby Suggs escape. She cannot leave 124 as she is stuck with the memory of it, but through it she was able to sit with her daughter in-law, granddaughter, and granddaughter’s ghost and experience the closest sense of a free family that she has in her entire life.
The identification of colors around her was a sign the Baby Sugg’s had slowed down, but not necessarily in a bad way. Sethe, as she realizes Beloved’s true identity, is inspired by her mother in love. She says “Matter of fact, that and her pinkish headstone was the last color I recall. Now I’ll be on the lookout. Think what spring will be for us!” (237). Colors add so much to the grim world of the book. It provides the slightest bit of escape for those in the most gruesome situations and it also is a place where memory resides.
I never really thought about what colors truly meant to Baby Suggs. I think it's interesting how she begins to ponder skin color, which is something that has affected her entire life, only after what Sethe did. I also didn't realize that Baby Suggs avoided red because it represented the blood of the baby. I wonder how other colors symbolized in the interesting mind of Baby Suggs. Great post!
ReplyDeleteI would add to your observation that Baby Suggs's life has been defined so fully by the colors black and white (which is true, and apt, and reflects on her idea at the end of her life that color is "harmless" and safe, as opposed to "whitepeople" who "don't know when to stop") the color RED. Sethe observes at one point, almost with a dark kind of humor, that she had "outdone herself" with red that day in the woodshed, ruining it for Baby Suggs forever. The one color that still has deeply triggering meaning for Baby Suggs is blood red, and we can understand why.
ReplyDeleteHi Addie, this was a great analysis about the relationship that Baby Suggs has with color throughout the novel. I had previously thought about Baby's relationship with color after the baby dies, but I had never considered the presence of color or the absence of it in her life at Sweet. An interesting part about white is that it is not considered a color because it is considered the sum of all colors whereas black is not considered a color because of its absence of light. I think that this perspective and its application to the novel could add more dimension to the already detailed points you have made in your blog post.
ReplyDeleteHi Addie! This is a really, really interesting blog post! I completely missed this trend of Baby Suggs and colors while reading the novel. Thank you for writing about it; the ideas are fascinating and add so much to my picture of the book! I love the statement you make at the end about how colors add so much to the world and provide an “escape” in some situations, and perhaps even have memories associated with them (which could be positive but also often negative with everything and all the trauma the characters have been through). What your analysis reminded me a bit of as well was how Toni Morrison uses the senses in other places and how we perceive and interact with the world physically to express and represent emotion, character, and mindset. For instance, if colors could connect to the sense of sight perhaps, it would be similar to how Denver couldn’t hear or speak. The sense of sight and hearing were both representing the characters but also the world around them. Therefore, maybe readers can get the idea that the senses play a big role and representation of who and how we are in the world around us. It not only affects how we perceive the world, but how we then interact with it. Not sure at all though!
ReplyDeleteThank you again for this great blog post and excellent analysis about Baby Suggs and her relationship and connection with colors!