While reading "Beloved", you could say I had a "rememory" of my own. In the last section of Morrison's novel, Denver left the Bodwins "but not before she had seen, sitting on a shelf by the back door, a blackboy's mouth full of money...Painted across the pedestal he knelt on were the words 'At Yo Service'" (Morison 300). This scene immediately reminded me of when the narrator in "Invisible Man" when he saw something he "never noticed before...a piece of early Americana, the kind of bank which, if a coin is placed in the hand and a lever pressed upon the back, will raise its arm and flip the coin into the grinning mouth" (Ellison 319). Both of these cases are quite similar. Both of these characters notice this bank of this black person caricature by the door of the room they're leaving. This bank also happens to be at the house of somebody seen as more morally upright than some of the other characters in the novel.
In the case of the narrator in "Invisible Man", the bank is found in Mary's house. Mary was kind to the narrator and became somewhat like a mother-like figure. It was shocking to find such a bank in her house, especially since she too is black. For Denver, the bank she finds is in the house of the Bodwins, a white family that advocates for black people. We don't get a reaction from Denver, but I know I was surprised to find another one of these banks, especially in the Bodwins house. So what do these banks mean in these stories? They didn't play a crucial role in the plot of either story, though the bank did have more importance in "Invisible Man."
After some thinking, I concluded that Morrison and Ellison included these banks to make the characters more realistic. In these stories, the reader probably got the idea that of Mary and the Bodwins as moral people, advocating for black people. However, including the banks seem to contrast with that idea. By adding the banks in these stories, the reader realizes that even though these people may advocate for black people, they won't be perfect. Whether they purposefully had these items or they were just the remnants of the slavery era, these characters still had connections to such ideas. Adding these banks can just help remind the reader of this fact. That's just what I have thought of so far, but what do you think?
I agree. Although Denver is working and moving on, there is this lingering reminder of the effects of slavery. Not even just within 124, but in the outside world. No matter how much the Bodwins supposedly advocate for Black people, it's a harsh wake up call about the outside world. Even today, blackface collectible are all over eBay... it's like the book said, "nothing ever dies."
ReplyDeleteBoth items show that slavery and racism still live on as rememories or hauntings or antiques and thus as problematic parts of the way society works. What's so notable about this is that two similar objects with similar symbolic meanings exist in very different time periods of the two books. Both try to make the point that racism still persists even in white liberals or modern society, showing that the after-affects of slavery, even if they become less and less, remain prevalent and obvious in our country's memorabilia.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Roshan. Both of these objects serve as reminder of how slavery never dies. Even the liberals 'the good whites' can't help but to embody their role of superiority much like the Nortons from Native Son. The effects of slavery cut deep and the wounds never heal. They only scar.
ReplyDeleteI think that both Ellison and Morrison included these pieces of racist memorabilia to show that your past will always be there to haunt you. Slavery is something that will never leave you and I think that is what these authors are trying to portray. Even the whites that you least expect this bank to be associated with have the bank, which shows that wherever in this country you may go, there will always be remnants of slavery.
ReplyDeleteThe figure is so reminiscent of Invisible Man that I wonder if Morrison deliberately included the figure in reference to Ellison's book. The circumstances of the discovery are similar, the people similar (though in Invisible Man, Mary is African-American herself), but the times are radically different. Invisible Man is probably 50 years later, and so I wonder if Morrison's inclusion of the racist bank to be a way of showing the reader that the after-effects of slavery are going to last for generations into the future.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your point about realism, but I also think in Morrison's case it is an attempt to make the reader stop and think about the difference between the Bodwin's and other white people. Were they really any better? To a certain extent perhaps, but they were no angels, and it makes the reader think more critically when they have this bank sitting in their home that literally says something along the lines of "Here to serve"
ReplyDeleteFirst, I like how you included the idea of re-memory in your blog post and I believe that your analysis is correct. Not just of the individual people, but of society itself. While society is improving, it is not like we live in a perfect world. The fact that these things still exist shows that no matter how moral a person may seem, they can still make mistakes, even when they don't know it.
ReplyDeleteBuilding off of what Jenna has said, I definitely began to question the Bodwins at this point in the novel. I think what Morrison is trying to say here is that although they were nicer people than most white supremacists, they were still white supremacists who controlled Denver.
ReplyDeleteI also had a flashback to Invisible Man while reading parts of Beloved. The parallel with the bank with Mary and the Bodwins was a defining moment of this similarity, especially in the way that both characters support the main characters. I also agree that the authors added these scenes with the banks in an effort to make the characters more realistic.
ReplyDeleteI agree but I also notice stark differences between the style of these two books. Both employ the use of arguably heavy handed metaphors. However, in my opinion Morrisson does so to a much greater effect. She is much more mysterious, while also at the same time strangely uplifting.
ReplyDeleteI think also these items go to show the deep impact of racism on literal every aspect of society. These items are normalized parts of society that should not be. I think the point of having such empathetic characters such as Mary have the bank shows how she perhaps has normalized this racism. Its abrupt addition also shows how the characters- and black people today- are constantly bombarded with these images, and shows how they make a super negative impact on those people. Basically, institutionalized constant racism is shown through these pieces making their appearances.
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