Connection #9 (Beloved)

The novel Beloved, written by Toni Morrison, is a story about a family of African Americans and the struggles they face as they attempt to live their lives post-slavery. The grief and tragedy lived by the mother of the family, Sethe, during her times as a slave causes her to become an over-bearing mother to her children, shielding them from all of life’s potential troubles. However, it is when she sees a white man for the first time since her slave days that she takes her role too far, killing her youngest daughter (at that time) in fear that the white man has come to bring them back to slavery. Sethe and her other daughter, Denver, are forever haunted by this “act of love and care.” The constant remembrance of their lost daughter and sister is brought back to life through the form of a ghostly human, named Beloved. Beloved appears on the scene and takes control of the family right away, causing Denver to follow her and Sethe to over-care for her. Beloved eventually causes Sethe to turn insane, by driving away the only normalcy the family was beginning to have in their life, their friends. It isn’t until Denver, a shy, reserved girl, goes into town looking for help is the family finally rescued. The town responds courageously and “drives” Beloved away from the family so that they may begin to live a normal life again.

Connection #8 (The Metamorphosis)

The novella The Metamorphosis, written by Franz Kafka, is a short story about a young man named Gregor who one day transforms into a bug. At such a young age, Gregor already had a full time job and was the sole financial support for his entire family. However, one day Gregor could not roll out of bed, for he had turned into a bug. His parents and his boss persisted for several hours to enter his locked room, but Gregor could not get out of bed. After learning to function with his new body with numerous legs and a shell as hard as a rock, Gregor opened the door to disbelief. His boss ran out of the house, his mother collapsed, and his father began thinking of ways to extinguish this new bug. Gregor was fired from his job, he couldn’t possibly sell any more insurance anyways, and his family shunned him. His father hated him because he actually had to work now and his mother was scared to look at him. Throughout the rest of the novella, Gregor becomes more neglected and the family turns into disarray. They cannot afford to send Gregor’s sister to music school, and they can barely survive financially, resorting to renting out their house to tourists. All the while, Gregor is kept locked up in his room where no one can come into contact with the family’s “horrible burden.” It’s not until one day in the Spring-time that this burden is lifted when Gregor the young man, the bug, and the burden dies. The family leaves the house as it is, grabs their suitcase and leaves the city to start a new life, without even shedding a tear for their once son and brother.