Monday

Here are the questions for classwork/homework. I will not credit work that shows no thought!

Beloved
Chapter One (3-23)
1. Look at the imagery surrounding the pink marble. What activities are combined in the image?
2. What is the most beautiful memory Sethe has of the landscape of Sweet Home? How is this memory related to the scars on Sethe's back?
3. Garner calls his slaves "men," but find at least two important ways that Garner or his representatives create an animal existence for them.
4. What is the chief function of Chapter One: what does it establish?

Chapter Two (24-33)
1. In this section, the omniscient third-person narration enters Paul D's consciousness. Examine the importance of trees to him and explain.
2. How does the behavior of Sixo, Halle, and the Pauls establish that they are, in fact, strong, moral men -- despite Halle's wedding bed of corn stalks because Mr. Garner thought corn "was a crop animals could use as well as humans" (31), and despite the calves?
3. In what ways is Sixo distinctly different from the other Sweet Home men?
4. What does Baby Suggs's experience reveal about a mother's best chance to survive slavery and the nature of slave family life? (Stick to the first two chapters).
5. How does Chapter Two clear the way for Paul D to consider the future?
6. (No response necessary) Note that Chapter One, in its immediate present, has the following characters: Sethe, Paul D, and Denver. Chapter Two has only Paul D and Sethe. Note the first sentence of Chapter Three. Read Chapter Three (34-51) for next class, then speed up!