Where are all the men going?

In this reading, two of the most important characters so far died: Kevin and the dad (we have no reason to believe that the dad is still alive, even though his death hasn't been officially confirmed). Now we have an interesting situation where there is no "man of the house" or authoritative, grown-up male figure to lead the community or the family. I am really excited to see what Octavia Butler does with this situation, and I would love to see a stronger feminist narrative emerge.

The second implication of the dad and Kevin dying is that Lauren's biggest barriers in promoting her Earthseed beliefs are gone. The only person left with any authority over Lauren is Cory, who is too emotionally distraught to take any control. Lauren has two options now: share the Earthseed with her community and invite them with her outside, or leave her community alone (her original plan). I'm curious to see if she'll take the first option, because she doesn't feel right leaving her community at this difficult time. I also am curious to see how big of a role Curtis will play in Lauren's future.

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How Disney perpetuates voodoo stereotypes

In the opening chapters of Mumbo Jumbo , we've been introduced to Papa DaBas, a voodoo priest. In class we talked a bit about the largely negatively perception of voodoo in America. This immediately made me think of the Disney princess film, The Princess and the Frog . This movie is set in New Orleans, and follows a princess who falls in love, blah blah blah...but the villain is a voodoo-practicing witch doctor, Dr. Facilier. I found it really interesting to look back at Dr. Facilier's character after discussing the American perception of voodoo, because Dr. Facilier is portrayed as a man of pure evil (here's a picture if you haven't seen the movie to show how creepy he is). His soul belongs to evil loas (his "friends on the other side", as he calls them), and he uses their power to achieve his greedy goals, convincing the loas to continue working with him by feeding them the souls of innocent victims. He's manipulative and extremely powerful. ...

Paul D and Sethe's shared trauma

Paul D and Sethe have an extremely complicated relationship that constantly morphs and shifts throughout Beloved . They spent lots of time at Sweet Home together, and therefore have an established emotional bond. Though a more physical aspect of their relationship develops, the glue holding them together is their shared trauma of living at Sweet Home and of their respective escapes. Generally speaking, relationships held together primarily by shared traumatic experiences are fragile and unstable: Paul D and Sethe's relationship is no exception. Though they understand each other's experiences with slavery, they have little else in common. Crucially, they haven't seen each other in eighteen years, and there are significant gaps in their knowledge what has happened in the other's life in the nearly two decades since their last encounter. Most importantly, Paul D is unaware of what Sethe did in the shed on that fateful day when schoolmaster came to 124. With the presen...

Final thoughts

Before I get into this, I want to start by pointing out that Jill was #1 on my most likely to die list, and she is the one who died. It feels wrong to congratulate myself, but I am a little bit proud. The ending was quite satisfying. It felt almost too good and peaceful for the end of such a wild and tragic novel. Nearly the entire group survived, they moved on from their ghosts of the past, and they have great resources that they can begin their Earthseed community with. I'm a little upset that Lauren is still in a relationship with Bankole, but it's good that there are so many relationships within their community as they plan for the future. The most surprising part of the ending was when Lauren discovered that Greyson, Emery, and their kids are all sharers. I was not expecting this at all, because sharing was Lauren's most unique trait. However, it does alienate her less from the rest of the group, and it makes the former slaves more united with the rest of the group. T...

Crafting Creative Concepts with Charlotte

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