Communication in Beloved

One of the obvious aspects of communication that was present in Beloved was the distinct dialogue. But beyond that, the significance of communication and the absense of it when I felt it was so desperately needed seems to be more valuable to the novel as a whole.

Toni Morrison herself said, "We die. That may be the meaning of life. But we do language. That may be the measure of our lives."

Honestly, when I first read this quote I disagreed. I was thinking about people that cannot speak or communicate. How are their lives measured? But then I realized that their stories and their journeys only exist to the rest of the World through other people's words. People speak for them. Why? Because language is the major way we pass on stories in our society. I know this may seem cliche, but even though I believe that language is a vital tool in measuring one's existence, I think lives can be measured in love...even when it is unspoken.

Now, when I think back to Beloved, I think about the horrific things that happened to Sethe and Baby Suggs and I realized that even if they never TOLD anyone about their trama, it still existed and "nothing ever dies." So what is the good of speaking things out loud? The clear answer is that people just need an outlet. It is cetainly theriputic to voice your secrets and concealed emotions, but I still wonder if this really changes things. I wonder if there are certain people that do not need to talk about their feelings to understand them. I am certainly not one of those people. I think of Paul D. He wanted to be one of those people, but he too was bothered by the past, even if he tried to cover that up. Once he confronted the past and all of its vulgerity and infalibility, he could love with all of his heart. It is almsot as if, not communicating and not confronting him held him back from being the person that he really was.

Communication is confrontation. Maybe there are people in the World that can confront their issues without "language" and maybe some can cope with life through other outlets. But as for me, and arguably all of the characters in Beloved, it is essential.