Denver's Growth
Denver’s view of the people around her at the beginning of the book was clearly that of someone who hadn’t seen much of the world – she was sheltered both by Sethe’s turning the town away from the family, and also by her own decisions to stay within the yard. As we saw when Denver went to people in town to try to get a job to provide for Sethe and Beloved, the people had no ill will toward her at all and donated the family a lot of food. This instance probably contributed a lot to Denver rapidly growing more self-sufficient and conscious of what the world around her was like, since her world quickly expanded from just Sethe, Paul D, and Beloved. While Sethe was, understandably, guarded toward the outside world and Denver inherited that, seeing that there were ways to live outside of relying on her mother likely changed a lot for Denver.
As well as that, seeing her mother (who, despite all of the
problems between her and Denver, had always been successful in providing for
her family) become completely incapable of caring for herself or Denver, likely
also changed Denver’s mindset. To see the one steady presence in her life become,
as some characters described, the size of a child, as well as stop going to
work, must have turned Denver’s world around. And it was not just seeing Sethe
weakened – as per Denver’s anger at Beloved, and sudden protective feelings of
her mother, it could have also been seeing the other steady part of her life,
which was Sethe’s absolute devotion to protecting her and caring for her, go
away, that led her to mature so fast by the end of the novel.
I definitely think Denver's growth throughout the novel is something interesting to look at. She stepped up when Sethe stepped down due to Beloved's power. All the love Sethe had given to Denver was now showing up in the form of Denver giving back that love and showing appreciation.
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ReplyDeleteI think you did a really nice job tracing some of the factors that push Denver to mature throughout the third part of the novel! As you described, I think her new sense of responsibility for Sethe is a big part of this change. This reversal of roles, where Sethe becomes vulnerable and childlike while Denver becomes her protector, pushes Denver to leave the safety of 124’s yard and
connect in a meaningful way with people in the community, and I think having a positive bridge to the outside world instead of just being scared of it is a really important influence on Denver's growth.
Hi Stefania, I think this is a good analysis of how Denver changed throughout the novel. I definitely agree that Denver was forced to grow up really quickly because of these various circumstances in her life, but I also feel like her decision to leave 124--what spurred this character development in the first place--is a product of a quality that Denver already had: her long-held sense of responsibility to protect herself and her family. Denver stayed at 124 all those years to guard the house from the circumstance which led Sethe to kill Beloved, thus doing everything in her power to protect her and her siblings from her mother, and then left the house to get help for her and her mother. Though the objects of her protection shifted, I do think that this is a defining trait of Denver's which drives most of her actions in the novel, including her initial behavior toward Beloved.
ReplyDeleteI like this post because I think it focuses on something I haven't seen or thought that much about. I feel like Sethe's growth can easily be overshadowed by the other more dramatic, jarring, and unnatural elements of the novel, but it is certainly an interesting part of the book in its own right. I can't really imagine what Sethe's experience was like living in an environment that suffocating, I mean the ghost of her murdered older sister baby was a resident in her house, and it's easy to understand how rapidly her world changed once she experienced more of it.
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