I am reading Beloved right now and I have to wonder…do others think Sethe is justified in her actions? I know that is an impossible headspace to put yourself in but I would like to hear others thoughts.
I personally am not sure that she is justified however given the obscene trauma Sethe has been through I can see why she would want to remove all possibility of that happening to her children as well. I also think there is something really inertesting that comes from the mother/daughter dyad and somehing even more interesting from the triad between Sethe, Denver, and Beloved. Furthermore, I believe there is something to be said about the willingness Sethe has to go to such exreme lengths to break the cycle of maternal trauma in her family…even if she creates another trauma in the process.
I think that focusing on whether Sethe was justified or not takes attention away from considering the evil that put both of them in that position in the first place.