Class Exercise 2

Warm Up Exercise #2
Due next Thursday, October 12

Attached to this page, you will find three passages from Beloved. Choose one of them. Then, connect the passage you have chosen to as many other parts of the novel as possible. Your goal should be to produce a "close reading" of the passage, explaining the significance of it in terms of the repetition of certain images or ideas. Be as specific as possible. Use quotes.

Some questions you might want to think about include the following:

1) What's going on here?

2) Who speaks? To whom? When? Using what language? With what authority? Who hears?

3) What are the speakers referring to?

4) What other themes or ideas in the novel are alluded to by these passages?

5) What is the effect of Morrison putting these strands of narrative together in this way?

6) How does the passage fit within the narrative structure of the novel as a whole?

You can use a different passage if you prefer; however, please clear it with me in advance.