Overcoming Ghost Stories and Hauntings: Beloved by Toni Morrison and No Name Woman by Maxine Kingston - Book Report/Review Example

Overcoming Ghost Stories and Hauntings Introduction The ghost is one that not only haunts supernaturally. There is the idea of being haunted as a symbol of what one carries with them through their life. In the stories Beloved by Toni Morrison, No Name Woman by Maxine Kingston and Snapshots by Viramontes, there is a concept of what it means to be a ghost through metaphor. The ghost is one that is a part of what has happened to another person as well as the how this has affected the character for the rest of their lives. The ghosts that haunt cause one to deal with the present and future in a different manner, specifically because of the choices that are made. Rather than the present context of living, each of the characters in the stories is confronted with their ghosts that alter their life course and what they decide to do. The ghosts become a symbol that represent the choices one makes and how this steers future courses for the characters in the book. Representation of Hauntings The concept of the haunting of ghosts is not only represented by the belief of the characters but also the context in which they are taken in. The haunting that each of the characters face is not based on the death of a figure, but instead the death of one’s life, memories or basic ideologies of life. The past is what brings the idea of the ghost to life and which creates a different understanding of the ghost as belonging in the main character’s life. The concept of not being able to get rid of something and being haunted by trauma and the past are the representation of the hauntings. Each of these becomes psychological associations with what one believes when relating to the ideology of the ghosts. The representation of ghosts as a part of different context is first seen in No Name Woman. The narrator is one that is haunted by the past, which is the identity of her mother and father. More important, her mother believes that her child is a ghost, specifically because she is born as a result of rape. This is not accepted in society; however, the woman is let giving birth to the child, which she calls a ghost. The haunting that is seen in this respect is from the rape that has occurred, as well as how the narrator’s mother is cast out of society and is retaliated against because of the birth of the child. At one point, the mother states “After the villagers left, their lanterns now scattering in various directions toward home, the families broke their silence and cursed her. ‘Aiaa, we’re going to die. Death is coming. Death is coming. Look what you’ve done. You’ve killed us. Ghost! Dead ghost! Ghost! You’ve never been born” (Kingston, 2). The ghost in this passage refers to the past rapes which the woman goes through as well as how the birth of her daughter is what will kill her. The haunting that she is experiencing is based on the past trauma, memories and the experiences which she is having from the birth of the child. It is through the choice of having the child that the ghost of the man who has raped her is able to take over her life and kill her life from the outcome of the birth. The trauma is then passed down to her child, who refers to her as an aunt. The ghost is carried through each generation and continues to haunt the same family because of the trauma that occurred as well as the outcome of the woman being rampaged and separated from her family. The same type of trauma is experienced in Beloved with the escape of Sethe and Denver from slavery. The trauma and the past which follows them are from the slavery which they have overcome as well as the predictions that they were in because of the slavery. The past and the problems that they had with slavery, as well as through others that escaped with them became the most prevalent part of Sethe and Denver, which they are always trying to escape. More important, others in the family which were not able to let go of the past and what had happened became similar to a ghost that continuously tried the characters because of the past and what had happened. “Baby Suggs died shortly after the brothers left, with no interest whatsoever in their leave – taking or hers, and right afterward Sethe and Denver decided to end the persecution by calling forth the ghost that tried them so” (Morrison, 10). This particular quote shows that the ghost and the hauntings came with bringing the past outside of the slavery that Sethe and Denver were trying to end. The trauma was based on Baby Suggs who had only lived in slavery and which had experienced the traumas that were associated with this. The ghost that is associated with the past in this instance is based on the trauma of slavery and the treatment that the family was trying to overcome. The trauma was again handed down through the generations and the family and continued to haunt them with ideas of slavery and by each of the family members only knowing how to function as slaves, as opposed to experiencing the idea of being free. A similar concept is seen in Snapshots by Viramontes. The haunting in this text is represented through the past with a basis on family and how this creates a ghost of the past. The author states “Snapshots are ghosts. I am told that shortly after women are married, they become addicted to one thing or another” (Viramontes, 101). The ghosts as a snapshot are from the married life and how the concept of the family growing up and leaving the home becomes problematic. The women in the family become haunted by the idea of family and how the family dies and is lost. The relief is for the women to become addicted to something, as stated in the above quote. The addiction is a part of the women trying to overcome the past and to re-look what was happened with the family. The addictions are a physical action that correlates with the concept of being haunted. The hauntings are furthered by the ghosts, which include the past and the family and how this continues to change and die for women. Overcoming Ghosts and Hauntings Even though the hauntings were a main aspect of trauma and overcoming the past in the various text there was also a sense of overcoming the hauntings and beginning again. The concept which is applied to this comes from the modern feminist choices of controlling and defining one’s life while incorporating the ability to overcome the trauma that is a part of each of the situations. Confronting the main ideologies of ghosts and the hauntings becomes a central theme in each of the stories, specifically because each of the women have to confront the traumas and the past in order to overcome and to reach a new definition within their life. The ghosts that are a part of the story are then designed to be overcome by the main beliefs of the women and how they are expected to deal with the ghosts from the past traumas. Each of the women has a choice to change their future or to remain with the past hauntings by deciding to overcome or to remain with the past traumas and history. In No Name Woman it is not the woman who believes in the ghosts of the past that has to confront what has happened. Instead, the independence of the woman and the ability to gain her freedom comes from the narrator who is faced with the same story a generation later. The ghost that is held by the narrator is one that has come out of the trauma of her mother and which she is faced to confront because she has moved outside of tradition and the generational difficulties faced by her mother. Instead, the No Name Woman developed a ghost that followed the narrator through her life. The confrontation that the narrator began to accept was based on overcoming the ghost by re-examining the past and looking into the story that was a part of the hauntings. “My aunt haunts me – her ghost draws to me because now, after fifty years of neglect, I alone devote pages of paper to her, though not origamied into houses and clothes. I do not think she always means me well. I am telling on her, and she was a spite suicide, drowning herself in drinking water” (Kingston, 3). The confronting of the narrator to the ghost is to understand that it is her aunt, or mother, that has haunted her and to understand that change and overcoming the trauma of the past is the only way to overcome the ghost. The haunting through the author begins to disappear because of the voice that the author creates for the ghost as well as the devotion that the author shows to the past so the trauma can be healed. The ghost then loses the power from the past stories and allows the narrator to overcome the ghost of the traumatic experience and of the past. The same concept of overcoming the hauntings and the ghost is seen in Beloved. In this story, the requirement is to overcome the ghost instead of accept it. At the beginning, Sethe and Denver decide to leave the past traumas and the problems with slavery behind. However, this immediately changes with Beloved, who sits with the past and who is interested in the hauntings and the ghost. Sethe and Denver begin to believe that, while they are trying to get rid of the haunting, others call forward the past and the traumas and continue to relive them, which allows the concept of the ghost to reappear. “Slave life; freed life – every day was a test and a trial. Nothing could be counted on in a world where even when you were a solution you were a problem. ‘Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof,’ and nobody needed more; nobody needed growing up evil sitting at the table with a grudge. As long as the ghost showed out from is ghostly place – Ella respected it” (Morrison, 296). The example that is shown is one that gives insight into how the ghost of the past as well as the traumas which were present haunted the family. The future then was forced to live free life the same way, specifically because the ghost of the past continued to haunt the family in the same way. To overcome this, Sethe and Denver were forced to find a way to overcome the past generations and the concept of slavery that continued to haunt the family. For Viramontes, the ability to overcome the ghosts is one that is unachievable because the snapshots of life are lost through time. Using addiction, avoidance and trying to forget the snapshots that leads to the ghost of the family is the main concept used for overcoming the main idea of family life and how one builds and finds the ghosts of the past. The main character is confronted with looking at basic aspects of the snapshots and trying to forget them by avoiding the ghosts and the way in which they haunt the narrator. “This is a bad night. On good nights, I avoid familiar spots. On bad nights I am pulling towards them so much so that if I sit on the chair next to Dave’s I begin to cry. On bad nights I can’t sleep and on bad nights I don’t know who the couples in the snapshots are” (Viramontes, 102). The idea of losing family, specifically the husband, and the discomfort of this is a part of the ghost that can’t be overcome. However, the narrator states that there is no way to overcome the ghost. Instead, the haunting can only be confronted by trying to remember the snapshots and to approach the haunting of not remembering the faded memories. The main concept of overcoming is one that can’t be reached while the choice of the author is to find a way to forget and to move forward while forgetting about the ghost. However, the author shows how this choice doesn’t allow one to overcome the past and the ghosts, but instead to be confronted by them more. In each of the stories, the concept of choice and overcoming or accepting the ghosts of the past and of trauma becomes the main consideration. The choice made through Beloved is based on how some family members accepted the ghosts while others tried to fight the evil of the past and to work toward a sense of freedom that was outside of slavery. The choice made keeps the same repetition occurring, where the characters remain in slavery. In No Name Woman, this was done by accepting the past traumas and by recognizing the ghosts and the hauntings as they were. The ability to overcome the ghost was done by confronting the ghost and by creating a deeper understanding of what the ghost represented and how it affected different lives. This representation was similar to the concept of Snapshots where forgetting was the main choice of the hauntings while remembering made it easier to get through each day. The choices that were made in each of these instances affected the outcome of the characters. When there was the ability to overcome the problems, progression could be made. However, when the choices were limited, the ghosts and the hauntings continued and couldn’t be overcome. This became more problematic as the characters had to continue facing the same hauntings without the ability to accept the ghosts or to overcome the situation. The changes that occurred in each of their lives were then altered by offering new opportunities to overcome the past or to remain with the ghosts of the past. The choices were furthered by this as the problems which were overcome were based on confronting the ghosts of the past and the traumas which occurred while rebuilding into a future that didn’t carry the same hauntings of slavery, trauma or loss of family. Conclusion Being haunted by ghosts and the problems that arise with this are noted in the stories of Beloved, No Name Woman and Snapshots. In each of these stories, the concept of the ghost is seen with the ideology of the past and the traumas which were a part of this. The ghosts also were seen through the family and through the issues that arose and faded through time. The memories of what happened became the haunted aspect of the ghosts and which followed the characters through each of the novels. The only way in which this could be overcome through each of the women was to confront the ghosts and the hauntings that occurred. The confrontation for each included different concepts, such as making choices to accept the ghost of the past or to try to overcome the ghosts that were haunting them. With each of these choices, were specific changes that were made and which changed the capabilities that were a part of the narrator’s lives. Works Cited Kingston, Maxine Hong. The Warrior Woman: No Name Woman. New York: Random House, 1989. Morrison, Toni. Beloved. London: Everyman’s Library, 2006. Print. Viramontes, Helena Maria. The Moths and Other Stories: Snapshots. New York: Arte Publico Press, 1995. Print. Read More