My initial
reaction on the scene where Hannah burns is to be reminded of when Eva burned Plum. The burning of Hannah is very different than Plum’s in that Hannah does not burn at the hands of her
mother. The two are similar in that Eva was aiming to save her children in both
situations and both her son and daughter die. In a sense the two are saved by
going to the safest place available to them which is heaven. This theme of
heaven as a safe haven is often seen in slave narratives where African
Americans would be eased by the idea of their hardship someday ending in death.
Mothers would tell this to their children who’s live had just begun as
something to look forward to. For me this relates back to whether or not Eva’s
burning of Plum was justified and to me it
was.
Plum had reached the bottom of a downward spiral and was
lying in stagnation. He was hooked on drugs and clinging onto better times.
There was no future for him and Eva knew this. The way I see the scene where
Eva burns Plum he is almost like a phoenix.
Before Plum is set on fire “He opened his eyes
and saw what he imagined was a great wing of an eagle pouring a wet lightness
over him. Some kind of baptism, some kind of blessing, he thought (Toni
Morrison, 47)”. Eva is pouring kerosene over him but at least Plum is in a
state of peace. Unlike Plum, poor Hannah is
awake for her burning and feels the “agony so intense that for years the people
who gathered ‘round would shake their heads at the recollection of it
(Morrison, 76).” But Hannah also gets baptized when Mr. and Mrs. Suggs throw
the water on her, the only difference is it causes more harm than good because
it “seared to sealing all that was left of the beautiful Hannah Peace (Morrison,
76)”.
The fact that Hannah’s burning was
not done by Eva’s hand and was portrayed as more physically painful makes me
see Plum’s burning as smaller than Hannah’s. Many
would see Eva’s act as insane but her intentions seemed to be just considering
that her type of love is different than the typical definition of love which
states that providing your child with necessities is love. Even if there was no
playing with the children it was only because she lacked the luxury to do so as
a single mother. Also it is not as if Eva does not show Plum
indifference before the burning. She takes him and rocks him in her arms and
remembers him as a child; she even cries for him. “Eva lifted her tongue to the
edge of her lip to stop the tears from running into her mouth (Morrison, 47)”.
Another
important thing about Hannah’s burning is that right before it happens Eva is
reminded of the dream “of a wedding in a red bridal gown until Sula came in and
woke her up (Morrison, 73)”. White wedding dresses are typically worn as a sign
of virginity and it was well known that Hannah Peace was well like but also
promiscuous. Perhaps her burning is symbolic of retribution of her sins. She is
described as a “flaming, dancing figure (Morrison, 76)” which has a very tribal
undertone to it. Dancing is normally done at time of celebration. Also the fact
that Sula is the one who wakes of Eva after the dream is foreboding. It seems
to be foreshadowing of the traitorous act that Sula later commits against Nel
by having sex with her husband. This can be brought to the final point of the
scene where Eva notes that Sula witnessed her mother burn and just watched it
seems “because she was interested (Morrison, 78)”. I often see Sula as an evil
character because even though she can be sympathized with because she heard her
mother say she doesn’t like her, she does nasty things later on. Here she
watches her mother burn without any attempt to call for help or call an
ambulance. Later on she will show a similar lack of compassion to Eva by
placing her in a nursing home and taking over the Peace house.
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