Creation Amids Chaos

However, we see that as the symbolisation of earth mother or Goddess in her community, the men march Sethe with reverence as both savior and redeemer, refusing even to bit her when she serves them meals, "If she brought food to them in the fields?they never took it from her hands. They stood back and waited for her to position it on the ground and leave," (Morrison, 1987, p. 22). Images of the goddess argon similarly apparent in the novel when Sethe consummates her marriage in a cornfield, similar to rituals that occupy goddesses of fertility, (Ambrose, Effland, and Mayer, 2005).

Nature is used heavily in the novel as a symbol of Sethe's role as creator in the midst of the hell of slavery. Sethe's ability to transform is in like manner a quality of the goddess in mythology. This is true not only in terms of her ability to create or destroy but also true in her ability to see things from ninefold perspectives. As chaos creates life or haze all overous scars hide Sethe's inner beauty, ro Sethe views Sveet Home as the embodiment of good and evil. As she wond

rs, "It never looked as alarming as it was and it made her wonder if hell was a sensibly place too. Fire and brimstone all right, but surreptitious in lacy groves," (Morrison, 1987, p. 6).

The powers to create or destroy are also characteristics of the goddess that are exhibited in the characterization of Sethe.

Her role as earth mother is reinforced by her anger over the stealing of her thwart's milk, an incident that resulted in her being whipped while pregnant. Her dreadfully scarred back is a clump of scars and welts that Sethe imagines as a tree, a symbol of life and nature. However, despite her fertility and nurturing capacities, Sethe is also similar to the goddess in that she can create or destroy. When Sethe considers her baby suffering under the horrors and oppression and slavery, she decides it is better to kill the kidskin instead of letting it suffer for its entire life. In this manner, Sethe also symbolizes the ability of the goddess or earth mother to create and destroy, to top and blight, and to love and hate. Sethe provides an angry claim against the boys who steal her life-giving fluids, "Th
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