Aje Between Sethe and Beloved By: Melissa Zaragoza

Blog 7:

The article, The mother/daughter Aje Relationship in Toni Morrison's Beloved, seems to be a great interpretation of Sethe’s relationship with beloved. Overall Toni defines the word Aje and speaks about its portration in beloved. He believes that its a Yoruba word and concept that describes a spiritual force that is thought to be inherent in african women additionally, spiritually, empowered humans are called ajes. Basically to summarize Aje, it is a strong connection that only seems to exist between African American mother and daughter. No other family member can be a part of this bond because of how strong their connection is. In Toni Morrison’s article he states that,”No father is mentioned in beloved, Halle, sethe’s husband and the father of her children is highly irrelevant to the primary action. Even if a father figure is presented, as with Paul D in beloved, he is pushed out the sphere so that the lineage Aje can define themselves for and against themselves. While the removal of male aspect from the space of interactions may be commentary on the horrific struggles Africana men face”. This quote in the article is assuming that any type of male figure who tries to interfere with the Aje of beloved and sethe will not be capable because they will simply be excluded from that connection.

In beloved Aje is underscored when Denver, Paul D, Sethe, and Beloved had sat down for dinner and Paul D decides to question her intentions. Denver says,””How’d you come? Who brought you? Now she looked steadily at him but did not answer. He could feel both sethe and Denver pulling in holding their stomach muscles sending out sticky spider webs to touch one another. He decided to force it anyway. “I asked you who brought you here”,”I walked here she said a long, long, long, long, way.(pg.77). Even though Beloved is not Sethe’s daughter, they seem to have an Aje connection. It seems reasonable why Sethe and Beloved would have Aje, because Beloved it portrayed as Sethe’s dead baby.

Without even knowing that Beloved is sethe’s daughter, they seem to exclude Paul D and focus on their Aje. As you can see in the quote above, Paul D is the only person in the house that suspects of beloved’s actions being unusual. He tries to expose Beloved by asking her questions that would reveal her real identity. Unfortunately Sethe is blinded by her Aje with beloved and gets mad at Paul D for making beloved feel ‘attacked’.