: Library group discusses Morrison classic 'Beloved'
BY T. KEVIN WALKER
THE CHRONICLE
I ??_ ?
During an hour-long retrospec
; tive of her stellar career,, talk
show queen Oprah Winfrey dis- .
T cussed fame, money and her
' "blackness" with veteran journal
ist Mike Wallace on 60 Minutes
- last Wednesday.
The entertainment mogul also
1 spoke briefly about her much
hyped - and panned ? film
' - "Beloved." The slavery epic, which
opened last November, garnered
**" mix reviews from critics, short
r*. lines at box offices and drew
r ' . blanks in the minds of Academy
Award voters (the film received
.-*> just one nomination for costume
design).
Winfrey told Wallace that she
didn't know why the movie failed.
"I think about that all the
time," she said.
Ironically, thinking is exactly
what many moviegoers said they
had to do to much of while watch
; ing "Beloved." Many are still con
fused by Toni Morrison's Pulitzer
Prize-winning novel and were just
a , ?/ T-_; ^ s *- ?,nnir,
M (??pOBJr Or POVM fftOVTWOn? DOOM
downright baffled by Winfrey's
screen adaptation of the book.
? ? "It (the novel) has been called a
ghost story...a work of art, and it's
? all of that," said Elwanda Ingram,
an English professor at Winston
Salem State University.
In order to clear up some of the
confusion, Ingram lead a discus
? ' *
sion of the tale among a small
group of women Monday night at
the Carver School Road Branch
Library.
Lois Leggett, the library's
supervisor, said she came up with
the idea for the discussion after she
heard people complain that the
book and movie left them with
headaches.
"I read the book when it first
came out (in 1987) and I found it
to be a very complex book,"
Leggett said. "When I found out
that Oprah was doing a movie
about it, I thought that it would
clarify the book."
Sylvia Sprinkle-Hamlin, the
deputy director of Forsyth Coun
ty libraries, attended the discus
sion. Sprinkle-Hamlin said that of
all the books she has read by Mor
rison, "Beloved" was the most dif
ficult.
"I think she is a great writer,
(but) most of her books you do
have to read them twice," she said."*"
Ingram began the discussion by
admitting that it even took her
two-and-a-half readings before she
truly understood Morrison's book.
She wasn't able to find the time to
see Winfrey's nearly three hour
long movie during its theatrical
run, but she says she will probably
get the video when it comes into
stores on April 6.
As Ingram read from her per
sonal critique of the novel, the
women in the audience shook their
heads slowly as they heard bits of
information that enabled them to
finally make events in the book
and movie connect.
Though a multi-layered work
of true literature with many com
plex themes, simplistically,
"Beloved" is the tale of a slave,
Sethe, who flees a plantation in
Sweet Home, Ky., after becoming
the victim of a sexual assault at the
hands of several young white men.
Sethe escapes to Ohio to join
her mother-in-law, Baby Suggs,
and her three children.
She has her fourth child, Den
ver, en route.
When Sethe's master tracks her
to Ohio to return the family to
slavery, she kills one of her chil
dren, an unnamed daughter, with
an axe to save her from that fate.
She is in the process of killing the
others when she is stopped.
The murdered child haunts
Sethe's house from then on: leaving
hand prints in food and causing
the house to illuminate in eerie col
ors. But more than 16 years later,
the murdered child. Beloved,
named for the single word on her
headstone, reapftears in the form
of a fully grown, flesh and blood
specter.
Beloved reeks havoc on the
lives of Sethe, Denver and Paul D.,
Sethe's love interest until she is
finally exorcised by a group of
women praying outside of Sethe's
house.
Confused? You are definitely
not alone.
Ingram cleared up a couple of
things that had many people
scratching their heads.
When Beloved comes back to
life she springs from a river.
Ingram said the water symbolizes
the birth canal since in fact the
dead child was being reborn in a
way.
When Sethe first sees Beloved
she also has an unusual reaction:
she looses control of her bladder.
In Winfrey's movie this scene
caused more laughter than deep
thought.
But Ingram theorized Sethe's
reaction was symbolic of a
woman's water-breaking just
before she is about to give birth.
Ingram cleared similar Ibdse
ends as anxious audience members
began to make connections of
their own.
But more than anything, the
discussion got the women thinking
about a host of topics, from the
black experience to popular music.
Sprinkle-Hamlin - who loved
the movie and said that the actress
es in it were just a good as
Gwyneth Paltrow's Oscar-winning
performance in "Shakespeare in
Love" - said that with all the
"shot'em up" movies of today,
people just weren't ready for Win
frey's movie.
"With all these fly-by-night
movies, we don't like to do that
much thinking," Sprinkle-Hamlin
said.
Photo by T. Kevin Walker
Winston-Salem State University Professor Chvanda Ingram leads a discussion of Toni Morrison's classic
? f rauia v-< 1 m
siow epic Doiov001
Another group member, Luci
Vaughn, said she was disappointed
to see more white faces in the
movie theater than black ones.
"Most of the black people who
went to see the movie, I think they
went to see Oprah, not because
they were interested in the book,"
Vaughn said.
Her comment then lead to a
discussion of why Morrison has
such a large "non-black" follow
ing.
Ingram offered an answer. She
said that people in general would
probably prefer lighter stories for
their night-time or weekend read
ings.
"She does not write pop fic
tion. This is not Terry McMillian
writing," she said, as she stood
before a table filled with Morrison
titles.
At least two of the women had
not read the book or seen the
movie. They said they were lured
to the discussion by all the hoopla.
One of them said that if she
had come to the discussion before
the movie came out, they definite
ly would have shelled out the six
bucks to go see it.
The group came to a consensus
that "Beloved" is a story that
revolves around strong black
women, including Morrison and
Winfrey. They also agreed that,
perhaps, no other author comes
close to Morrison and her
thought-provoking style.
But Vaughn said she has spot
ted Morrison-like qualities in an
unlikely place: the world of hip
hop.
She said Grammy winner Lau
ryn Hill's music is nearly as
"deep" as Morrison's stimulating
novels.
"She and that Erykah Badu...
those are some deep sistas," she
said.
/instate
lifouVe in good hands.
Allstate Insurance Company
3911 University Parkway, Suite A
Winston-Salem, NC 27106
'?? Bus (336) 759-3911
MOSE BELTON-BROWN, LUTCF FAX (336) 759-9192
Senior Account Agent
LUTCF Fellow
' Premier Service Agent
24 Jlour a 2>ay Service
Easter Dresses
' 4%, SUITS^BY KASPER ?
M19 >
A. Double breasted short sleeve jacket with goldtone
f 1:1 buttons, straight skirt, in polyester/rayon. Fully lined. Spring
[H; pink, missy 4-16. New white, petites' 2-12. $119
B. Single breasted short sleeve jacket with novelty buttons,
rtrl zip pockets, straight skirt, in polyester/rayon. Fully lined. New
banana. Missy 4-16, $119.
C. Double breasted short sleeve jacket with contrast
r,rl scalloped collar, white buttons, straight skirt, in
polyester/rayon. Fully lined. Navy/white. Missy 4-16, $119
uf:
Misses 'Suits
p i
(?) (ZED FOR IZED FOR
Up MISSES! HpJMISSES!
I PETITES! I PEDTES!
I ENTIRE STOCK!!
Hosiery
SAVE
- 25 %1
MJ99
D. Short sleeve fully lined jewel neck chemise with
side button, back zipper, in polyester/rayon, matching scarf
New banana. Missy 4-16, petites' 2-14, $99
E. Short sleeve button front coat dress with zip pockets, novelty
buttons, in polyester/rayon. Sharp green.
' Missy 4-16. $99
F. Single breasted dress wit split jewel neck, in polyester/rayon.
Violet haze. Missy 4-16, $99
Misses' Better Dresses, Better Petite Dresses
Dillard's
;if ?
?I** OPEN MONOAY THROUGH SATURDAY 10A.M -9 RM ?OPEN SUNDAY 12:30 PM 6 P.M. ^ Ditlards welcomes Dillard's charge, Visa, MastefCard, American Express. Diner's Club & Discover ^ HANES MALL 669-1515
;.j ?