Pg 1-- "Sethe and her daughter... were it's only victims...the sons had run away by the time they were thirteen years old."

This shows sethe as a strong woman and swts the tone for a feminist book. It also shows that the boys, as soon as they reached manhood, ran away and are therefore weak. The house can be looked at as society because it is punishing the strong woman just as society frowned upon strong women at that time.

Pg 1-- Setting: In Ohio just outside of Cincinnati. Around 1870.

Pg 2--"She couldnt get interested in leaving life or living it"

Baby suggs feels that she is bored with life but not ready for death. This line seemed important but i dont know why.

Pg 2--"For a baby she throws a powerfull spell...No more powerfull than the way I loved her"

Love is a spell...It is evil and blinds people. This is a motif. It shows again on pg 25 when Sethe has sex with Paul D and immediately regrets it. She was blinded by lust.

Pg 7-- "Try as she might to make it otherwise...She could never forgive her memory."

Sethe remembers more about the trees and nature then her children and friends. This could show that she was above her peers and more to the level of nature or that she sees deeper than just friends. She finds comfort in nature.

Pg 8--Paul D has peachstone skin and a straight back. He has emotions although he only shows them when he chooses to. He is a very caring man. He is a wanderer and maybe a fugitive.

Pg 10--"Straight into a pool of red light"

red light symbolizes sadness and the ghost.

Pg 12--"They were young and so sick with the absense of women they had taken to calves."

WHAT THE HELL!!!! This is a disturbing book! Very graphic... this however does reinforce the idea that women are superior to men because men must wait for the woman. They are forced to degrade themselves to the level of cows.

Pg 14-- "Looking....like a girl instead of...Denver had known her entire life"

This again shows the degrading effect men have. Women are usually "queenly" but Paul D made Sethe a lesser woman by suduction. This is not right.

Pg 15-- Theme: Absence: there are alot of absent figures such as Denvers father, Baby suggs after she dies. alot of the children of various women die.

Pg 16--Ghosts are a motif. there is a ghost in the house. Baby suggs talks of ghosts... there was a ghost on the sweet home.

Pg 18-19-- The tree that was wipped into Sethes back is a symbol for sethes strength. She is strong like a tree. It is also an ugly testament to male brutality.

Pg 26--They encouraged you to put some of your weight in there hands....ran her children out and tore up her house."

What baby suggs says of men. Reinforces that men are lower beings. That they are dirty and unlawfull and mean. Also the righteousness of women.

Pg 29--"He asked the redman's presence"

Another spirit. Ghosts and spirits seem to control this story. The control through fear. It also gives the story a religious outlook.

Pg 32-33--How loose the silk...Loose and free"

This is Sethe thinking back to the time her afnd Halle had sex in the fields but it is describing corn husking. why is she comparing corn husking to sex?

Pg 35-36--'The dress and her mother...helping out the other'

The dress(a ghost) is again controling the story. it is the strongest figure in this scene.

Pg 42--"Anything dead coming back to life hurts"

Amy says this while she is helping sethe. This could be foreshadow to the death and haunting of Sethe by her baby.

Pg 44-- "If it's still there..nothing ever dies"

This is a comment on religion by the author. She is expressing a belief in afterlife and ghosts.

Pg 46-- Color is becoming a motif. Color is a part of life Suggs longed for it just before she died and now Sethe is wanting more color.