Black Gothic and Mental Illness

Caleb Fisher

ENGL 2016

Ms. Harris

December 3, 2021

The Black Gothic and Mental Illness

Throughout this course’s exploration of the Black Gothic, one concept that has become apparent is the importance of mental illness to characterization and storytelling. Mental illness is often used in the black gothic to better represent the outcomes that such a gothic existence can have on survivors. The two characters from our readings who best represent this idea are Sethe from Beloved, and Bigger from Native Son.

Sethe’s “rememories” and obsessive fixation on traumatic past events are representative of PTSD. In the final major act of Beloved, where Sethe charges at Baldwin in what seems to be her attempt at rectifying her past with Beloved, there are several cues which suggest that Sethe suffering from an episode of PTSD. I believe that during this scene, Sethe’s inability to distinguish Baldwin from Schoolteacher could be representative of her PTSD and, by extension, her fear of temporal collapse. In the moments building up to the scene, standing at the porch as the community congregates in front of her house, Sethe feels as though “the Clearing had come to her with all its heat and simmering leaves,” indicating that she was reexperiencing the past in that moment (Morrison 130 pdf). Because she is reexperiencing the past, she is in a mental state that is both vulnerable and volatile, and her reaction to seeing Baldwin reflects that. Sethe lives in constant fear of the past, specifically Schoolteacher, coming back to claim her, and her trauma from slavery has very likely warped her perception of all white men. Thus, it makes sense that during this episode, she believes Baldwin to be the one thing that she fears the most, which is the return of the past. Thus, I believe that Morrison could be displaying to the reader the extent to which slavery can affect those who survive it, using Sethe and mental illness to illustrate a heartbreaking display of what trauma can do to the human psyche. In this case, PTSD can be interpreted as the mental manifestation of temporal collapse, since it forces the sufferer to relive past events that haunt them in the present.

 Another thing to note is that symbolically, Baldwin and Schoolteacher both hold the same power over Sethe. Much like how Schoolteacher exerted power over Sethe as a slave-owner, Baldwin has complete control over the house that Sethe resides in, and she has no ability to stop him from doing what he wants with it. Obviously, this would cause great stress for Sethe, enough to potentially trigger an episode of PTSD. I believe that Morrison could be saying that despite Baldwin not being a slave-owner, he can still exert power over Sethe that affects her livelihood, and she is powerless to do anything about it.

In Native Son, Bigger is characterized as an almost antisocial character who is impulsive, short-tempered, and unwilling to respect authority. I believe that Bigger’s behavior is representative of conduct disorder, which is a behavioral disorder characterized by patterns of violent, deceitful, or hateful behavior towards others. Throughout the novel, it is apparent that Bigger’s desire for self-preservation and self-satisfaction far exceeds his respect for others. I believe that the scene which best illustrates his behavioral disorder is his altercation with Gus. When Bigger began having doubts about committing the robbery that he suggested, his insecurities led him to forcefully exerting his power over his own friends in order to preserve his ego. When Bigger initially attacks Gus and he asks why, Bigger responds with “Because I wanted to” (Wright 32). Bigger’s willingness to enact violence in order to preserve his own self-image of distorted masculinity is certainly representative of a disorder.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Work cited

Morrison, Toni. Beloved. Vintage Classics, 2007

Wright, Richard Nathaniel. Native Son. HarperCollins, 2005.