Location and the Black Gothic by Arielle Lain

Location is connected to experiences and behavior in Native Son, Beloved, and Sing, Unburied, Sing. The novels take place in both the south and the north during three different periods in history, but similar experiences occur for the characters. Native Son is set in Chicago, Illinois, in the 1930s. Beloved is set pre and post 1865 in Kentucky and Ohio. Sing, Unburied, Sing is set in Bois Sauvage, Mississippi, in the mid-2010s.

The characters from each novel faces experiences that relate to the Black Gothic. Those experiences fall under one or more of four categories: legal versus illegal, sanctioned versus unsanctioned, defined horrors versus undefined horrors, or actual versus supernatural. It could also involve more than one.

Bigger threatens Gus with his knife but cannot deal with the consequences that would occur if he did not listen to Mary. A knife is scary. The danger of the word “no” to a young, rich, white girl in the 1930s is a death wish because her anger and her tears can have him killed. This is a defined and undefined horror.

Sethe had to kill Beloved to prevent her from going back to Sweet Home. She had experienced that life and her children were not. Beloved is thought to be a host body for multiple ghosts. She is also a person that saw their mother thrown from a slave ship in the middle passage. That ghost had a traumatizing experience so they could not properly rest. They had to come back with Beloved, the crawling already? baby. This is actual and supernatural.

Michael’s cousin and Big Joseph’s nephew murdered Given. Due to his whiteness, it is covered up as a hunting accident. River’s brother was arrested for fighting at the bar. Pop was arrested for being in the same house as his brother and no proper evidence was used. This is legal and illegal.

All three novels have one element that connects them very well. Children or younger people are forced into adult positions before they are ready. Bigger is still only twenty and he must provide for his family by working. When Beloved starts to attack Sethe, Denver protects her and goes to find work, so they don’t starve to death. She wanted to protect beloved from Sethe when Beloved first arrived.

Leonie gets pregnant with Jojo at seventeen and is still grieving her brother’s death. She is not in the correct mindset to properly raise him. Jojo must step in to raise Kayla because he does not trust Leonie to do it because she did not raise him. Kayla, a three-year-old, vomits on the police officer to protect Jojo when he is handcuffed and held at gunpoint. These fall under legal versus illegal, sanctioned versus unsanctioned, defined horrors versus undefined horrors, or actual versus supernatural. The experiences that the characters face stem from racism. This does not change in either location or time in history. Their behaviors are reaction to the racism that they face.

 

 

 

Morrison, Toni. Beloved. New York City: Vintage Books, 1987, 2004.

Ward, Jesmyn. Sing, Unburied, Sing. New York: Scribner, 2017.

Wright, Richard. Native Son. HarperCollins Publishing, March 1, 1940.