The Music Thing + The Story Thing

            As I have developed as a musician, I began to notice that the most engaging music has a strong sense of motion. This motion does not necessarily have to be communicated through dance or visual art (though it certainly could); it is simply felt by the listener along with the emotions and memories that the harmony evokes. Based off of Kurt Vonnegut’s “shape of story” plots, a quality piece of literature, viewed from the lens of one dynamic character, has a strong sense of motion to it as well. With this common denominator of motion, I combined music and literature by composing a classical composition that represents the shape of story plot for Sethe in the story Beloved.

            In order to make the interpretation and comparison between the two less arbitrary I made a key of musical devices translated to the motion of the story (pictured below).

Just as a writer makes use of a wide array of rhetorical and literary devices to convey his/her meaning, I sought to use various musical devices to convey the Sethe’s “happiness/sadness curve.” (pictured below)

            Starting from when Sethe is in labor with Denver, the piece starts off in d minor with fast harmonic minor runs towards the end; these fast harmonic minor runs along with diminished chords on measure seven all help to convey the rising tension that Sethe experiences due to her fear for staying alive to give birth to her child and her distress for the well-being of the rest of her family who she had been separated from; though the presence and “help” of Amy Denver was a slight ray of hope, the overall tension in the motion of this part of the story prevails. A ritardando (slowing down) and a modulation to the parallel major portray the huge sense of relief that Sethe undoubtedly feels upon her arrival to 124. This slow section, though it is mostly calm to portray the sense of peace that Sethe feels just after her arrival due to the almost assured future of family and freedom, there is still some dissonance (measure 16) conveyed through the flat six in the base line. A flat six is a reference to the minor key. This dissonance is due to Sethe’s angst about the well being of her husband, Halle, who has yet to arrive from the escaped plantation.

            The happiest section of the piece modulates back to minor and ends with a fast diminished arpeggio run (measure 32); this correlates to Sethe’s killing of one of her children due to the presence of the school teacher and her dreading the prospect of her children having to experience the sufferings of slavery. The “second movement” of the piece starts out in minor again portraying Sethe’s life 18 years after the killing of her child; the tension and melancholy feel of the music in this section represents the death of Baby Suggs, the running away of Howard and Buglar, and the continued disdain that the surrounding black community feels towards Sethe. The modulation to major is meant to portray the short spurt of comfort Sethe experiences as a result of Paul D arriving; it references the happy theme I composed earlier on in the composition because Sethe is constantly attempting to get back to that sense of peace she experienced during her first days at 124. The whole tone scale and chromatic scale (measure 46 and 47), meant to provoke a sense of ominous confusion and uncertainty, correlate to the unusual behavior of Beloved towards Sethe and the developing relationship between Sethe and Beloved; the piece modulates back to major to portray the short time of joy that Sethe, Beloved, and Denver experience together

            The last section of the piece is again in minor/ harmonic minor and is in ¾ time; this all helps to convey the rising tension that the relationship between Beloved and Sethe is causing; the tension continues to increase as all of the women in town gather in front of 124 along with Mr. Bodwin coming to 124 to pick up Denver so she can work at his house to earn money for her now mentally ill mother, Sethe. The ending harmonic minor run (measures 61-62) indicate Sethe rushing at Mr. Bodwin to kill him with an ice pick, mistaking him to be someone to be the school teacher.

            Though the story ends with a sense of hope with Paul D’s comforting words to Sethe, the piece still ends in minor to illustrate what the story of Beloved represents: the evil of slavery.

Sethe: The Existentialist

If an existentialist were to address the issue of slavery in the mid 19^th century, he or she would most likely nod their head in approval of the slaves who were able to escape (or attempt escape); they would applaud their understanding that their fate is in their own hands and the fact that escaped slaves (or attempters) did not merely sit by idly expecting their fortunes to change, accepting that their outcome was out of their control. Sethe, the protagonist in the novel Beloved epitomizes this principle throughout the story; when looked at in the light of this principle of existentialism (that the individual is in control of his/her fate), Sethe’s controversial decisions and actions can be better understood and justified.

            At first glance, it would appear that Sethe, from Toni Morrison’s Beloved, is a foil of Monsieur Meursault, from Albert Camus’ The Stranger; the way in which Sethe (and other escaped slaves alike) deals with slavery, by taking action in order to better her life as well as the lives of her loved ones, seems to be in direct contrast with Meursault’s apathetic indifference to his life and the lives of those around him. Fullfillment and happiness in Meusault’s life seems to be easily attainable if not for Meursault’s detached and overly passive lifestyle. This defining characteristic of Meursault is used by Camus to apply to his overall theme that life is “absurd,” because our deaths are inevitable. As Alan Gullette stated in his essay "Death and Absurdism in Camus' The Stranger," “In a sense, Meursault is always aware of the meaninglessness of all endeavors in the face of death.” Therefore, Meursault, when faced with the threat of a death sentence for an ambiguous murder that he was not necessarily responsible for fails to take the simple, legal (truthful) and easily executed actions necessary to, at the least, avoid the death sentence; Meursault’s complacency leads to his demise.

            In Contrast, Sethe and other escaped slaves are placed in circumstances where attaining happiness seems impossible, escaping the situation into freedom seems an equally hopeless endeavor. However, unlike Meursault they have a zeal for life that enables them to achieve what seemed impossible and hopeless. Sethe’s love for her children and her unwillingness to succumb to the thought that her fate lies in another’s hands not only helped she and her children escape slavery, but also, was what incited her to kill her daughter; if Sethe had possessed Meursault’s qualities, she and her family would have been forced to go back to Sweet Home and face the evil’s of the “Schoolteacher.” By killing Beloved, Sethe protected her daughter along with the rest of her children, from what would have been a lifetime of suffering and bondage.

When contrasting the two themes of the novel, it is easy to immediately jump to the conclusion that Albert Camus’ theme is “bad,” and that no similarities can be found between the two. However, another layer of Camus’ theme exists; at the end of The Stranger Meursault, at the precipice of death, experiences great happiness; he has finally been realeased from the constant pursuit to avoid death and is therefore able to enjoy the time he has left without worrying about death. As Gullette put it, “The idea of death makes one aware of one's life, one's vital being – that which is impermanent and will one day end.” In much the same way, Sixo, when he accepts that his death is inevitable, yields great joy from his last moments in knowing that he has saved his lover and the child that he had just conceived; he does not focus on death but on living and giving a good life to others. Sethe accepts a similar principle; she is able to see that death is not the worst thing in life, and, by doing so, saves Beloved from a life filled with suffering.