Voluntary and Involuntary Sacrifice

Toni Morrison, being an outstanding writer, created a number of novels which deal with very serious problems, and particularly noteworthy is the problem of voluntary and involuntary sacrifices, which the author raised in two books “Beloved” and “Jazz”. In fact both novels are so thematically close that sometimes “Jazz” is treated as the continuation of the theme of sacrifice raised in “Beloved” but what makes the novels really different is the nature of sacrifices. In the case of “Beloved” it is an involuntary sacrifice that may be justified but cannot be forgotten and forgiven by main characters as well while in “Jazz” a sacrifice is voluntary and the victim herself seems to forgive her murderer and the latter does not suffer from remorse.
First of all it should be said that both novels are really thematically close to one another and there may be easily found some parallel lines of development of the plot and theme. To put it more precisely, Dorcas and Beloved are to a significant extent similar to each other as well as the role they play in the novels.
At this respect it is necessary to pay attention to the plots of both novels. In fact Dorcas and Beloved are victims of people or in a way of circumstances. As for Beloved, she is depicted by the author as if she was a reincarnation of Sethe’s daughter she had to kill when she was a little child and when Sethe was captured and the threat to her children to be sold was more than real.
As a result she preferred to kill her daughter and injure her sons seriously so that they were not sold. Naturally she was imprisoned and when she was released she prostitutes in order to earn money for headstone for her baby’s grave. Gradually it becomes obvious that despite her cruelty and evil act in relation to her daughter, as well as to her sons, her children is the most important part of Sethe’s life for she did not forget them and her murdered daughter in particular: “my first-born. All I can remember of her is how she loved the burned bottom of bread. Can you beat that? Eight children that’s all I remember” (Beloved p.5).
Naturally when a girl named Beloved appears in the novel Sethe believes that it is a kind of reincarnation of her daughter and the author purposely mystifies the existence of Beloved who feels to be a real Sethe’s daughter: “I am Beloved and she is mine… I am not dead I sit the sun closes my eyes when I open them I see the face I lost Sehte’s is the face that left me Sethe sees me see her and I see the smile her smiling face is the place for me it is the face I lost she is my face smiling at me doing it at last a hot thing now we can join” (Beloved p.210, 213).
Gradually some tension appears in the relations between Beloved and Sethe because the former believes the latter abandoned her. However, when at the end of the story Beloved runs away, being afraid that Mr Bodwin is the white man that has come back for her, Sethe gives up on life because she believes that she has lost her child, the best part of her, again. In such a way it is obvious that, judging fro the growing anger from the part of Beloved, she did not forgive Sethe and she strives for life she does not want to die and her decision to run away is quite natural indicating at her desire to live since only a hypothetical threat makes her abandon her home in fact.
Moreover, Beloved remains unforgiving and she is not at peace with her death that is evident from the fact of her reincarnation. By this the author attempts to show that Sethe’s baby is murdered but its soul seeks for life in a new body. Also it should be pointed out that the relations between Beloved and Sethe are getting worse and worse that indicates at her desire to revenge even if this revenge is unconscious or is not directly related to the murder. Anyway Beloved feels to be abandoned by Sethe that implicitly reveals that she suffers a lot and in such a situation she would have never forgiven the murder and have been at peace. As if to enforce such an impression the author asks whether the situation could be different “if her [Sethe] boys came back one day, and Denver and Beloved stayed on – well, it would be the way it was supposed to be, no?” (Beloved p.132) and at the same time the author hesitates that anything could be really different and better.
As for Sethe, she also cannot recover from the murder and lost of her daughter and even though she attempts to do her best to rehabilitate herself everything seems to be in vain and finally the author shows that without Beloved her life is senseless.
As for “Jazz”, this novel, being quite close to “Beloved” significantly contrasts to the latter. Despite the fact that from the first pages of the book the author reveals the tragedy that occurred to Dorcas, which may be compared to Beloved. In fact, she was also murdered by Joe Trace who felt in love with her and when she repulsed him he killed her, or, as the author describes it: “he fell for an eighteen-year-old girl with one of those deep down, spooky loves that made him so sad and happy he shot her just to keep the feeling going” (Jazz p.5). At first glance it seems that the murder has influenced the main characters, Joe and his wife Violet and they would not lead normal life as they used to, especially Violet who “went to the funeral to see the girl and to cut her dead face they through her and out of the church. She ran, then, through all that snow, and when she got back to her apartment she took the birds from their cages and set them out the windows to freeze or fly, including the parrot that said ‘I love you’” (Jazz p.5).
However, it seems as if it was just a temporal expression of her anger and later she reconciles with the fact of the affair her husband wanted to have with Dorcas. Moreover, she obviously regrets about such a vandal act she committed to the dead body of the girl. In fact she remembers Dorcas and it seems as if she asks to forgive her for she cannot sleep and she visits the picture. Quite symbolically she does it at night because it is quiet as if she pretends to communicate with Dorcas in a way and asks to forgive but despite such remorse she actually keeps leading normal life and she does not change it so dramatically as Sethe did.
At the same time it would be logical to presuppose that it is Joe, the murderer, who should actually experience the same what Sethe did. But, in contrast, he, who shot Dorcas, is depicted by the author after the murder as a well-mannered older man, who does not feel guilt for his actions nor he suffers from remorse. Moreover, he does not even go to jail, as Sethe did that had changed her life dramatically. And what is probably more important is the fact that Dorcas seems to forgive him for she does not point at him as her murderer when she has such an opportunity. The fact that Dorcas forgive him becomes particularly obvious when Felice conveys him the last message of Dorcas whose last words were “there’s only one apple. Just one. Tell Joe” (Jazz p.225) that indicates that she does not really blame him in her death and forgive him. At the same time she ides calmly and unlike Beloved she is not reincarnated and she lives only in the memory of people who knew her. Moreover, even her murderer, who should actually suffer the most like Sethe does, feels quite comfortable and is not very concerned about the cruel crime he has committed. And it is quite symbolic that after Joe hears the last word of Dorcas addressed to him he soon hears music “floated in through the open window” (Jazz p.225) that symbolizes as if Dorcas soul rests in peace and leaves the earth when her last words are told to Joe.
Thus, taking into account all above mentioned, it is possible to conclude that the voluntary sacrifice of Docras brings less suffering to Joe and his wife Violet than the involuntary sacrifice of Beloved brings to Sethe. Nonetheless, the tragedy that the author depicts in both books leave their traces in the souls and fates of the main characters the only difference is that Joe, being a murderer, feels more comfortable when she knows that he is forgiven, while Sethe, on murdering her daughter and loosing her ‘reincarnated version’, gives up on life. Consequently, voluntary sacrifice brings more relief than involuntary one.

Bibliography:
1. Morrison, Toni (1990). Beloved. New York: New Publishers.
2. Morrison, Toni (1993). Jazz. New York: Touchstone.