The Salt Eaters
Rosalyn Tomlin
English 316-040
Professor B. Greene
Final Essay
5/16/13
Finding Self-Love by Healing and Remembering Your Inner Self
In my reading of Toni Cade Bambara’s novel The Salt Eaters, I found myself at first disconnected and missing the real meaning behind the text. After reading it and putting it down and then picking it back up. The novel contains many variations of characters and different storylines that soon intertwine into each other. Woman’s quest in search for identity and freedom but not forget the importance of the black community values. In the novel, I found several important themes throughout the novel but my main focus will be on the healing power its focus on the community and female aspects finding self-love. In comparison to Bambara 's work, Toni Morrison’s Beloved uses the act of remembering to deal with the past. The story gives brief understanding of the supernatural world. Beloved is the ghost of Sethe’s daughter who has came in the significant time of her life to bring Sethe to peace with her past. In both novels, the determination of finding inner peace become very hard to find, where rememory and salt are used as symbols to help both protagonist come to a close. But we have to ask ourselves would we be able to overcome our past by always remembering it?
The novel opens in clinic room where Velma Henry, the activist in the community attempted suicide. Along with Velma a spiritual healer by the name Minnie Ransom companies her and works on Velma. Velma attempted suicide because of her inability to deal with the conflicting demands of the black community. Her continuous interaction of groups of women committed to women 's liberation, black capitalism, voodoo, and astrology, intimidate her sense of self because she believes in succeeding selfhood through work in the community, and each group insists on her faithfulness to segregation of the others. This also falls
English 316-040
Professor B. Greene
Final Essay
5/16/13
Finding Self-Love by Healing and Remembering Your Inner Self
In my reading of Toni Cade Bambara’s novel The Salt Eaters, I found myself at first disconnected and missing the real meaning behind the text. After reading it and putting it down and then picking it back up. The novel contains many variations of characters and different storylines that soon intertwine into each other. Woman’s quest in search for identity and freedom but not forget the importance of the black community values. In the novel, I found several important themes throughout the novel but my main focus will be on the healing power its focus on the community and female aspects finding self-love. In comparison to Bambara 's work, Toni Morrison’s Beloved uses the act of remembering to deal with the past. The story gives brief understanding of the supernatural world. Beloved is the ghost of Sethe’s daughter who has came in the significant time of her life to bring Sethe to peace with her past. In both novels, the determination of finding inner peace become very hard to find, where rememory and salt are used as symbols to help both protagonist come to a close. But we have to ask ourselves would we be able to overcome our past by always remembering it?
The novel opens in clinic room where Velma Henry, the activist in the community attempted suicide. Along with Velma a spiritual healer by the name Minnie Ransom companies her and works on Velma. Velma attempted suicide because of her inability to deal with the conflicting demands of the black community. Her continuous interaction of groups of women committed to women 's liberation, black capitalism, voodoo, and astrology, intimidate her sense of self because she believes in succeeding selfhood through work in the community, and each group insists on her faithfulness to segregation of the others. This also falls
Cited: Bambara, Toni Cade. The Salt Eaters, Random House, 1980. Guntrip, Harry. Schizoid Phenomena, Object Relations, and the Self. New York: International Universities P, 1969 Morrison, Toni. Beloved. New York: New American Library, 1987