In Chapter 15, we gain more insight into Baby Suggs' story. What themes of conformity and rebellion are introduced in her life story? How does Baby Suggs' life represent the consequences of conformity, as it relates specifically to the institution of slavery?
Tranelle Davis: week 6
ReplyDeleteIn chapter 15, the narator of the story gave more insight of Baby Sugg's life. Throughout the chapter, it identifies Baby Sugg's to be a conformist. Baby sugg's lack of knowledge made her do every thing that white people wanted her to do accepting the fact that she is a slave. Baby Sugg's husband named her "Baby" and Baby Sugg's answer to the name. Her husband calling her a child name just gives him more power and Baby sugg's seem to be treated as a child and ignorant.
Shaneau Richardson: Week 6
ReplyDeleteIn chapters 13-15, Baby Sugg's life represents the consequences of conformity in society. She conformed to society when it became acceptable for her to be emancipated from slavery. This was an example of conformity because she was rebelling against the whole idea of her own freedom. Sugg felt as though her freedom would give her a harder life. She became comfortable with the fact that she would always have shelter, food, and clothing from her owners.
When Sugg gets a taste of what freedom is really like, she becomes excited about the fact that she conformed to her own freedom. Although, she begans to finall "feel her heart beat" she doesn't enjoy it for long because she constanly has her mind on her son. He is still a slave and she has been set free. The consequence of her conformity is her son's freedom.
Another consequence of her conformity to freedom is the resentment of other freed slaves. The community feel as though Sugg is trying to show off the fact that she has found her grandchildren and takes her generosity and kindness for pride and boastfulness. The community gives off a feeling of abandonment from their former lives. They felt as if they had been left to fend for themselves, and that Sugg has been flaunting the fact that she has relatives to accompany her.
Christina Tate week 6
ReplyDeleteBaby Snuggs was a confromist her whole life. She did what others wanted her to do without any questions because it made them happy. She does not want her son to buy her freedom but he leaves her no choice. She does not want the troubles of taking care of herself and sees that if she remains a slave she will not have to. When she does recieve her freedom she wants to rebel but instead conforms and becomes too excitied behind the idea. She learns to love it but still misses her enslaved son.
Baby Suggs' life story revealed that she had been living her whole life as a conformist. She was made a slave and lived comfortably in this life without fighting this injustice. She suffered many physical and emotional injuries from conforming to slavery. She has a permanent limp because she suffered a hip displacement and witnessed many tragic things. She loss basically all her children, and the biggest consequence she suffered was losing her favorite child, Halle, because she wanted to be free.
ReplyDeleteSome themes of conformity that was introduced was when Baby Suggs let the different men lay down with her. Some slave owners made their slaves have sex with each other to produce offspring. Baby Suggs just went along with it like the other slave women. Baby Suggs went along with whatever people wanted her to do because she had been doing it for so long. Some consequences of conforming was when she lost Halle. She went along with him buying her out of slavery but as a consequence she never saw him again.
ReplyDeleteBaby Suggs as been a conformist all of her life. As a result of her always listening and following directions, she is conforming and does even realize it. Baby Suggs had to sleep with multiple men in order to produce more children into slavery. The consequences of her conformity is her losing most of the people in her life including her children. She is also handicapped.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion I think Baby Suggs conformed by listening to what men told her to do and what they expected of her. She also conformed by sleeping with a lot of men like her master told her too becasue she was a slave. By conforming she faced a lot of concequences but the most important was losing her children especially Halle because he was the one who gave her freedom. By conforming it was a lose lose situation because by sleeping with all those men she was degrading herself as a woman but also losing her children.
ReplyDeleteBaby Suggs was a people pleaser at heart and that made her a conformist. She was such a good slave that her owners let her be set free and even took her to a home where she could be taken care of. They even called her by Jenny, not some derogatory slave name. When she is set free she still wants to conform to the type of person she should be. She was excited work in the slaughter house, but her former master told her no, and she agreed. The consequences of Baby Suggs being a conformist mainly centered around her children. Having to sleep with multiple men, only to get pregnant and have her children die or run away. Her life was sad because all she cared about were her children that she would never see again.
ReplyDeleteIn the portion of the book, we clearly see how the Baby Suggs plays the role of a conformist; and well, might I add. The most important and obvious example of conformity is when she subjected herself to slavery. Not only was she conforming by entering slavery, but also conforming because she placed herself in the care of the white man. Baby Suggs does all of this simply to be free.
ReplyDeleteBaby Suggs was a comformist her whole life. She did things what she had been told her whole life without a fight. She subjected herself to what slavery gave her which was not to think on her own. Another example of Baby Suggs was her taking the name of what her husband used to call her which was Baby Suggs like she was a child.
ReplyDeleteBrianna Jenkins: Week 6
ReplyDeleteIn Chapter 15 we learn more about Baby Suggs journey into gaining freedom. Baby Suggs whole life is a representation of conformity. For example, Suggs had work hard as a slave even when she broke her hip she still kept her same ways. We learn that the Garners it seemed to Suggs, "ran a special kind of slavery"(165). In other words the Garners were nice masters. Although the master wasn't hard on her she still remain a conformist following his rules. On the other hand rebellion comes in when Mr. Garner tells Baby Suggs to keep her name as Jenny Whitlow which it says on her bill of sale. Baby Suggs don't agree because her and her husband had made a pact and if she was to go by Jenny he wouldn't be able to find her. Baby Suggs life of slavery represents consequences of conformity from the lost of her children. Mainly her only child she knows of Halle. Although she is free, she still has to deal with the fact she may never see Halle again.
Jasmine Hunter Week 6
ReplyDeleteIn Chapter 15 we find out more about Baby Suggs being a conformist. Her whole life she was a conformist. Rebellion was showed when the slave master Mr.Garner told Baby Suggs her name was Jenny Whitlow. Baby Suggs went against Mr.Garner because of the pact she made with her husband. The pact was if she go by Jenny Whitlow he wouldn't be able to find her when the separated. Baby Suggs slavery life represents conformity from the lost of her child, when she knows her daughter is free but she deals with the fact that they will never meet again.
Kyle McClue: Week 6
ReplyDeleteSlavery can truly break someone down mentally and can force a person to conform to that slavery life. When Baby Suggs was set free, she did not know what to do with herself. When she was a slave, she conformed to the life her masters wanted her to live. When she was freed, it seem as if she still had a slave mentality and still wanted to work. However, towards the end of the chapter, you can see a rise of rebellion in her. No longer did she conform to the mindset that she would never find her kids.
Baby Suggs is no doubt a conformist in this portion of the book. She appears to be afraid that people will not accept her for who she is and therefore does anything she can to make sure people accept her. She allowed people to basically run her life for her. She never opened her mouth and stood up for herself. She let the her slave owner basically do anything he wanted to with her and she also let her husband treat her any kind of way. If Baby Suggs had learned to stand up for herself she would not have had as many problems as she did. I think she would not have had to sleep with so many men. Also her children were her pride and joy and every time she lost one it took a toll on her. I think this is where rebellion came in. It was like every time she had a child they would get taken away from her. It is always so much that a person will take before they shut down and lash out on everything.
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ReplyDeleteTempestt Carter: Week 6
ReplyDeleteWhile gaining insight into Baby Suggs story we notice some lingering themes of conformity and rebellion. She conforms because she believes and agrees to everything her owners told her. For instance when Mr. Garner is bringing her to freedom and tells her name was Jenny and she out right believes him, and how she agrees to his descriptive questioning of how slave life with him was. Rebellion is demonstrated more by Halle who buys her from the owner so she may live the remainder of her life in freedom. Who knew slaves could buy other slaves freedom, and even if it was known who would be bold enough to try?
Baby’s life represents the consequences of conformity because she can barely walk or move without pulling her legs along. She couldn’t even feel that she had a heartbeat because she was too busy living for her masters instead of herself. Slavery as an institution took away the individuality (rebel) in blacks and conform them to work as one unit to complete similar tasks in order to survive.
Shanti Hubbard: Week 6
ReplyDeleteBaby Suggs is a prime example of comformity. She submits to pretty much everything her master says in hopes of making a better life for her children. She never complains no matter how bad the situation. She would rather suffer silently than feel like a burden to those around her. Even her name represents conformity. Her husband would call her baby and she would respond.
In Chapter 15, Baby Sugg's history is revealed. Baby Suggs represents conformity. She was comfortable being a slave because all of her needs were provided for. She was passive about her situation. As a consequence of conformity, Baby Suggs had no desire and value in equality, also as a heavy burden she lost her son. Moreover, after she was freed, she was looked upon as arrogant for being happy she was rejoined with family.
ReplyDeleteAs is evident by what happens in the story, Baby Suggs shows us many different themes of conformity. She is conformed in many ways by her circumstances of being a slave and her thoughts of being emancipated. By being free from having to live the life of a slave, she conformed to society’s view of slavery. Although Baby Suggs felt that being a slave meant more security and more assurance, she still decided to become free. Once she was free, however, she finds that life is actually much better than before. This is another way that she conforms. Now one consequence of conformity is that she faces many hardships as a newly freed slave in terms of the community. The people in the community mistakes Sugg’s kindness and excitement of the things she had accomplished for bragging and being prideful.
ReplyDeleteDanielle Wilson
ReplyDeleteweek 6
Baby Suggs life as a slave is the great example of conformity. As a slave you must be obedient and listen to what the master says. Baby Suggs had to keep her head down and blend in or else something could have happened to her or her family. A consequence of conformity for Baby Suggs was the lack of the want to become free. She gave up type of hope of begin something greater and excepted her place. The only rebelling she did was when she did decide to leave slavery behind her and move away. That was her act of rebellion.
Week 6:
ReplyDeleteIn these chapters, we begin to see that Baby Suggs has been a conformist her whole life. She also is the example of the modern day independent woman. Even though her sons wanted to buy her her freedom, she was reluctant and rebelled against that collective decision. The consequences of her conformity was that she wasn't that happy. That was mainly because she was still grieving over the loss of her son. Towards the end of the chapter she began to rebel more often.
Sarion Granger: Week 5
ReplyDeleteIn Chapter 15, more of Baby Sugg's life is revealed. She conformed to society because she preferred to be a slave instead of fighting for her freedom. Baby Sugg thought that if she gained her freedom then she would have a harder life. As a slave, she was guaranteed shelter, food, and clothing that was given to her by her owners. Baby Sugg didn't want to give that life up for a life of wandering and homelessness. The consequence of her conforming was that she became more and more comfortable with being a slave. The only rebelling that Baby Suggs did was when she decided to become emancipated from slavery. The consequence was that she had to leave her children behind, one of them being Halle. Slavery as an institution took away the fight in blacks and made them conform to working and being abused.
Kristen Priestley: Week 6
ReplyDeleteIn chapter 15, we get more information about Baby Suggs life story. Her life definitely symbolizes conformity.Conforming means having lack or knowledge or just wanting to go with the flow of things to make things easier. Baby Suggs didn't have that much knowledge, and wanted things to go smoothly for her children. She slept with different men and was obedient to her master. Conforming to all these different things made her master have a certain level of respect for her. He took her to the Bodwins and made sure she would have a good life.
Jordan Davis: Week 6
ReplyDeleteChapter 15 gives us a look into the life of Baby Suggs. We see her journey from a slave to a free woman who welcomes runaways and caters to them. Baby Suggs is the epitome of conformity. She does not want her son to buy her freedom, but allows him to anyway. She accepted a name form her husband and Mr. Garner and never opposed the names. She wants to work in the slaughter house for money but when Mr. Garner says no that's the end of it. There's nothing rebellious about Baby Suggs, but everything about her screams conformity.
Baby Suggs plays the role of a conformist. Her lack of knowledge made her do anything the white people wanted her to do, knowing that she was a slave. She did it because it made them happy and she went along with everything. For example she slept with many men. She lost all her children to have freedom. Halle was the one who gave her freedom. She rebel when she left slavery behind her and moved on.
ReplyDeleteOsaro Omofomwan: Week 6
ReplyDeleteIn chapter 15 we are introduce to some of the backstory of Baby Sugg's life. It is revealed that Baby Suggs was a conformist most of her life. When she was a slave she conformed to what everyone else did, instead of standing up for herself and making her own decisions. She slept with so many men while she was enslaved and she did whatever her owner told her to do. The consequence of her conformity was that she knew nothing else but how to be a slave. She was so engulfed into doing what everybody else wanted, that it was all she knew. We see a little bit of rebellion when she leaves the life of being a slave and becomes a free person.
It is obvious that Baby Suggs crossed over to conformity when she produced overspring amongst other slaves and complied to the slave masters requests. Despite Baby Suggs being a conformist, she did decide to better her life and get out of the slavery lifestyle that she was living.
ReplyDeleteReading these chapters we able to find out more about Baby Suggs. I think that Baby Suggs is a conformist. She does not fight for her freedom instead she decides to stay slave when offered to be free. Baby Suggs might not think what she is doing is conforming, but she is, by her staying there and being a slave, shows as someone who is given into what black people are "suppose" to be.
ReplyDeleteBaby Suggs’ was a slave on the Sweet Home plantation. While living in Sweet Home Baby Suggs’ was treated the best she had ever been in her life, being that she was a slave. The opinions of the black workers actually mattered to Mr. Garner, her plantation owner. The theme of conformity was introduced in her life story when Baby Suggs’ decided to leave her baby boy and become a free woman. Initially Baby Suggs’ didn’t want to leave the plantation, but went against her own will to make Halle happy.
ReplyDeleteBaby Suggs’ life represents the consequences of conformity, as it relates specifically to the institution of slavery by accepting being a free woman. The consequence of being free was departing from her son Halle. Halle had to stay behind as a slave. This was very difficult for Baby Suggs’ because Halle was the only child she actually had a relationship with.
There wasn’t a very significant theme of rebellion. A scene from Chapter 15 that stood out to me as being rebellious on Baby Suggs’ behalf was when Mr. Garner suggested to her to use the name Jenny Whitlow instead of Baby Suggs’. She quickly rejected and explained to him Baby Suggs’ was the only name she knew and the only name she preferred to go by.
Baby Suggs had been a conformist her entire life. I am sure she had thoughts of rebelling against the whites, but she had other people to consider when she made decisions. She goes with the flow constantly and never does what she wants to do. She did what was best for others; therefore, when she stayed enslaved, she did what was best for her family. She did not leave slavery on her own; she left because someone removed her from it. She loved everyone and did everything for everyone, never having anyone to love her unconditionally. Baby Suggs was courageous for staying, but not brave enough to do what was right. She was definitely a conformist.
ReplyDeleteAndrenique Wilson :Week 6
ReplyDeleteBaby Suggs has been a conformist all her life. She never wanted to be a burden on anyone. She also thought about her family and did what was best for them even if it would make her suffer. Baby Suggs even conforms when she was free, at first she wanted to rebel but, end up conform to the idea of being free. Even though, her son is still enslaved. Another reason she's a conformist is that her husband called her, "Baby" and she would answer to it, therefore saying that her husband had power over her because she would obey like a child.
Russhelle Montgomery Week 6:
ReplyDeleteBaby Suggs was a conformist. I wish I knew that at the end of her life that like the grandfather in Battle Royal she knew this, but I don't think she did. Sometimes in life it is easier to not "rock the boat". And in those things I think it was easier to just give in to slavery then live with the idea of otherwise and never acheiving that. Yes Baby Suggs was a complacent, content individual but I don't look down on her as if she was weak. I just think she did what she had to do at that time. I think she was a realist.
Karedonovan Oliver:Week 6
ReplyDeleteBaby Suggs was a conformist her whole life because she was the ideal slave. She focused on the happiness of others and did never rebelled against what her masters told her. She was so conformed that she worked for years with an injured hip in order to not cause any trouble. She also seems to have a "Yes Man" mentality because she just agrees with Garner's every word, even though the Garners never abused her or her sons the fact is that they owned them and some sort of resentment should have been present.
When it comes to slavery, the theme of conformity and rebellion constantly reoccur. Baby Suggs was a perfect example of comformity in this situation. She was a slave, and she simply lived life as one without complaints. The problem with her comformity, is when she was actualy able to get her freedom, she didn't even want it. The only reason she got her freedom was because Halle wanted it that bad.
ReplyDeleteRomaire Roussell, Week 6:
ReplyDeleteIn chapter 15 we gain more insight on Baby Sugg's life. Her whole life is seemingly based on conformity. As a slave she has to conform to wishes and demands of her owner. Baby Suggs became adjusted to the slave life, and when she was freed she was afraid because at first she had no idea of what life would be like as a freed negro. Afterwards Baby Suggs would spend her life giving advice, nursing, feeding and even caring for others, conforming to their feelings.
Throughout her whole life, Baby Suggs conformed. This causes her to do things she didn't want to do. She wasn't able to do anything she wanted to do. Just like any other slave back then, Baby Suggs most likely wanted to rebel against the whites.
ReplyDeleteTler Kinermon
ReplyDeleteweek 6:
Baby Suggs was conforming most of her life because that was all she knew. And she truly did not want to leave her son Halle in slavery while she was free but she knew it meant a lot to him to see her mother a free woman so he bought her freedom. She wasn’t use to people calling her anything else but “Baby Suggs”, but when the garners call her by her “freedom” name, she still decides to conform and keep her name that was known for her slavery. She was a strong woman but very weak in ways.
Shannon Douglas: Week 6
ReplyDeleteIn Chapter 15 of the novel we are given a more detailed picture of Baby Suggs life as a slave. To realize the theme of conformity in this chapter we have to understand that conformists are ignorant to their actions. They quickly succumb to the rules already in place not thinking of the consequences that could follow. Baby Suggs allowed her husband to call her "baby" which showed she had no power. She also conformed to working everyday because it was the thing slaves were use to doing. This way of thinking followed her around for the rest of her life.
Amber Hudson: Week 6
ReplyDeleteBaby Suggs is seen to be a conformist. She conformed to the ways of what she should be and not what she wanted to be.She did whatever her master told her to do and never rebelled. She always just went with the flow even allowing herself to be taken advantage of by men. She lacked knowledge just as a young child would, and her name being "baby" suggs symbolizes her ignorance.
Baby Suggs was always considered a conformist. She did think on her own very often and always did what white people had told her to do. She did these things just to make others happy instead of taking care of herself. This relates to slavery because of her lack of a voice. she does not speak up for herself, she just does as she is told
ReplyDeleteTameka Christmas: Week 6
ReplyDeleteBaby Suggs was a slave for most of her life. Being a slave represented conformist. She allow men to treat her any kind of way because she was use to that type of treatment. She also conformed to the name her husband gave her. This showed that she wasn't capable of making decisions on her, but allow others to make decisions for her. Also, she conform to domestic work in return for a place to stay. Baby Suggs didn't rebell to any situation she was put in, instead she conformed to many of the situations.
Kaci Foster: Week 6
ReplyDeleteBaby Suggs is a conformist, in that, she allows everyone elses wants to control her actions and ideas. She does not seem to speak up for herself or allow her wants or needs to be put at the forefront at any time. The fact that she is called "Baby" gives a subtle hint of the control that she does not have; babies are controlled by everyone around them with little to no control over themselves. Baby Suggs does not seem to show rebellion at any time -- everything with her simply seems to be about letting everyone else have their way.
Being that she was a slave for most of her life, Baby Suggs she is a natural conformist.She is used to being told what to do and how to do it. She has no control over her ideas. Baby Suggs is not aware of how to think on her own because she is so used to everyone else controlling her thoughts. Baby Suggs lived to please everyone but herself.
ReplyDeleteTHIS IS VERY LATE, BUT I'D THOUGHT I DID IT...SORRY! :)
ReplyDeleteBaby Suggs to me is seen as a conformist when introduced in the story. First, when accepting the name she was given by her husband its as if she is a conforming to what he expects and will accept from her. Second, she is seen conforming during her slave days. As a slave is bossed around and due to the lack of knowledge to knowing better she cant do better. It goes with what we talked about in class where lack of knowledge=conformity while knowledge=rebellion. Baby Suggs hasnt seen any other way of life for her so she accepts her life as is.
Nicole Oseni: Week 6
ReplyDeleteBaby Suggs shows characteristics of conformity and rebellion. She rebells by keeping her name Baby Suggs after she is free despite Mr. Garner's encouragement not to. She conforms when she lets The Garners call her Jenny when she doesn't even consider her name to be Jenny. Baby Suggs also seems to conform because she has a kind of go along with the flow type of mentality. When all of her children are taken away except one and even when she is freed she just goes where Mr. Garner tells her to and falls into the role that The Bodwins give her. She also conforms by being free and leaving Sweet Home when that isn't necessarily what she wants to do, she does it to make Halle happy. All of this is almost as if she accepts that these things as the way things are supposed to be or as what she should do. The consequences of Baby Suggs conforming is how her community kind of despises her because of how she was freed and how she always seemed to have more than them.
In chapter 15, I see a lot of conforming from Suggs. First she accepts the name her husband gives her, which to me shows she is conforming to letting him control her. As well as when the neighbors think she is too fortunate. I think she conforms then. Her son buys her a house, she conforms. I think Sugg is so used to conforming , it's all she knows now. She is such a people pleaser, so she doesn't even notice she is giving in to what everyone else wants.
ReplyDeleteIn Chapters 13- 15, the focus was on Baby Shugg’s life. Being a slave all of your life would most likely cause you to conform more often than you would think. She takes to the name that her husband is trying to give to her without any complaining. This shows conformity because she is letting him have the power. She conforms when she allow the Garner to call her Jenny. She also conforms when so leaves home when she really doesn’t want to. At the same time she doesn’t really have the knowledge of thinking for herself because she always had other people to control her actions and what she does.
ReplyDeleteIn Chapter 15, we learn more about Baby Sugg's past before she came to 124. We discover that she had been somewhat of a conformist. As a slave at Sweet Home, she allowed several men to lay with her in order to continue to have more children. She was also considered the favorite of the slave master's wife because she was quiet and obedient. She never loved anything or anyone while she lived there and that is exactly what the slave masters would have wanted. I do not blame her for conforming while she was at Sweet Home. Conforming gave her a better life while she was there. Had she rebelled, she could have been sold or killed. It is not until she reaches 124 that she begins to rebel. Baby Suggs loves now and has a big celebration, inviting all of her neighbors. She would never have been able to have a party like this if she was at Sweet Home and all the noise and commotion is what causes the law to come there. Because she had conformed all her life, when she finally had some freedom she threw a party much too large for her neighborhood. This causes "schoolteacher" to come and Sethe to kill her daughter.
ReplyDeleteIn chapter 15 of Beloved, Baby Suggs life story was revealed in great detail. Baby Suggs was a slave a majority of her life which took a really big toll on her. We also learned that she was a conformist which means that she basically learns to live life based off of her circumstances. One way that she showed conformity was by taking the name that her husband gave her which symbolized that he had all the power in their marriage. Baby Suggs also conformed when she accepted the name Jenny that was given to her by Mr. Garner.
ReplyDelete