Baby Suggs In Toni Morrison's Beloved Essay Example

In Toni Morrison’s Beloved, Baby Suggs is portrayed as an integral member of society for the freed slaves. Before Sethe killed her baby, Baby Suggs constantly traveled to the clearing and spoke to a large group of people. Baby Suggs was seen as an preacher that did not have a church and she spoke to those that needed her. The Sermon on the Mount was a sermon given by Jesus to disciples and a large group of listeners when he stresses the importance of following God as well as the gifts and rewards one would receive in heaven if they believe and follow God. Baby Suggs reinterprets the Sermon on the Mount to exclude God as well as limit the amount of promises that she offers. 

Throughout Baby Suggs’ sermon, she urges the freed slaves to not have an emptiness of spirit and to have self love, making a clear distinction between her and the Sermon on the Mount. The Sermon on the Mount states in one of its beatitudes “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” In this passage in the Bible, Jesus is saying that those who possess a emptiness of spirit without God shall receive more power in heaven once they die. In her Sermon, Baby Suggs deviates from this idea of rewards in heaven and focuses on tangible rewards and beliefs.  Baby Suggs makes clear her differences from the Sermon on the Mount when she states “Love it. Love it hard. Yonder they do not love your flesh. They despise it.”(103). By focusing on the idea of self love, Baby Suggs creates a distinction between her Sermon and the Sermon on the Mount. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is talking about having someone, God, who is able to love you, however Baby Suggs remarks on the importance of loving yourself. There is no promise that goes along with Baby Suggs’ remarks on the necessity of loving yourself, implying that that there is nothing tangible that she is offering them, other than self acceptance. By using the word “they” Baby Suggs leaves this open to interpretation as well as allowing this idea to be used for anyone. While in this instance, Baby Suggs is referring to the freed slaves’ previous masters, the frase is extreamly vague. With a focus on self acceptance and ignoring the criticism from others, Baby Suggs is going against what was said in the Sermon on the Mount

Baby Suggs states the necessity of focusing on the present, while the Sermon on the Mount focuses on the future and possibilities. This distinction removes a vital aspect of the Sermon on the Mount, a focus on God. Throughout the Sermon on the Mount, there is a focus on the gifts and privileges one will receive once they die and reach heaven. The Sermon on the Mount states “Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”. In this beatitude, Jesus is saying that those people who have been mistreated as they followed him, would eventually be rewarded. Those that believe and follow the word of God will receive rewards for their faith. Baby Suggs offers no such promises in her Sermon, she solely focuses on the present. Baby Suggs believes that the idea that faith and belief will yield rewards cannot be applied to the situation of the free slaves. After being put down and demeaned in slavery, Baby Suggs addresses these freedslaves and tells them that “the only grace they could have was the grace they could imagine. That if they could not see it, they would not have it.”(103). Baby Suggs is telling the freed slaves to not expect anything good from anyone. After bring mistreated in a system of slavery and constantly thought of as less by those they called master, this idea of believing the word of anyone claiming to be more important, could be extreamly difficult. Baby Suggs tells the people to focus on the grace that they could see, which is the grace that is real. By emphasizing the idea of sight, Baby Suggs is telling the freed slaves to focus on things that are tangible and occurring at the present moment. This could cause the freed slaves to ignore God and his promises for the future. Baby Suggs’ words stress the importance on ignoring how you will benefit in the future.  This distinction from the Sermon on the Mount makes clear the differences between focusing on the future and focusing on the present.

Baby Suggs’ sermon echos many points within the Sermon on the Mount, as she indirectly paints herself in a religious context. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says that all those who mourn shall be comforted by God. This occurs when Jesus states “Blessed are they that mourn; for they shall be comforted”. However Baby Suggs’ response to people is different from that of God and Jesus.  In her sermon, Baby Suggs tells the people to mourn when she says “Cry,’’ she told them. “For the living and the dead. Just cry.”(103). In this passage, Baby Suggs is solely telling her congregation to mourn, and she removes herself and does not actively seek to comfort any. This differs from the Sermon on the Mount as Jesus is saying in this beatitude that if someone is mourning, the immediately will be comforted by God. Baby Suggs is allowing her congregation to mourn unhindered, however she is there for them at the same time. This is shown when it states “Baby Suggs, holy, offered up to them her great big heart.”(103). This reveals a similarity to the Sermon on the Mount as Baby Suggs was placed into a category of holy people. However Baby Suggs differs from others in this category as she offers them her heart while being present with them. This act of fellowship lowered herself onto a similar plane of existence as the rest of the congregation. Baby Suggs was not forcing the congregation to be comforted, she allows them to mourn, and this causes her to be seen as holy. She was giving them the freedom of choice and allowed them to choose an option where she was not a part.

Although Baby’s Suggs’ sermon and the Sermon on the Mount have many similarities the difference in tone between the two sermons can be attributed to the different audience as well as speaker. Throughout Baby Suggs’ sermon she does not mention organized religion at all despite having many parallels to this famous sermon. By removing the vital aspect of religion from her sermon, Baby Suggs allows for this sermon to be heard and the message to be interpreted by everyone.