Beloved

In Beloved written by Toni Morrison, Sethe is an ex-slave who escaped from the farm to save her children's lives. Although she is free from slavery, she is not really free from the rest of her life and the problems that come with it. To escape slavery and keep her children from being forced back into slavery, Sethe kills her daugther, Beloved, so that she won't have to suffer. 17 years later, Beloved comes back to Earth and starts ruining Sethe's life. Although Sethe has literally been freed, she is not free from the consequences that come back to haunt her after killing her daughter. She is also not free from the guilt she feels for taking her daughter's life, although she knows that it was the only way she could save her from a life of slavery.

In a modern world...

In a modern world, reliable authoritys do exist, but only if the authority thinks only for the better of the world and the people in it. In Metamorphosis, Gregor's boss thinks only of the company, so when Gregor doesn't show up for work one day, he comes to Gregor's house to see why he is not there. If Gregor's boss cared not only for the company, but also for it's employees, then he would be a reliable "authority", however, he does not and he is concidered "unreliable." Reliability is based on the good for all, not just for one person or thing. A reliable authority works for the better of all things and punishes only when it is for the best. This kind of authority can exist if people can work together for the better of the world.

Metamorphosis and the Big Question

My big question relates to Metamorphosis because Gregor is never really free from his family. Although he is a young man and has the means to live by himself and be "free" from his family, he feels as though he must stay with his family and resolve all of their problems. Gregor does not receive the freedom that most teenagers look forward to when they graduate and is stuck to fix his parents mistakes. The freedom that he seeks is not free, he must work until he can pay off his family's debt, and then he will be free to do as he wants. Of course, this freedom never comes for him, as he turns into a bug as cannot work any longer.

My question interests me because it is a question that relates, not only to this class, but to life in general. In America, we are "free", but are we really? It will be really interesting to research this through different books and see the different perspectives of it.

Kite Runner related to this because the main character was never really "free" because he felt tied to what he did to his best friend. Amir was never free from guilt and always wondered what had happened to his friend after he left. He was free in America, but he was never truly free from himself.

Another book I've read that relates to this is The Picture of Dorian Gray. Dorian was free on the outside, but he was stuck inside his body and the painting because of his inability to age. The story ends with him stabbing the painting to free himself from his cage.

Big Question

My big question is:
Is freedom ever free?