Mrs. Garner

Mrs. Garner, also called Lillian Garner, is the mistress of Sweet Home plantation in Kentucky, a white woman whose kindness is inseparable from the institution of slavery she upholds. She is the one who gives Sethe the crystal earrings as a wedding present, who hums while she works, and who, in her final illness, is too weak to protect Sethe from the nephews who steal her milk. Her decline and death mark the end of the relatively benign regime of her husband, Mr. Garner, and open the door for schoolteacher to take over the farm, setting in motion the novel's central tragedy.

Identity and Role at Sweet Home

Mrs. Garner is the wife of Mr. Garner, the owner of Sweet Home, and the only white woman on the farm. She is a humming presence in the kitchen, working alongside Baby Suggs and later Sethe, cooking, preserving, washing, ironing, making candles, clothes, soap and cider, feeding chickens, pigs, dogs and geese, milking cows, churning butter, rendering fat, and laying fires. She is described as a strong woman, tall and strong, and the two of them on a cord of wood were as good as two men. She never had children of her own, and Sethe and the other enslaved women were the only women there. She is the one who, when Sethe asks about getting married, tells her that Halle is nice and will be good to her, and who gives her the crystal earrings as a wedding present, saying she wants her and Halle to be happy. She is also the one who, when Sethe is beaten by the nephews for telling on them, can only cry, her eyes rolling out tears, because she has a lump in her neck the size of a sweet potato and is unable to speak.

The Kindness Within Slavery

Mrs. Garner's kindness is real but limited. She hums when she works, and her face lights up when Mr. Garner comes in. She never pushed, hit, or called Sethe mean names, even when Sethe slipped in cow dung and broke every egg in her apron. She is the one who, when Sethe is pregnant and her back is being beaten, is too weak to intervene. She is also the one who, when Sethe asks her what characteristics mean, tells her it means features, a thing that's natural to a thing, and then asks her to bring her cool water. She is the one who, when Sethe tells her about the milk being stolen, can only cry, her eyes rolling out tears, because she has a lump in her neck the size of a sweet potato and is unable to speak. Her kindness is a form of paternalism that does not challenge the system of slavery, and her death leaves Sethe and the other Sweet Home men vulnerable to schoolteacher's cruelty.

Decline and Death

Mrs. Garner's health fails after her husband's death. She has a lump in her neck the size of a sweet potato, and she is unable to speak to anyone. She is restless at night and sunk in sleep all morning. She is the one who, when Sethe brings her bean soup, says she can't swallow it, and asks for cool water instead. She is the one who, when Sethe asks her about characteristics, tells her it means features, and then asks her to bring her cool water. She is the one who, when Sethe tells her about the milk being stolen, can only cry, her eyes rolling out tears. She is the one who, when Sethe is pregnant and her back is being beaten, is too weak to intervene. She is the one who, when Sethe asks her about characteristics, tells her it means features, and then asks her to bring her cool water. She is the one who, when Sethe tells her about the milk being stolen, can only cry, her eyes rolling out tears. She is the one who, when Sethe is pregnant and her back is being beaten, is too weak to intervene. Her death is the final blow to the old order of Sweet Home, and it is her weakness that allows schoolteacher to take over the farm and begin his cruel regime.

Legacy and Significance

Mrs. Garner's legacy is ambiguous. She is the one who gives Sethe the crystal earrings, which Sethe keeps knotted in her underskirt and later wears after Baby Suggs pierces her ears. She is also the one who, when Sethe is pregnant and her back is being beaten, is too weak to intervene. She is the one who, when Sethe asks her about characteristics, tells her it means features, and then asks her to bring her cool water. She is the one who, when Sethe tells her about the milk being stolen, can only cry, her eyes rolling out tears. Her kindness is a form of paternalism that does not challenge the system of slavery, and her death leaves Sethe and the other Sweet Home men vulnerable to schoolteacher's cruelty. She is a figure of the old South, a woman who is kind within the limits of her world, but who cannot or will not see beyond those limits. Her death marks the end of an era, and the beginning of the novel's central tragedy.