TITLE: Beloved

RRS: Beloved TITLE: Beloved

PUBLICATION DATE: September 1987

AUTHOR: Toni Morrison

NATIONALITY: American

AUTHOR'S BIRTH DATE/DEATH DATE: February 18, 1931- current

DISTINGUISHING TRAITS OF THE AUTHOR: Toni Morrison is a critically acclaimed author. She is a Nobel Peace Prize and Pulitzer Prize winner. She is especially known for her works in African American literature. Toni Morrison was born as Chloe Anthony Wofford to George and Ramah Wofford. She was the second oldest of four children. Her father, George, worked as a welder among many other things while her mother, Ramah, was a house servant. Her parents gave Morrison a love for folklore, reading, and music. Because Morrison grew up in a racially integrated area, she was unaware of racial discrimination until she was in her late teens.

SETTING: Beloved takes place during the Reconstruction Era in Southern America from 1854 to 1874. The majority of the physical setting of the novel takes place at the “gray and white house on Bluestone Road” numbered 124 in Cincinnati (1). The physical colors of the house are dull. 124 is a symbolic extension of the lifeless owners who live inside it. This is a house haunted by the spirit of the dead baby. Sethe flashes back to Sweet Home in Kentucky where she was enslaved under the Garners. Despite its name, Sweet Home is a beautiful place juxtaposed with, “boys hanging from the most beautiful sycamores in the world” (7). The experiences that Sethe has at Sweet Home influence her daily even though she has escaped to freedom. Sethe has successfully escaped to a black and free neighborhood. Here she is allowed to live out her life, enjoy the colors of the world without the constant fear and terror of the slave owners. Now during the majority of the time back in the present, Sethe is persecuted and forced to be isolated within 124 along with Denver as a consequence for the impulsive actions committed by Sethe.

BRIEF PLOT SYNOPSIS: The novel begins at 124 Bluestone, Road, a house where Sethe, Denver, and the ghost of Beloved live. There is a brief period of introduction to some history behind the characters, revealing that Baby Suggs has recently passed away and Sethe’s two sons have ran away. This exposition leads up to Paul D showing up. It is revealed that Paul D was a slave with Sethe at a plantation named Sweet Home, which they both managed to escape from about eighteen years ago. Due to Paul D’s appearance at 124, Sethe is reminded of what Sweet Home was like. It was ran by Mr. and Mrs. Garner, who were not very abusive like most slave owners tended to be. However, they both passed away, leaving Sweet Home to be ran by Schoolteacher, a relative of the Garners. Unlike Mr. Garner, schoolteacher ran the plantation with strict rules and cruel punishments. Sethe also remembers Halle, her husband that she met at Sweet Home who was supposed to escape with her but never showed up.

Denver begins to dislike Paul D’s presence. He is the first person to show up to the house in years, and now is taking all of Sethe’s attention away from her. Paul D eventually scares away the ghost of Beloved, leaving Denver even more upset because that was the only other person, besides Sethe, that she could talk to. However, their relationship does manage to improve over time, culminating in a carnival in which all three of them attend and have fun at. However, upon their return they see a fully clothed nineteen-year-old woman come out of the water near 124 who claims her name is Beloved. Denver knows immediately that this is Beloved, Sethe’s deceased daughter who was the ghost of 124, somehow reborn. Paul D and Sethe do not know immediately who it is.

Through various fragments around this time the full history of each character is revealed. Paul D, as well as Paul A, Paul F, Sixo and Halle were all slaves at Sweet Home. Baby Suggs was also a slave there, working as an assistant to Mrs. Garner. However, Halle worked his days off to get enough money to buy Baby Suggs’ freedom. After she left, the Garners replaced her with Sethe. Between the slaves, there was a lot of anticipation over who Sethe would choose to marry, and she eventually chose Halle. She attempted to make a dress out of various patches of fabric and was given earrings by Mrs. Garner. Eventually, Sweet Home was given to Schoolteacher who abused the salves, convincing them all to try to escape. Paul D and Sixo were caught in their attempt. Sixo was burned alive and Paul D was shackled and forced to have an iron bit in his mouth. Eventually he was sent to a prison camp.

Sethe planned to escape with Halle, after she was raped by some relatives of Schoolteacher. Halle witnessed the entire thing and was unable to cope with what happened. It is never really explained what happens to him after Sethe leaves. Sethe does manage to escape, as well as her children who she sent ahead. She is badly wounded, however, and is left crawling until she is found by Amy Dever, a white traveler on her way to Boston. Amy massages Sethe’s feet and helps treat the scars on her back. Shethe was pregnant at the time, and her water breaks, and Amy helps her to deliver her baby. This inspires Sethe to name the baby Denver. Stamp Paid, someone who assisted with the underground railroad then takes Sethe across a river, where she is led by Ella to 124, where Baby Suggs was living.

For Paul D, he was sent to prison camp where he was tortured even more. He was chained up with other prisoners and forced to work in a trench, where it would normally be impossible to escape. However one day, it starts to rain, filling up the trench, and the guards leave the prisoners to drown. They instead work together to climb out of the trench before they die and manage to make it to a Cherokee village where the native americans cut their chains. Paul D eventually leaves in search of Sethe, eventually finding her at 124

Back in the present timeline, Paul D begins to feel that there is something strange about Beloved. They eventually end up having sexual relationship, which Beloved uses to get him out of the house, as he keeps trying to avoid her seductive nature. While this gets him to not sleep in the house, it is actually eventually Stamp Paid that gets him out. Stamp Paid reveals that Sethe had killed Beloved and tried to kill Denver, and her two sons, when she saw Schoolteacher coming toward the house. Her reasoning was that she loved them too much to see them become slaves, but Paul D thinks it was animalistic and leaves. He ends up staying in the local church’s basement.

Beloved starts to take control over Sethe, who loses her job and struggles to get food, giving up her portion to Beloved. Sethe becomes bedridden in a similar way to how Baby Suggs was before she died. Denver can’t watch this happen and leaves to find work. When she talks to the Bodwins, they organize the local community to try to get rid of Beloved. They march toward the house, but when they show up Sehte attacks Mr. Bodwin mistaking him for Schoolteacher. By the time they stop her, Beloved had disappeared. After a while, the community forgets Beloved ever even existed, and Sethe, Denver, and Paul D struggle to remember any specific thing she has ever said and wonder whether she even existed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF CHARACTERS: Sethe: Sethe is a kind and loving mother, however, she is prone to loving too strongly. At one point in the novel, Paul D tells Sethe that her “love is too thick” (193), to which she responds “Too thick? … Love is or it ain’t. Thin love ain’t love at all” (194). Essentially, Sethe feels the type of love she displays is normal, anything less wouldn’t be love. However, her love led her to kill her own daughter and attempt to kill her other children so they wouldn’t experience slavery. This action is casts Sethe out from the community, as they do not agree with her actions. She loved too deeply, and as a result has ended up where she is in the present timeline of the novel. This love also affects Denver, who ends up living a sheltered lifestyle for eighteen years of her life. She loves her too much and tries to protect her from the rememories of others that she might accidentally walk into, and keeps her from really going out into the community. Overall, Sethe has a tendency to love too deeply leading to negative consequences.

Beloved: At first glance, Beloved appears to be the reincarnation of Sethe's third child, the one whose head she sawed off after seeing the schoolteacher's hat approaching 124. Beloved's actual identity is ambiguous, especially since she mimics the characteristics of those around her. At one point, Denver finds it “difficult” to “tell who was who” when Sethe and Beloved are together, and in the last chapter of the book, “a child, an adult” could both “place his feet” in her footprints by the stream, and they would both fit (283, 324). Beloved seems to symbolize a shared experience for those who had endured slavery, and the references to a dark place with piles of dead people among the living may be descriptions of the slave ships of the Middle Passage. Beloved's lack of a concrete identity makes her able to take on the experiences of anyone, and thus explains why her tracks by the stream can fit anyone, regardless of age.

Denver: Denver is the fourth child of Sethe who was born during Sethe’s escape from Sweet Home. Denver is the most dynamic character because she transforms from a shy and reserved child who is social and willing to reach out to the community. Her emotional growth has been stunted by the fact that she lives in complete isolation from the rest of the community. For Denver, she takes her greatest pride and joy in the story of her birth. This story is something unique to her and her alone. Sadly, the only companion she has growing up is the ghost inside the house. In her loneliness, “Denver’s imagination produced its own hunger and its own food” (35). Therefore, when Beloved first appeared, Denver is excited and takes on a motherly role of protecting Beloved. Finally, her sister has returned. However, to Denver’s disappointment, Beloved is calculating and focused solely on Sethe. Denver assumes the position as the head of the household by going out of her comfort zone to seek and job and help. Even though Denver loses her only companion, she repossess her own identity and discovers herself when she forgives and positively looks for change.

Paul D: Paul D spends the novel trying to escape the torture and memories of the past. His history serves to exemplify the cruel treatment of the saves before and during the civil war. He was forced to wear an iron bit with his ankles shackled after getting caught trying to escape. Eventually he was sent to a prison camp where he lived in a trench chained to other prisoners, and left to drown. During the civil war he fought for both sides, he was forced to fight for the south, and was promised freedom if he fought for the north so he switched sides. However, at the end of the war, he did not feel any more free on either side. Eventually, when he escapes it all, he decides to walk for almost eighteen years trying to find Sethe. His heart had long since been replaced by a rusted tobacco tin containing the memories of the torture. When he sees Beloved, who serves as a link to the past in may way, his memories begin to come back to him, giving him a red heart once again.

Baby Suggs: Baby Suggs is the mother of Halle and the grandmother of Denver. After suffering a life of abuse and cruelty, Baby Suggs finally left a life of slavery after Halle bought her freedom. For Baby Suggs, “my first born… all I can remember of her is how she loved the burned bottom of break… eight children and that’s all I remember” (6). Mr. Garner delivers Baby Suggs to the Bodwins where she works as a lively and much-loved persona in the community. To the other people of the community, Baby Suggs serves as an inspiration and hope for the people. The bright colors that Baby Suggs has been deprived of the most of her life has become the only sense of comfort for her near her death. Baby Suggs becomes depressed, a great part because of Sethe’s actions and the running away of her two grandsons.

Halle: Halle is the husband of Sethe, and Baby Suggs’ son. Halle was always considered, “too good… too good for the world” (245). Instead of working for himself, Halle selflessly works extra to make money to release Baby Suggs from bondage. All was well planned amongst the slaves to escape from Sweet Home. However, Halle tragically saw his wife beings raped by the nephews. From that point on, Halle loses his sanity. His identity as a man has long deteriorated from the constant abuse he must take as a slave.

Sixo: Sixo is one of the Sweet Home men, and the only one that manages to make a distinctive impression, other than Paul D. He is also the only one who does not lust after Sethe, mainly because he already has a girl- the Thirty-Mile-Woman, Patsy. Sixo seems more bold than the other Sweet Home men, especially in confronting the schoolteacher. When the schoolteacher starves them as punishment, Sixo unabashedly kills livestock to eat, and explains himself by saying that he was actually “improving your property, sir”, since he feeds himself and is now able to do more work for the schoolteacher (224). Sixo's audacious nature and his fearlessness eventually leads up to his death, when he was captured while trying to escape and then burned alive.

Schoolteacher: Schoolteacher is the main source of tyranny and torture at Sweet Home who forces the prompt escape by the slaves. After Mr. Garner passes away, schoolteacher takes charge of Sweet home. From that point on, schoolteacher begins an oppressive regime on the slaves at Sweet home. His racism is evident in how he teaches his pupils to, “put her human characteristics on the left, her animal ones on the right: (228). Schoolteacher enjoys his absolute power over the slaves. His philosophy is that, “definitions belong to the definers – not the defined.” (225).

Lady Jones: Lady Jones is the teacher in the community who helps Denver reintegrate back into society, Lady Jones, “was mixed [with] gray eyes and yellow wooly hair every strand of which she hated… she had married in the blackest man she could find” (291). Despite her physical differences, Lady Jones is still a committed to teaching and guiding her black students. Ultimately, Lady Jones acts as a mentor and guiding light who helps Denver surpass this crisis to become a woman.

Stamp Paid: Well-known and widely welcomed in the black community of Cincinnati, Stamp Paid ferries people across the Ohio and toward freedom. His original name was Joshua, but he changed it after he had to surrender his wife to his master's son for a year. The loss of her and the ability to feel affection for her that he previously had caused him to change his name. He finds his old name to be too close to the humiliations that he endured, and casts it off in order to maintain an identity that he can proudly call his own. “Stamp Paid” refers to his debts being paid off for this lifetime as a result of what happened to his wife. Stamp Paid was also a close friend of Baby Suggs's before she died, and had tried to get her preaching again after schoolteacher's visit.

Ella: Ella is the woman who gathers all the women together to exorcise Beloved from 124. After Denver takes the first initiative to improve her life, the people of the community see her change and want to help her. Ella argued that, the children can’t just up and kill the mama” (301). As a member of the Underground Railroad like the others, Ella also has her own dark past. Her beliefs stems from her background where, “nobody loved her… her puberty was spent in a house where she was shared by father and son, whom she called the lowest yet” (301). Therefore Ella understands the darkness that Sethe is fighting through, and help abolishes Beloved from 124.

The Garners: The owners of Sweet Home, and the slaveholders who own Sethe, Halle, Paul A, Paul F, Paul D, Sixo, and Baby Suggs before Halle buys her freedom. Mr. Garner gave the male slaves of Sweet Home some more autonomy than other plantations, which included giving them guns and allowing them to discuss and talk with him on a somewhat more even playing field. Paul D initially accepts being called a “man” for such reasons, but later, after he leaves 124 because of Stamp Paid's newspaper clipping, begins to wonder if he really was a “man”, or if the only right he had to that word was the fact that a white man (Mr. Garner) had called him that. Although Mr. Garner is given the distinction of practicing a somewhat less dehumanizing form of slavery, there is still doubt cast into his true intentions. Mr. Garner implies that calling his slaves “men” made them more efficient than boys, and he has his unorthodox form of slavery in place in order to run his plantation, not because he thinks that his slaves are equals. After Mr. Garner's death, Mrs. Garner developed a tumor in her neck, and Sweet Home fell under the control of the schoolteacher.

The Bodwins: The Bodwins are white abolitionists living in Cincinnati who help Baby Suggs find work and also gives her 124 to live in, in exchange for some work. They are sympathetic to the plight of the slaves, and have helped not only Baby Suggs, but also Denver in finding employment. In fact, Miss Bodwin goes as far as to give Denver lessons and encourages her to go to college. Despite all of the financial aid that they provide to the former slaves, however, there is still some sinister aspects to the Bodwins. The most obvious example of this is the little figure of an African-American that sat on a shelf in their home. The statue of is disfigured, its prominent feature being his “gaping red mouth,” which was used to hold coins (300). That, along with the “nail heads” that were pushed into his head, his kneeling position, and the inscription of “At Yo Service,” suggests that the Bodwins do not view African-Americans as equals (300). They still have a very generalized view of African-Americans, especially in regards of them remaining as servants to whites. The disfigured body also reveals the Bodwin's inability to truly see the humanity of the former slaves, and how they are incapable of treating African-Americans as individuals that can stand on their own. The Bodwins are also narrow-minded and still treat African-Americans with prejudice. When Denver comes to the Bodwins' home to ask for work, she is told by Janey, the housekeeper, that “first thing you have to know is what door to knock on,” implying that Denver should have knocked entered the house through the back door instead of the front door (299).

Amy Denver: Amy Denver is the white indentured servant who helps Sethe give birth to Denver. Amy is another character introduced to represent another group of people who and rubbed Sethe’s feet for her… Amy didn’t need money more than anything, especially since all she talked about was getting hold of some velvet” (90). IT is absolutely dangerous for two lawless outlaws to be seen about, but Amy goes out of her way to assist Sethe. Just like Sethe, Amy has a clear goal in mind that acts as her motivational support for her to seek freedom. This woman is sincere in saving Sethe’s life and giving birth to Denver, which is why Sethe names her fourth child after this woman who kept her alive in her most desperate time.

SYMBOLS, MOTIFS, ARCHETYPES, ALLUSIONS: Symbols: Tobacco tin: The tin box that Paul D describes as his heart represents his repressed emotions and feelings as a human being. After Paul D learns of the truth of what happened the night Sethe killed Beloved, Paul D states that, “his tobacco tin, blown open, killed contents that floated freely and made him their play and pretty” (258). The metal and heartless box that Paul D represses his emotions too, characterizes the necessary apathy that slaves need in order to survive the cruel reality. Things and people that a slave loves could be taken away at any minute. The tin box is small, cold and metal signifying the cold hearted mentality that Paul D takes on. He safeguards his fragmented and broken past inside, “that tobacco tin buried in his chest… lids rusted shut… not pry it loose in front of this woman… it would shame him” (86). Paul D chooses not to examine the contents of this tin box because he does not want to face those fears that forced him to lock his emotions away in the first place. He feels it is better off to be indifferent and apathetic instead of being vulnerable and weak with a red beating heart.

Chokecherry Tree: Morrison emphasizes the severity of the cruelty inflicted upon Sethe by comparing her scars to a chokecherry tree. When Paul D is with Sethe, she begins to tell of how she, “got a tree on my back… a chokecherry tree, trunk, branches and even leaves, tiny little chokecherry leaves… Schoolteacher made one open… it grows there still” (18-20). The damage and permanent scars on Sethe’s back are extensive, resembling the intricacies and structures of a tree. The tree is a constant reminder to Sethe where the violence of her masters of Sweet Home is permanently embedded on her body. Trees are supposed to represent a vibrant life. However the tree that is slashed across her back is a chokecherry tree. It is a tree that suffocates and prevents her from living a true life of freedom because its roots are grounded in the horrors of Sweet Home. The beauty of trees that resemble growth and progress are distorted by the brutal fashion in which it is forced upon Sethe.

Dying Roses: Dying roses act as a foreshadowing element of the ominous presence of Beloved. When at the fair, Paul D notices that, “the closer the roses got to death, the louder their scent… the smell of dying roses could not dampen their high spirits” (5). The roses represent Beloved and her horrendous presence which brings discomfort to people. Just as the smell of the dying roses continues to grow, it is equated with the growing presence that Beloved imposes of Sethe and Denver. Beloved reeks with revolting signs that indicate her non-human abilities. Even though Beloved’s presence becomes overwhelmingly strong as she imposes herself onto Sethe and Paul D, the community takes action by exorcising her. The scent, the presence of the dying roses does not completely shroud all reason in this community.

Milk: Milk symbolizes life and nourishment in Beloved, especially in the maternal sense. Sethe's outrage over the sexual violation that she endured from the schoolteacher's nephews centers around how they had “took my milk,” a phrase she repeats over and over again in her agitation (20). The milk that the nephews took had been for her child, and without it, Sethe's unconditional love takes a harsher and more irrational turn. The child that the milk was for does not survive, and instead dies at the hands of Sethe's love. Without milk, Sethe can no longer give life, but instead, doles out death to her children.

Stamp Paid’s red ribbon: Stamp Paid's red ribbon is a gruesome artifact that further reveals the atrocities of slavery. It is a physical representation of the indiscriminate manner in which slaves were killed, and the bright red color also symbolizes the countless tides of blood that have been shed in slavery. When Stamp Paid finally managed to knock on 124, he did so only after he “clutched the red ribbon in his pocket for strength” (217). By holding onto the ribbon, he is forcing himself to remember the pain and suffering of the slaves, and thus find courage in getting past the doors of 124 and helping those inside.

Hummingbirds: The hummingbirds reveal the frantic state of mind that Sethe is in as a result of slavery and her fear of the “rememory.” She is constantly on the defensive, and the crippling anxiety she feels manifests itself into “needle beaks that stuck “right through her headcloth into her hair and beat their wings” (193). Her devastation and fear is similar to the incessant flapping of a hummingbird's wings, and how powerless she is to stop it.

Motifs: Metal: Metal is a motif that characterizes how the cruelty inflicted upon the slaves has hardened their heart to become something lifeless like metal. Paul D believes that the only way he can protect himself is by securing his memories and emotions inside a tin box. Metal acts a suppression of human emotion. Paul D was unable to help out Halle because he was restricted with a metal “bit”. However as much as metal is cold and restraining, it also stands from strength and perseverance. Sethe was not only Halle’s girl, but also “the one with iron eyes and backbone to match” (10). The iron in her eyes is the determination and dogma that Sethe utilizes to support her through all trials. For the men. The metal prevented the men from truly expressing their manhood. As for the women. Sethe in particular, she uses her metal to overcome the obstacles placed upon black women during that time. In order to not be vulnerable to the violence and pressures of whites and blacks alike, Sethe toughens up her heart with metal.

Color: The motif of color is used to characterize the effect of slavery and racism on an individual's values. There is a lack of color throughout the novel, so much so that Sethe finds it weird that she notices colors after Paul D arrives at 124. Sethe's insensitivity to color reflects how closed off her emotions are after the trauma of having to kill her own child, and the little specks of color that she does manage to remember are all related to the loss. Another instance where color is mentioned is in the physical appearance of Mr. Bodwin, who has silver gray hair since he was a young man, and yet a shiny black mustache. The ambiguity of the coloring may also point to his hypocritical views on race, in which he is an abolitionist but still holds prejudice against blacks.

Falling: The motif of falling reveals the characters' lack of concrete elements in their lives, and thus their lack of a future. Although Paul D makes grand plans about being able to “catch [Sethe] 'fore [she] falls” and “hold [her] ankles” so that she will be able to come back in one piece and not be overwhelmed by the sheer force of her maternal love for her children, he himself has no basis on which to sustain this claim (55). Without a solid foundation for himself, let alone Sethe, he leaves, scared of what she is after Stamp Paid shows him the newspaper clipping. Morrison also uses the motif in describing how Sethe, Denver, and Beloved slip and fall together on the ice while playing together. Although have a good time and enjoy themselves, the fact that “nobody sees them falling” does sound ominous (205). The isolation that they have while at 124 may be crippling, as no one will even know that they need help when they fall.

Archetype: Water: The water is portrayed as the archetypal cleanser and also as the origin of rebirth in Beloved. It serves as the agent of resurrection for Beloved, the “fully dressed woman [who] walked out of the water” with a physically flawless appearance that can only be compared to the body of a newborn (60). Sethe's reaction to seeing Beloved's face is to immediately urinate, and “the water she voided was endless,” simulating the breaking of water at birth (61). The second coming of Beloved is not only a second start to a life that was cut short, but also as a second opportunity for Sethe to reestablish their mother-daughter relationship. However, since this second “birth” of Beloved is not literal, it serves more as a poor substitute, and cannot replace the actual birth or erase the wrong that Sethe had committed in killing her daughter. Water is strictly a symbol of rebirth, and not original birth; it cannot replace the actual nourishing milk of life or sustain life for long. In a similar fashion, Paul D is given a second chance at life when a storm drives the guards away and allows him and the other convicts to escape. The water creates the “rivulets of mud” that “slid through the boards of the roof,” weakening it and allowing the men to pull through and escape together (129). Although he has managed to escape from the oppression of the prison guards, Paul D's new life comes at a price. It is at the prison that he loses his identity as a “man”, in both witnessing the degradation of the humanity of his fellow slaves and also in the mindless work that they are forced to do. Paul D's “rebirth” in the backdrop of rain and mud is not so much one of freedom of oppression. He has escaped the overt oppression of slavery, but is now subject to an internal oppression of his own identity. The water washed away his former identity of the “Sweet Home man”, and left him with nothing. In this sense, water is less cleansing, and serves as more of an agent of erasure.

Sethe: Sethe plays the typical motherly archetype who prioritizes her children above all else. Due to the guilt that Sethe constantly places herself under in Denver’s eyes she is not a good mother. However when Beloved returns, Sethe sacrifices everything to become the perfect mother and claims that, “my low was too thick” (239). Sethe is a strong and independent woman who does not help from the men around her to raise her children. Typically slaves learn to love small because at any moment people can take away everything. Yet Sethe defies everyone’s expectations and loves her children too thickly, almost too much for a slave. Her motherly instincts supersede her ability to think rationally as she justifies her killing of her child out of love.

Schoolteacher: As a character, Schoolteacher plays the archetypal slave owner for the time period of the novel. While Mr. and Mrs. Garner appear to be described as abnormal, possibly kinder slave owners, they eventually both die and are replaced with Schoolteacher. Schoolteacher does not convey any of these nicer qualities, instead enacting strict rules and cruel punishment. In some ways, some scenes could be described as archetypal as well.

Allusion: Gospels: Stamp Paid wants to gather up his courage to knock and visit 124. However something prevents him from knocking as he sighs and thinks, spirit willing; flesh weak” (203). This is another biblical allusion to the gospels, specifically when Jesus asks his disciples to, “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the body is weak” (Matthew 26:41). Stamp Paid has the heart and spirit to take action and complete the task, but his physical body hinders one from doing so. Stamp is a religious man who tries to live a righteous life, but he has limitations and admits that his flesh is not strong enough to face Sethe. After all he has gone through with Sethe, his hopes to reconcile are thwarted by his weak body despite his determined mind. Feeding of the Multitude: Baby Suggs was always a source of inspiration and hope for the people in their community at Cincinnati. Morrison adds to Baby Suggs’ charm by giving her qualities and powers that are beloved to Jesus. During the feast that Baby Suggs’ hosted, there was enough food for everybody as they took “two buckets of blackberries and make ten, maybe twelve pies, turkey enough for the whole town… loaves and fishes were His powers – they did not belong to an ex- slave” (161). When Jesus fed the 5000, he took from a young boy’s lunch and multiplied the food to feed the 5000 people who were with him at that remote place. This is a predominantly religious community, and Baby Suggs was able to accomplish a feat that was supposed to be only unique to Jesus alone. This miracle that happened that day made people jealous and angry because she is a slave who has gained freedom and power from her past.

Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: The arrival of the schoolteacher, nephew, slave catcher and sheriff is an allusion to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse in the Bible: Conquest, War, Famine, and Death. With their arrival, the twenty-eight days of happiness ends, and the following eighteen years are spent in a mere existence for the residents of 124. It is interesting that Morrison chose to make this allusion, especially since the Horsemen in the Bible were associated with specific colors, while the men that come and take the life out of 124 are all white. The draining of color from the allusion makes the scene in Beloved even more dramatic and starkly real, as opposed to the faraway biblical stories. Vashti: Many of the characters' names in Beloved also allude to biblical stories. Stamp Paid's wife shares the same name as the queen of Persia, Vashti. In the Bible, Vashti was the queen of Persia, and was notable for her refusal to comply to her drunken husband's request to entertain the banquet guests. Her decision ends in her banishment, and she is succeeded by Esther, the traditional heroine of the Book of Esther. The name may be used to draw parallels between the biblical Vashti's story and the Vashti of Beloved, only that the Vashti in the novel is unable to even make a decision like the biblical Vashti could in the Bible. Morrison may have included the reference to emphasize the futility and lack of power that slaves had over their own lives. Even a woman living in the highly patriarchal Persian society thousands of years ago had more power than a black slave did in the 19th century.

THEMES: Slavery deeply affects slaves, degrading them with treatment as if they were less than human and strippng them of their identitity. Early on, Sehte demonstrates the terrible treatment of slaves at the time of the novel. While a slave at Sweet Home under the ownership of Schoolteacher, several of Schoolteacher’s relatives rape Sethe and take her milk. After telling Mrs. Garner what had happened, who was unable to do anything, “Them boys found out [Sethe] told on em. Schoolteacher made one open up [Sethe’s] back, and when it closed it made a tree” (19-20). Sethe is not able to tell anyone about the torture she endures, otherwise she is tortured even more. Each of these punishments alone are dehumanizing, and put together it is even worse. She is raped, as if she is some kind of object made for work and the pleasure of the slave owner. They take her milk, reminiscent of taking milk from a cow, creating an image of a slave as being treated like an animal. And she is later whipped, again as if she is some animal that needs to be tamed. With this treatment, Sethe is degraded by the slaveowners to a point where she is considered almost less than human. Paul D’s treatment shows that slaves were stripped of their identity, becoming just another slave. Comparing himself to a rooster named Mister, Paul D says “Mister was allowed to be and stay what he was. But I wasn’t allowed to be and stay what I was. Even if you cooked him you’d be cooking a rooster named Mister. But wasn’t no way I’d ever be Paul D again, living or dead” (86). Paul D notices that the rooster has name that the owners refer to it by. However, as a slave, Paul D is simply referred to as a slave, not by his name. He is stripped of his identity by Schoolteacher, meanwhile even the animals get identities. This demonstrates less than human treatment and the idea that slaves have no individual identity. Paul D has a tobacco tin where his heart should be, demonstrating the idea that slavery takes away what makes individuals human. He keeps his memories “where [they] belonged: in that tobacco tin buried in his chest where a red heart used to be. Its lid rusted shut” (86). The fact that the tobacco tin is a manmade object in place of an organic heart, shows that Paul D no longer feels completely human. The heart is one of the main objects people associate with what makes us human, so the fact that he longer has one shows that he feels somewhat lesser after experiencing slavery. Slavery degrades the slaves and makes it feels as though they have no individual identity.

The power of community and accountability can bring healing for those who have suffered alone. Sethe is persecuted and isolated alone in her newfound society. Sethe believes that it is up to her alone to raise her kids and provide for them. The community works hard to expel Beloved who has been creating havoc at 124 and to Sethe’s life. Beloved was a chance that Sethe believed that God has given her for redemption of killing her third child. However this only proved to a task far too demanding and strenuous that Sethe had idealized it to be. At the end of it all, Paul D came back to support her by telling her, “you your best thing, Sethe, You are” (322). In her moments of despair and hopelessness, Paul D was always the one who came back to support her. There is a tangible emotion of love and support that the two provide each other. Neither Sethe nor Paul D can forge a future on their own, but together they are able to support each other. Paul D and his fellow prison inmates at a Georgia prison were able to escape by working together as one chain gang. That night at the prison the ditch was caving and “they waited – each and every one of the forty – six… its started like the chain up but the difference was the power of the chain… for one lost, all lost” (130). These men are literally chained up together which forces them to work together in order to escape. This community was brought together by the mutual sexual abuse and torture that they tolerated together as a group. This is the first time that Paul D is truly experiencing the dark stories that he heard back at Sweet Home. However by actively working and singing with the chain gang, it provides a temporary communal sense of comfort for Paul D. From a very young age, Denver has been separated from society because of societal judgement. Beloved’s presence has become a growing burden in their family to the point of famine. After Denver bravely steps out to seek assistance from the outside world everyday she would notice, “something lying on the tree stump… a sack of white beans… cold rabbit meat… every now and then, all through the spring, names appeared near or in gifts of food” (293). The people of Cincinnati are making up their past by collectively helping Denver. Not only are they able to satisfy their immediate problems regarding hunger, but they are also outwardly indicating the occupants of 124 that they are no longer alone. This is the first real sign of the community reaching out to Sethe and Denver after the “misery”.

Freedom is an ambiguous term that is not defined whether or not a person is restrained by metal chains or horrifying memories. Although Sethe is physically free from the bondage of slavery, she cannot truly enjoy this freedom because she is traumatized by the memories of the past. Every now and then, Sethe would go into a state where, “some things go, pass on, some things just stay, I used to think it was my rememory… places, places are still there” (43). It is not as simple as remembering a memory, but for Sethe she is literally transported to her past and reliving each painful moment. This rememory forbids Sethe from gaining liberation from the past because it is always near. The people of Cincinnati and the memory itself are never far away. Baby Suggs is the only character who has gained her freedom when her son worked extra to buy her out of Sweet Home. For Baby Suggs she cannot rid of the lingering thoughts about her children she had to give up. Regarding her children “seven times she had done that; held a little food; examined the fat fingertips with her own- fingers she never saw become the male or female hands of a mother would recognize anywhere” (163). The greatest pride for any mother would be to see their children grow up and form their own family. Yet Baby Suggs is stripped of this opportunity to raise her kids of have any means of connection to them once they were taken away. Baby Suggs cannot value herself because her identity and duty as a mother has been literally jerked out of her hands. This past makes Baby Suggs regretful of her past and constantly begs the question of how the kids are doing in the future. Forevermore, Baby Suggs will be enslaved by this regret and inability to be with her kids. Paul D becomes a wanderer, struggling to find his place of belonging even though he has gained freedom. When Paul D finally arrives at 124, he believes it is a place that he belonged for “eighteen years… I swear I been walking every one of them” (8). For the past eighteen years, Paul D has been possessed by his rusted tin heart where he has locked up all his emotions. The idea of being free is truly ambiguous for Paul D because he does not comprehend what it truly is. Slavery has debilitated all his senses of manhood and pride in his own self and character. Paul D purposefully tries to lock away his memories, but he cannot help but lose himself when he does so.

The past places a burden on the present, therefore stifling the futures of characters. The past affects the present-day individual and can force them to develop a retrospective rather than prospective attitude in their lives. Even though Baby Suggs was able to assert herself and establish her own identity by keeping her name, and not going by the name the white slaveholders gave her, that was not enough to keep her from being affected by the loss of the baby girl and part of Sethe's humanity when the schoolteacher comes. According to Stamp Paid, Baby Suggs was simply worn out by white people, and her big heart and inspiring words did nothing to soften the blow that the schoolteacher was able to inflict on her life. The sense of helplessness and futility puts her to bed, and eventually, permanent slumber. Baby Suggs may have been the ex-slave who was closest to establishing a concrete identity and seemed to hold the greatest amount of self-assurance, but none of that made any difference in the end. Baby Suggs surrenders to the past by allowing herself to simply waste away, and no longer cares for anything in the future. Rather, she wants the bright colors and billowing emotions that she had never felt before. The future could only hold more white people, who were there to beat her down. Making up for the past comes at the cost of one's future. After Paul D leaves, Beloved takes over the household at 124, and begins taking her vengeance on Sethe, who willingly caters to Beloved's demands for everything from food to attention. Beloved, as a representation of the past crime that Sethe had committed, actively takes from Sethe her money, opportunities, and also physically wears her down to the point where Sethe becomes physically sick. Beloved drains Sethe's present self as a means of justice at the cost of Sethe's future. Sethe has little to look forward to after Beloved takes everything from her, and the more she shrinks, the less she can even think about the future. She has to focus on the present, and cannot even begin to think about the future when her present existence is in question. Since the past always accompanies the individual in the form of memories, it is impossible to completely break away from it. Sethe's “rememory” of the schoolteacher approaching 124 haunts her even though she knows that the schoolteacher had given up on taking her back to Sweet Home. Eighteen years has done nothing to that fear, and just seeing Mr. Bodwin come up in a wagon is enough to send her into a deadly rampage to protect what she feels is the most crucial part of her life: her children. Trauma makes a mark on individuals, and in Sethe's case, the memory of a white person approaching her house and taking everything she had is powerful enough to alter her entire attitude towards the community and outside world.

MEMORABLE QUOTES: “124 was spiteful. Full of a baby's venom” (1).

“Can't nothing heal without pain, you know” (92).

“There is no bad luck in the world but whitefolks” (105).

“By the time he got to 124 nothing in this world could pry it open” (133). “Was that it? Is that where the manhood lay? In the naming done by a whiteman who was supposed to know?” (147).

“Nobody saw them falling” (205).

“I am Beloved and she is mine” (253).

“They make a hill. A hill of black people, falling. And above them all, rising from his place with a whip in his hand, the man without skin, looking. He is looking at her” (309).

“You your own best thing, Sethe, You are” (322).

“Just weather. Certainly no clamor for a kiss. Beloved” (324).

DISTINCTIVE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE WORK: Beloved captures the pain and sufferings of slavery through flashbacks and specific recounts of the past which makes this novel an episodic novel. The use of flashbacks helped emphasize the feeling of timelessness because of the inability to let go of the past. The novel also has a cyclical structure and captures magical realism. Beloved is also notable for its unique narrative voice, which has both first person narratives and a third person omniscient narrator. The switching of narrative voices is used to build suspension. Since details of the plot are revealed through different narrators, the same event can be addressed multiple times, though each individual mention of the event is fragmented and incomplete. Together, however, they form a complete story, which is the beauty in how Beloved was constructed.