Marcelo Almario
Neil Boriboon
Albert Chan
Ronak Joshi
Jenisa Keovichit
Yuna Song
Group 4 Analysis - Period 5
Chapter 19
Theme: memories of Slavery haunts and affects the lives of those who were once slaves and
hurts their future and relations with others. And you’re stuck in the past.
This is why most of the book is through memories. Events are revealed through
memories

The novel starts off with Stamp Paid’s point of view as the reader can hear his thoughts
that mirror his guilt and worry, which was why he “felt uneasy.”
o
“Had he topped the one shoot she had of the happiness a good man could bring
her? Was she vexed by the loss, the free and unasked-for revival of gossip by the
man who had helped her cross the river and who was her friend as well as Baby
Suggs’?”

“by the man who had helped her cross the river and who was her friend as well as Baby
Suggs’?”
o
Stamp Paid helped Sethe cross the river when she ran away, and crossing the river
going from slavery to freedom

The novel starts off with Stamp Paid’s point of view as the reader can hear his thoughts
that mirror his guilt and worry.

There is repetition of the word “sneak,” which mirrors Stamp Paid’s guilt and feelings of
having betrayed Sethe.
o
“so nobody looking could call him a sneak” “He’d gone behind her back, like a
sneak. But sneaking was his job” “Before the War all he did was sneak:”

“I’m too old and I seen too much”: Black phrasing from Stamp Paid

The beginning of the chapter, in which is in Stamp Paid’s point of view, has long
sentences that ramble on. This mirrors Stamp Paid’s thoughts and questions

Stamp Paid help free the slaves in secret and worked for the underground railroad
o
“Runaways into hidden places, secret information to public places. Underneath
his legal vegetables were the contrabands humans that he ferried across the river”

Stamp Paid later reflects on his telling Paul D and feels guilty

Stamp Paid realizes he is not as strong as “the Soldier of Christ he thought he was,”
because later he realizes that his telling Paul D wasn’t as for the better he thought it
would be. Therefore, he realizes maybe he was not as good of a Christian as he thought
he was. He destroyed the only good thing Sethe had going in her family

Stamp Paid takes pride in saving Denver and believes he should protect and look after her

“...the one normal somebody in the girl’s life since Baby Suggs died. And right there was
the thorn.”
o

Thorn represents the death of Baby Suggs and the loss he feels in consequence
Baby Suggs held much importance to Stamp Paid and like how a mountain complements
they sky, she was “the mountain to his sky.”

Stamp Paid uses the word “Misery” to represent the event in which Sethe kills her
children in response to the Fugitive Bill. The Fugitive Bill stated that all runaway slaves
must go back to their owners, and to prevent her children from living a slave life, Sethe
kills her children.

To Stamp Paid, “[Baby Suggs] looked like a gift,” meaning that he valued her

All Sethe said or did during Baby Sugg’s funeral was that she told Stamp Paid to “Take
her to the Clearing,” which shows that Sethe was very detached and unemotional during
her own mother-in-law’s funeral. In addition, she wouldn’t receive help from anybody
after Baby Suggs’ death and was prideful, which has Stamp Paid saying “pride goeth
before a fall.”

Stamp Paid feels “a trickle of meanness” and this is the reason why he does not consider
either Sethe or Denver’s feelings before he showed Paul D the clipping and drove him
off.

Through Stamp Paid’s constant use of ‘If she […],” it shows that he does not know what
to expect when he goes and knocks on the door of 124. Because of this, he then leaves the
situation to “the power of Jesus Christ to deal with things.”

Stamp Paid “heard a conflagration of hasty voices—loud, urgent, all speaking at once
[…and] all he could make out was the word mine.” This is him hearing the thoughts of
Sethe, Denver, and Beloved, which are said in the next few chapters. Yet when he moves
closer, the loud voices diminish to “less than a whisper,” and all he hears is normal,
“eternal, private conversations”

Normally, Stamp Paid would “[walk] in your door as though it were his own” if he felt
you were in debt to him. However, when he “[raises] his fist to knock on the door he had
never knocked on (because it was always open to or for him),” he could not, because now
he felt in debt to Sethe’s family, for he drove Paul D away

In spirit, though Stamp Paid wanted to and knew he needed to knock on the door of 124,
he could not physically bring himself to do so. “Spirit willing; flesh weak.”

Sethe decides to take Baby Sugg’s advice “to lay it all down, sword and shield,” meaning
to get rid of her defenses from the cares of what the people may perceive her as. This has
Sethe searching for her ice skates, which she planned to use to skate and show people that
she was carefree, happy, and not proud. She wanted to free herself from everything in her
past like “dancing, the true meaning of the Fugitive Bill, the Settlement Fee, God’s Ways
and Negro pews…”

Sethe believed that if she had eighteen years of disapproval and solitary life, possibly
followed by more, she might as well lay it all down and let it be

The repetition of “nobody saw them falling” with paragraphs of descriptions of the three
women having fun
o
Represents the fact that they were carefree and it did not matter who saw them fall
when they did.

Imagery: “their skirts flew like wings” when Sethe, Denver, and Beloved ice skates
o

wings resembled freedom and freedom from all cares
Imagery: “Denver stood up for a long, independent glide”
o
The imagery of her independent glide resembles taking matters into her own
hands, such as taking care of Beloved herself without the help of Sethe

Detail: “But when her laughter died, her tears did not”
o
Sethe experiences powerful emotions of both happiness and sorrow from freedom
and solitude

Detail: “the click”
o
This is Sethe’s realization that Beloved represents her former daughter Beloved.
During this period, Sethe listens to the humming of Beloved and realizes that it
has the same melody she sang to her children.

Style and Syntax: long, unfinished, flowing thoughts “’All I remember,’ Baby Suggs had
said, ‘is how she loved the burned bottom of bread […]’ …the birthmark, nor the color of
the gums, the shape of her ears, nor… ‘Here. Look here.”
o
Reflects Sethe’s sudden realization through the memories flooded in her mind all
at once

“the magic lies inside the fact that you knew that it was there for you all along”
o
There was much evidence to the fact that Beloved represented Sethe’s daughter,
yet she over looked them. However, when she experiences realization, the magic
lies within how everything makes sense looking at the details in retrospect

Detail/Imagery: “the white satin coat” “lily white stairs” “snow” “the white stars”
o
In this section, everything Sethe describes is white (what she’s wearing and her
surroundings). This resembles her sense of renewal after having ice skated. For
the first time in a long time she felt happiness and carefree

Repetition: “marrow is tired” “marrow” “weakened marrow” “exhausted marrow”
o
When Stamp Paid experiences what it is like to have a weak marrow, which
resembles not only physical fatigue but also giving up the struggles of life, he
understands Baby Suggs’ weakened marrow and why she decided to “just up and
quit,” or die.

Stamp Paid realizes that Baby Suggs’ death was sudden, but in another aspect, she had
endured for ‘sixty years,’ so it was not actually very sudden. He believes that she just had
enough of being mistreated during her life, especially when she was in slavery, for
“people […] chewed up her life and spit it out like a fish bone”

Repetition and Theme: “to acquire a daughter and grandchildren […] to belong to a
community […] to love and be loved by them, to counsel and be counseled, protect and
be protected, feed and be fed”
o
This relates to the theme. These are all the things that slaves lacked and wished
for, and searching for all this in the new life is tiring and cannot be fully achieved,
for slaves are stuck in the past with painful memories they wish not to reveal or
speak about. This is why Baby Suggs gave up and passed on.

Repetition and Theme: Stamp Paid constantly reminds Baby Suggs about “the Word”
o
Shows that slavery strips a person away from everything, dehumanizes people,
and makes people want to no longer believe (theme). Baby Suggs lost faith in
God, and no longer has a spiritual view of the world. She is tired and has given
up.
o
“the value attached to the irrelationship with God and their subjective
interpretations of religious doctrines catalyzed a belief that liberty, humanity, and
rights are not the purview of nations or men. These rights are believed to have
been given to all individuals by God, and must be defended as a part of a divine
imperative” (Mattis 273-4). Religion was the former slave’s hope and reminder
that they are human beings with rights. However, they still continue to experience
slavery and is still denied of these rights, and therefore, she loses hope and is tired
of believing.
o
“Biblican trickester figures (e.g. Jesus) represent both oppressed (e.g., Afican
Americans) and the unflagging ability of oppressed individuals to subvert
hegemony, maintain moral integrity, and triumph over extraordinary injustice and
adversity (Long, 1997)” (Mattis, 270). Religious figures like Jesus were supposed
to come down and save the former slaves from the horrors of slavery, yet they are
still not saved. Therefore, Baby Suggs stops believing.

“’Yes it is. Blue. That don’t hurt nobody. Yellow neither.’
‘You getting in the bed to think about yellow?’
‘I likes yellow.’”
o
Stamp Paid and Baby Suggs talk about colors other than black and white because
they have been affected negatively by the difference in black and white their
whole lives and they want to focus on other colors and find the beauty in them.
Going to bed thinking yellow meant that she went to bed thinking about happiness

“’You blaming God’ he said. ‘That’s what you’re doing.’
‘No, Stamp. I ain’t’
‘You saying the white folks won? That what you saying?’
‘I’m saying they came in my yard.’”
o
Stamp believes that Baby Suggs blames god for all the bad things that happened
in her life, things mostly related to slavery. Baby Suggs denies that she is blaming
God, and instead shows that she is only bitter about slavery and what it has done
to her life, and that she is not blaming anybody.

“They came in her yard anyway and she could not approve or condemn Sethe’s rough
choice. One or the other might have saved her, but beaten up by the claims of both, she
went to bed. The whitefolks had tired her out at last.”
o
Baby Suggs has become numb from the toll that slavery and the whitepeople took
on her. She might have cared more about her daughter-in-law killing her
grandchildren had she not been a slave, but she had seen the terrors of slavery and
thus could not condemn what Sethe did.

Like most former slaves, Stamp Paid is bitter about his life and what slavery had done to
him and his people. When he sees the “red ribbon knotted around a curl of wet wooly
hair, clinging still to its scalp,” he was overcome with emotions and “stopped, short of
breath and dizzy.” He too begins to question God. “What are these people?” he asks,
“You tell me, Jesus. What are they?”

The color red resembles the blood that was shed many times because of slavery, and after
seeing the red ribbon, Stamp Paid decides that red is no longer a harmless color

For a second time, he tries to knock at 124, and this time he hears the voices of the
women.
o
“he believed he knew who spoke them. The people of the broken nicks, of firecooked blood and black girls who had lost their ribbons.”

“The world is in this room. This here’s all there is and to be.”
o
The room is their shelter and the only world or lifestyle they know of. And they
are content with only this.

“And since that was so—if her daughter could come back home from the timeless
place—certainly her sounds could”
o
Sethe has hope, and this reflects that she still thinks back into the past and hasn’t
let go

“while she was gone, both drawn to the fire”
o
They seek warmth, which is resembled by the fire, and love. This goes back to the
theme of former slaves seeking love, warmth, protection

“Sethe was excited to giddiness by the things she no longer had to remember. I don’t
have to remember nothing. I don’t even have to explain.”
o
Sethe is excited and happy because she is free. She is free from explanations and
expects Beloved to understand. In this way, Sethe feels free from her past.
However, her constant repetition of this thought reflects her trying to justify her
own actions and reflects an inner sense of denial.

“‘They going to let you out for the burial,’ she said, ‘not the funeral, just the burial,’ and
they did.”
o
The burial comes before the funeral, and the funeral is more of a ceremony with
emotions. The letting Sethe out for the burial and not the funeral is an example of
mistreating a black, former slave. Slaves are not treated like human beings, and
Sethe, though she is a former slave, is still not treated fully like a human

“After all these years of clarity” could refer to how Stamp Paid believes that he no longer
owes to anyone for anything.

For Stamp Paid’s belief that he no longer owes to anyone, he renamed himself Stamp
Paid from Joshua; “Stamp Paid” means that he is complete with everything, and nothing
else remains such as any commitments or debts.

“Handed her over in the sense...his wife demanded he stay alive.” (pg184)

“Otherwise, she reasoned, where and to whom could she return when the boy was
through? With that gift, he decided that he didn’t owe anybody anything.”
o
This explains how Stamp Paid gave up his wife to the slave master’s son to be
raped, and this gesture of giving her up made him realize that he would no longer
owe anybody anything.

“Whatever his obligations were, that act paid them off.”
o
Stamp Paid’s act of handing over his wife to be raped was his last obligation or
“gift” to anyone.

As a result of Stamp paid becoming “debtless,” he began to show other people how to
become “debtless” too by “helping them pay out and off whatever they owed in misery.”

Stamp Paid had given back all his “debts”, and he wanted, in return, a “receipt” of a
“welcome door that he never had to knock on.” Here, he is saying that he wants others to
treat him like a friend, not leaving him closed away from everything.

“That’s Baby’s Kin. I don’t need no invite to look after her people.”
o
Stamp Paid believes that he doesn’t require any permission or consent for him to
be able to care for Sethe’s family.

He thinks that blacks should be treated better when he says, “Since when a blackman
come to town have to sleep in a cellar like a dog?”, and here, we can see that he has a
strong opinion against or dislike for slavery.

“Well, I know what kind of white that was.” (pg187)

The conversation between Ella and Stamp Paid foreshadows the fact that Beloved is a
ghost, the resurrection of the same child that Sethe killed. We can see the foreshadowing
when he says, “You know as well as I do that people who die bad don’t stay in the
ground.”

From pg188 to 189, Morrison explains how Sethe has heard of all the “news” in the
world even though it was supposed to stop with “the birds in her hair.” Also, when Paul
D came back, he brought back all those memories of the events that had occurred
previously, and once he heard about “her news,” “he counted her feet and didn’t even say
goodbye.”

“But matches, sometimes a bit of kerosene, a little salt, butter too–these things she took
also, once in a while, and felt ashamed because she could afford to buy them; she just
didn’t want the embarrassment of waiting out back of Phelps store with the others till
every white in Ohio was served before the keeper turned to the cluster of Negro faces
looking through a hole in his back door. She was ashamed, too, because it was stealing
and Sixo’s argument on the subject amused her but didn’t change the way she felt; just as
it didn’t change schoolteacher’s mind.”
o
Sethe’s pride is described or defined and it shows that she strongly believes in her
own thoughts/opinions about discrimination, and this quote helps to explain how
Sethe believes stealing is better than discrimination. Sethe is in an ethical
situation because she chooses to do what is right than to be treated unfairly.

“Definitions belonged to the definers–not the defined.”
o
This quote shows that schoolteacher is Sixo’s master, and only he can define what
Sixo can and cannot do. Also, Sixo believes that his stealing the “shoat” would
help schoolmaster’s property because he would be able to work more and better
on the field.

The Sweet Home men began “to pilfer in earnest, and it became not only their right but
their obligation.” They were deprived of their guns that they use to hunt for food because
schoolteacher took them away from the men.

Sethe begins to reconsider her actions of stealing when Morrison says, “she despised
herself for the pride that made pilfering better than standing in line at the window of the
general store with all the other Negroes.” This becomes an internal conflict because she
couldn’t decide whether to steal or not even though she knew that stealing wasn’t right.

“Today would be a day she would accept a life, if anybody on a wagon offered it. No one
would, and for sixteen years her pride had not let her ask. But today. Oh, today. Now she
wanted speed, to skip over the long walk home and be there.”
o
Here, Sethe’s pride hasn’t given her the courage to ask someone or anyone for
help, such as a ride home, but now she begins thinking about Beloved again and
finally believes that she actually wants to ask for help to go home and see
Beloved.

Sawyer begins blaming “Sethe’s dark face” for his emotional and characteristic changes,
and when Morrison says, “He used to be a sweet man,” she helps to make it as if Sethe is
saying this quote because this would be her thought over Sawyer, her boss in the
restaurant.

From pg191 to 194, the first short paragraph and the longer paragraph are spoken by
Sethe’s voice, and here she is thinking about the past and about what she could have done
to change the events that have already occurred. However, all of her thoughts are not in
quotes since she isn’t exactly speaking to anyone in particular, and these thoughts all
come to her mind while she is walking back home.

We can see that Sethe is trying to talk directly to Beloved during the long paragraph by
the references to “your brothers,” but in reality, these are all just her thoughts about
Sweet Home and slavery. No other characters are involved or engaged in a conversation
with Sethe until later, but she does feel that Beloved doesn’t have to be listening to her
when she says, “You don’t have to listen either, if you don’t want to.” She is basically
thinking about the past, describing everything and anything that comes to her mind.

Then, a conversation between Sethe and Mrs. Garner begins in Sethe’s thoughts, and she
begins questioning Mrs. Garner about “characteristics.” She also asks her about Mr.
Garner and the way he treated his slaves in comparison to the way schoolteacher treated
his.

“You could tell his mind was gone from Sweet Home.”
o
Sethe was able to tell that Sixo was thinking about ways of receiving his freedom
from slavery when she says this quote, and she also saw him looking at the “low
part” of the sky “where it touched the trees.” This memory about Sweet Home
and slavery shows how Sixo was just like any other black slave, wanting freedom.

We can see that the memory is about the family’s escape from slavery because Sethe
says, “But I got you out baby. And the boys too”, referring to how all her children were
still with her. The setting of her memories start back when she was still at Sweet Home,
and the setting changes to the moment when the family is about to escape from slavery.
She also explains how Sixo and other slaves got caught for trying to escape when she
says, “I didn’t know Sixo was burned up and Paul D dressed up in a collar you wouldn’t
believe. Not till later.”

Then, the point-of-view changes back to the third person, and Sethe’s thoughts are now
complete during her walk back home.

“The ribbon of smoke was from a fire that warmed a body returned to her–just like it
never went away, never needed a headstone. And the heart that beat inside it had not for a
single moment stopped in her hands.”
o
This quote describes how Sethe sees everything as if the child she had killed had
never left her side or died, so she sees Beloved as that child.

“Even the educated colored: the long-school people, the doctors, the teachers, the paperwriters and businessmen had a hard row to hoe.”
o
This figurative language refers to how blacks with high positions in society still
struggled through their times because of inequality between blacks and whites
during this time period.

“Whitepeople believed that whatever the manners, under every dark skin was a jungle.”
o
This metaphor describes how the whites saw the blacks as being uncontrollable
animals that live in a completely different environment or atmosphere from the
whites, so discrimination is portrayed here.

“It was the jungle whitefolks planted in them. And it grew. It spread. In, through and after
life, it spread, until it invaded the whites who had made it.”
o
This figurative language explains how the “jungle” the whites had created has
turned against them because now the whites are behaving brutally like animals.

“Meantime, the secret spread of this new kind of whitefolks’ jungle was hidden, silent,
except once in a while when you could hear its mumbling in places like 124.”
o
The idea that whites are also brutal animals is hidden away unlike how the idea of
blacks is viewed popularly.

The second-to-last paragraph of Chapter 19 describes Stamp Paid’s feelings after not
gaining entrance into 124, so we understand that he is locked out physically from the
house and metaphorically from the thoughts and actions of the women in 124.

Morrison uses diction in the last paragraph such as “undecipherable”, “unspeakable”, and
“unspoken” to portray Stamp Paid’s reaction to not being able to enter the house, and he
is also unable to learn about the new child inside 124, who is Beloved. His curiosity only
leaves him to think about what the women inside are saying, and he still wonders who
Beloved is. The tone of exclusivity is defined in the last paragraph.

The misery in the story refers Sethe killing beloved when she sees schoolteacher
approaching.

Sethe refuses to attend the service for Baby Suggs because other people would not go to
124.
o
“The setting-up was held in the yard because nobody besides himself would enter
124-an injury Sethe answered with another by refusing t attend the service
Reverend Pike presided over.”
o
Sethe instead goes to the gravesite, but does not join in singing the hymns with
others.

Morrision includes the Biblical verse, “Pride goeth before a fall” because it is used in
context with Stamp Paid’s reference to over seeing Sethe’s feelings over his arrogance
when he decided to show Paul D the news paper article of Sethe killing Beloved.
o
“...wondered if some of the “pride goeth before a fall” expectations of the
townsfolk had rubbed off on him anyhow-which would explain why he had not
considered Sethe’s feelings of Denver’s needs when he showed Paul D the
clipping.”

Stamp Paid says that he hears a conflagration of hasty voices as he approaches 124. This
could be conversations between Sethe, Denver, and Beloved.
o
“What he heard, as he moved toward the porch, he didn’t understand. Out on
Bluestone Road he thought he heard a conflagration of hasty voices-loud, urgent,
all speaking t once so he could not make out what they were talking about or to
whom.”

Stamp Paid is unable to knock on the door, because unlike previous time where the door
was always open for him, this time it was closed with the fear of not knowing what he
will see when the door opens. This may be because of Beloveds arrival. Due to the fear of
what lays behind the door, Stamp Paid is unable to knock on the door even after six tries.
o
“Stamp Paid raised his fist to knock on the door he had never knocked on
(because it was always open to or for him) and could not do it.” “Six
times in as many days he abandoned his normal route and tried to knock
at 124.”

Morrison includes the Biblical reference, “Spirit willing, flesh weak” to resemble the lack
of courage Stamp Paid has to knock on 124’s door, even though he mentally feels that he
can knock on the door. It again goes back to the question of what may lay behind the
door.
o
Six times in as many days he abandoned his normal route and tried to
knock at 124. But the coldness of the gesture-‐ -‐its sign that he was
indeed a stranger at the gate-‐-‐overwhelmed him. Retracing his steps in
the snow, he sighed. Spirit willing; flesh weak.

After realizing that Paul D reacted in the same way as everybody else to the news of
Sethe killing Beloved, Sethe decided to take Denver and Beloved ice skating.
o
“Four days after Paul D reminded her of how many feet she had, Sethe rummaged
among the shoes of strangers to find the ice skates she was sure were there.
Digging in the heap she despised herself for having been so trusting, so quick to
surrender at the stove while Paul D kissed her back.”

-“Walking back through the woods, Sethe put an arm around each girl at her side. Both of
them had an arm around her waist.”
-“Maybe the white dress holding its arm around her mother's waist was in pain.”
o
There are many references to hands around Sethe’s waist to compare objects such
as a white dress being wrapped around her waist to Denver’s and Beloved’s arms
around her waist. The white dress was experiencing “pain”, and this symbolizes
how Denver felt pain for having to wait for her father to return, in need of
someone to watch over her in case Sethe tried to kill her children again.

After having a long day and drinking hot sweet milk, Sethe tells the kids that it is bed
time. By saying “You finished with your eyes” Beloved is referring to tiredness and is
asking Sethe if she is tired and sleepy.
o
"Tomorrow," said Sethe. "Time to sleep." She poured them each a bit more
of the hot sweet milk. The stove fire roared. "You finished with your
eyes?" asked Beloved. Sethe smiled. "Yes, I'm finished with my eyes.
Drink up. Time for bed."

During the night time when Sethe, Denver, and Beloved were drinking hot sweet milk,
Sethe finally realized that Beloved was her daughter Beloved that she killed. After
realizing thins, Sethe did not have a big reaction, rather she stayed calm and excepted the
fact that things are now going to move more smoothly. She acted as if nothing happened
and let the day move on.
o
“But there would be time. The click had clicked; things were where they
ought to be or poised and ready to glide in.” “Sethe wiped the white
satin coat from the inside of the pan, brought pillows from the keeping
room for the girls' heads. “ “There was no tremor in her voice as she
instructed them to keep the fire---if not, come on upstairs. “ “With that,
she gathered her blanket around her elbows and asc. ended the lily-‐white
stairs like a bride. “ “Outside, snow solidified itself into graceful forms.
The peace of winter stars seemed permanent.”

Stamp Paid keeps his memories locked away in a box, such as the secret about how Sethe
killed her baby. Bad memories are usually “locked” in a box because people shouldn’t
have to relive or remember these memories.
o
“and that was shy he considered long and hard before opening his wooden box
and searching for the eighteen-year-old clipping to show Paul D as proof.”

Stamp Paid found a piece of ribbon that was tied around a curl of hair and was still
attached to a piece of scalp at the site of a lynching. He is bothered by the ribbon because
it is physical evidence of what took place. The red coloring symbolizes the blood that was
shed by former slaves. He decides not to think about the color red to avoid remembering
the horrors of slavery.
o
“But none of that had worn out his marrow. None of that. It was the ribbon. Tying
his flatbed up on the bank of the Licking River, securing it the best he could, he
caught sight of something red on its bottom. Reaching for it, he thought it was a
cardinal feather stuck to his boat. He tugged and what came loose in his hand was
a red ribbon knotted around a curl of wet woolly hair, clinging still to its bit of
scalp.”

“The roaring” refers to all the voices in 124 that Stamp can hear that are caused by the
situation that the family in 124 is in.
o
“This time, although he couldn't cipher but one word, he believed he knew who
spoke them. The people of the broken necks, of fire-cooked blood and black girls
who had lost their ribbons. What a roaring”

When Stamp Paid knocks on the door of 124, the girls don’t answer because their
thoughts are too “loud,” they are too absorbed in their thoughts to notice Stamp knocking.
o
“He clutched the red ribbon in his pocket for strength. Softly at first, then harder.
At the last he banged furiously-disbelieving it could happen. That the door of a
house with coloredpeople in it did not fly open in his presence. He went to the
window and wanted to cry. Sure enough, there they were, not a one of them
heading for the door.”

Joshua changes his name to Stamp Paid because of his view towards his debt. When
Stamp Paid was a slave, his master had forced him to give his wife over so that he can
have sex with her. After that incident, Stamp Paid maid his mind set that he no longer
owes anybody anything and that giving his wife over was his final payment. He was
going to now help others get rid of their final payments and get rid of their burdens, and
in return asks that they keep their doors open for them.
o
“Perhaps there [Stamp Paid] could find out if, after all these years of charity, he
had misnamed himself and there was yet another debt he owed. Born Joshua, he
renamed himself when he handed over his wife to his master’s son.”

Paul D mainly lives in the church cellar because of the new paper clipping Stamp Paid
showed him. After Stamp Paid showed him the clipping, in fear and confusion, Paul D
leaves Sethe’s house and has now where to sleep. Ella provides Paul D with room to live
in the cellar because she did not want him to give him one of her own rooms because she
did not know him very well and she was not aware of the fact that Paul D knew Baby
Suffs.
o
"He's sleeping in the church," said Ella. "The church!" Stamp was shocked
and very hurt. "Yeah. Asked Reverend Pike if he could stay in the cellar."
"I don't know him all that well." "You know he's colored!" "Stamp, don't
tear me up this morning. I don't feel like it."

Sixo says, “Improved your property, sir” because he is using the excuse of improving
schoolteachers property to hide the fact that he stole a pig to eat because school teacher
took away their ability to help them hunt for their food. He says that the energy from the
food will allow him to work harder thus improving his land. Even with the buying
excuse, he gets whipped because the defined does not have he ability to define.
o
"And you telling me that's not stealing?" "No, sir. It ain't." "What is it
then?" "Improving your property, sir." "What?" "Sixo plant rye to give the
high piece a better chance. Sixo take and feed the soil, give you more
crop. Sixo take and feed Sixo give you more work." Clever, but
schoolteacher beat him anyway to show him that definitions belonged to
the definers---not the defined.”

“The black and angry dead” refers to the blacks who were mistreated as slaves, and their
voices still linger around the house. These black slaves did not live under good
conditions.
o
“The day Stamp Paid saw the two backs through the window and then hurried
down the steps, he believed the undecipherable language clamoring around the
house was the mumbling of the black and angry dead.”

“From this liberationist perspective, authentic religiosity manifests in an effort to achieve
justice in interpersonal relationships as well as in social and political institutions.” (Mattis
268)
o
This is illustrated in Baby Suggs’ preaching in the Clearing. She restores hope and
strength in the former slaves and reminds them of their human rights.
Chapter 20

Chapter 20 is Sethe’s stream of consciousness, which directs her thoughts about Baby
Suggs and the past regarding Beloved.

The point-of-view shifts from Sethe’s thoughts to her speaking directly to Beloved, and
we can see the transition when she changes her words from “she” to “you”, in reference
to Beloved.

Her various structures of sentences add on to the idea of Sethe’s thought process. Short
and/or incomplete sentences definitively portray Sethe’s thoughts because throughout the
chapter, she still questions herself a lot about the past, such as “or none.”

“Think about what spring will be for us”
o
Spring symbolizes a rebirth and a new start, which is what Sethe wants now that
Beloved is back to her. She plans to start a new lifestyle

“Because you mine”
o
There are many repetitions of the word ‘mine,’ which portrays possessiveness.
Former slaves need a sense of possession because after slavery, they feel they are
left with nothing to claim as their own. Slaves were warned to even not become
attached to their own children, for they may be taken away. However, Sethe now
calls Beloved hers

In this chapter, Sethe is describing the past memories of herself with Beloved, and she
wants to explain why she killed her. Also, we understand that Sethe was distracted by
Paul D to recognize that Beloved was the child that she had killed because if she had
focused on Paul D, she would have forgotten about the new child that came back,
Beloved. She says, “I would have known right away who you was when the sut blotted
out your face the way it did when I took you to the grape arbor”, and she also says, “I
would have known who you were right away because the cup after cup of water you
drank proved and connected to the fact that you dribbled clear spit on my face the day I
got to 124. I would have known right off, but Paul D distracted me.”

In the first paragraph, there is a transition in point-of-view for just one sentence: “I know
what it is to be without the milk that belongs to you.” This quick transition shows the
shift in time reference (past to present), and this sentence is directed specifically to
Beloved as a comparison between her and Sethe.

Sethe constantly mentions how she “won’t never let [Beloved] go” because she loves her
daughter, and she said, “How if I hadn’t killed her she would have died and that is
something I could not bear to happen to her.” Here, we can see that Sethe was trying to
save Beloved from going through the consequences of slavery, and she’d rather have her
die differently than to die in slavery.

“Nobody will ever get my milk no more except my own children.”
o
Sethe mentions how she would only give her milk to her children, but she says
that the slave masters took her milk away. However, she never gave it away; they
took it from her.

Sethe mentions how Baby Suggs “pondered color her last years”, meaning she was trying
to discover a description for herself and balance her emotions or moods.

Three colors are defined that Baby Suggs achieved with difficulty: blue, yellow, and
green. Blue is an archetypal symbol for heaven, which represents the death of Baby
Suggs. Yellow is an archetypal symbol for happiness, which then represents Baby Suggs’
happiness, in which she wanted to be content and satisfied with herself since she was
growing old. Green is an archetypal symbol for safety and stability, and this reflects Baby
Sugg’s desire, since she finally escaped slavery and arrived 124. All these colors
represent factors (heaven, peace, happiness, safety, stability) that former slaves were
deprived of and live to seek after they are free

“I don’t believe she wanted to get to red.”
o
Red defines fire, blood, and death, so Sethe describes how her mother didn’t want
to die while trying to escape from slavery. However, everyone reaches red at
some point, and Baby Suggs ended up dying in bed at 124.

Sethe says, “Matter of fact, that and her pinkish headstone was the last color I recall.”
Here, we understand that Baby Suggs achieved the love and care from others once she
died.

Sethe plants the turnip, which has colors of white and purple, in memory of Baby Suggs
because the turnip represents timelessness, meaning how Baby Suggs will always be
present despite the passing of time.

The words “somebody” and “maybe” show Sethe doubting or questioning her memories
of the past, and she constantly mentions that she will not let anything happen to her
children now when she says, “nobody going to keep me from my children,” and “I
wouldn’t draw breath without my children.”

Sethe says, “Felt like I was split in two”, so this shows that she had to care for both
Beloved and Denver.

Sethe protected Beloved after Paul D came into the picture between her and Beloved, and
we see that she cares for Beloved since she says, “Seems to me he wanted you out from
the beginning, but I wouldn’t let him.” When talking about Paul D, Sethe remains a bitter
tone, accusing him of not knowing anything abou ther world and what it was like. She
believes he does not understand

“Not you, not none of mine, and when I tell you you mine, I also mean I’m yours.”
o
Sethe begins the mother and daughter relationship or connection, meaning that
she knows that Beloved is her daughter’s reincarnate.

Sethe goes back and forth between the memories of her killing her daughter and of Baby
Suggs trying to run away while leaving Sethe behind.

“Working a pig yard. That has got to be something for a woman to do, and I got close to
it myself when I got out of jail and bought, so to speak, your name.”
o
Sethe uses figurative language to say that she was trying to protect Beloved from
death, so she was “buying” Beloved’s name for her.

“But the Bodwins got me the cooking job at Sawyer’s and left me able to smile on my
own like now when I think about you.”
o
Beloved was smiling when she came back to 124, and Sethe is now smiling to the
fact that her dead daughter has returned. The smile is of happiness.

“I wonder what they was doing when they was caught. Running, you think? No. Not that.
Because she was my ma’am and nobody’s ma’am would run off and leave her daughter,
would she? Would she, now? Leave her in they yard with a one-armed woman? Even if
she hadn’t been able to suckle the daughter for more than a week or two”
o
Sethe constantly questions her thoughts and asks herself if her mother would
really betray her own daughter. Sethe is in denial and desperately wants to believe
the best in her mother, for Sethe knows she betrayed her own children the same
way as well. And she silently hopes that if she is able to see the best in her
mother, her children may see the best in her intentions as well.

“When I put that headstone up I wanted to lay in there with you, put your head on my
shoulder and keep you warm, and I would have if Buglar and Howard and Denver didn’t
need me, because my mind was homeless then.”
o
Sethe wanted to die and lay next to her daughter Beloved, but she knew that she
couldn’t go through with this because she still had her other children, Buglar,
Howard, and Denver, to care for. Previously in the chapter, she always mentioned
that she would never leave her children, so she continued to follow through with
her words. She had the intention of being next to Beloved, but she couldn’t give
her own life for just one child while she had three others. Sethe’s mind was
“homeless” because she didn’t know what to do or where to go with the situation
when deciding which of her children she would stay with.

“I couldn’t lay down in peace, back then. Now I can. I can sleep like the drowned, have
mercy. She come back to me, my daughter, and she is mine.”
o
Sethe is at peace now, because her daughter found her way back. Sethe feels at
peace with her life and feels free from guilt and explanations. And now, she can
call Beloved fully hers.

The next four chapters in the book are different from the previous chapters because they
are focused on one persons view towards Beloved and there view on what is going on in
the book. It is a monologue from Sethe, Denver, and Beloved. Each person admits that
they know that either Beloved is her daughter of sister. Beloved says that she is her own.
o
“Beloved, she my daughter. She mine. See. She come back to me of her own free
will and I don’t have to explain a thing.”

The shift of perspective into first person Sehte allows us to see the situation at hand as
Sethe sees it, such as the importance of Beloved and other events going on around her.
We also get some background that we did not know about Sethe, such as her thoughts of
her mother and how she compares her mother not taking her to the other side with her
and her killing Beloved. She also admits that she was going to take all her children and
then herself to the other side to her mother, which is heaven.

Sethe reflect upon Baby Suggs and the colors that she was pondering on before she died.
Sethe also goes into the comparison of her and her mother on how her mother didn't take
her to the other side and hoe she killed Beloved. In a sense she realizes that what she did
to Beloved was wrong. Not only that but she mentions Mrs. Garner and how they helped
her get a job and settle down. If it wasn't for her children and her having to work to
support them, she would have also killed herself to be with Beloved.
o
“She never had time to see, let alone enjoy it before. Took her a long
time to finish with blue, then yellow, then green. She was well into pink
when she died. I don't believe she wanted to get to red and I understand
why because me and Beloved outdid ourselves with it.” “I got close. I got
close. To being a Saturday girl. I had already worked a stone mason's
shop. A step to the slaughterhouse would have been a short one. When I
put that headstone up I wanted to lay in there with you, put your head
on my shoulder and keep you warm, and I would have if Buglar and
Howard and Denver didn't need me, because my mind was homeless
then.”

“My plan was to take us all to the other side where my own ma’am is. They stopped me
from getting us there, but they didn’t stop you from getting here.”
o
Blacks believed in an afterlife. Sethe believes that there was no way of dying and
going to heaven, yet she knows it is possible for the dead to be reborn since
Beloved came back to her.
Chapter 21

“Beloved is my sister. I swallowed her blood right along with my mother’s milk.”
o
Chapter 21 begins with these two sentences, and it is told from the voice of
Denver. Since Beloved was born before Denver, Denver says that Beloved and
her are related to each other through blood. This signifies a sense of attachment,
saying that Beloved is a part of Denver.

“She was my secret company until Paul D came. He threw her out.”
o
Denver felt that Beloved was the only person around to be close with, but Paul D
had intentions of loving and forming a relationship with Sethe. Paul D needed to
remove Beloved from the picture in order to have himself with Sethe alone, but
Sethe said that she wouldn’t give up her children for anything ever again. Her
tone, when referring to Paul D, is bitter.

“They told me die-witch! stories to show me the way to do it, if I ever needed to.”
o
Bugler and Howard telling Denver how to kill witches leaves the impression that
they believe their mother to be a witch for killing Beloved. The quote also shows
that although they were leaving her, Howard and Bugler still cared for Denver and
because she still remembers these stories we know that they were role models for
Denver.

“I love my mother but I know she killed one of her own daughters, and tender as she is
with me, I’m scared of her because of it. She missed killing my brothers and they knew it.
They told me die-witch! stories to show me the way to do it, if ever I needed to.”
o
Denver loves her mother very dearly, but she still didn’t fully trust her. Denver
fears her own mother because of what she had done to her own children. This
shows the lack of attachment between former slaves and their own children,
because they were taught to not get attached to anyone.

“I’m afraid of the thing that happened that made it all right for my mother to kill my
sister could happen again. I don’t know what it is, I don’t know who it is, but maybe
there is something else terrible enough to make her do it again. I need to know what that
thing might be, but I don’t want to.”
o
From Denver’s stream of consciousness, we can tell that Denver is still naive. She
does not know what slavery is and she does not know that slavery is the thing that
is being mentioned. In addition, she says she needs to know, but due to her
immaturity, she does not want to know. This also shows that those who have not
experienced slavery themselves do no know exactly how it was.

“Whatever it is, it comes from outside this house, outside the yard, and it can come right
on in the yard if it wants to. So I never leave this house and I watch over the yard, so it
can’t happen again and my mother won’t have to kill me too.”
o
Denver describes slavery. Denver is still young and does not know the full
concept of slavery, yet she describes it in a general way. She describes it as an
omnipresent impostor that cannot be controlled, and so she is afraid.

“Not since Miss Lady Jones’ house have I left 124 by myself. Never. The only other
times--two times in all--I was with my mother.”
o
Denver is afraid of her mother, yet she only feels safe leaving the house with
Sethe. This shows that Denver is still, in fact, dependent on her mother, despite
her fear.

The two times Denver left the house was for Baby Sugg’s burial and the carnival with
Stamp Paid and Sethe.

“there she was. Beloved. Waiting for me. Tired from her long journey back. Ready to be
taken care of; ready for me to protect her. This is the time I have to keep my mother away
from her. That’s hard, but I have to. It’s all on me.” “It’s all on me, now, but she can
count on me. [...] Don’t love her too much. [...] I have to tell her. I have to protect her.”
o
Denver has a strong sense of duty towards her sister. She believes that she is
Beloved’s protector from their own mother, and feels great responsibility. Her
short, strong sentences reflect her determination and readers can feel the weight of
these short, yet powerful sentences.

“I’ve seen my mother in a dark place, with scratching noises. A smell coming from her
dress. I have been with her where something little watched us from the corners. And
touched. Sometimes they touched.”
o
The dark place that is referred to is Sethe spending time with Paul D and allowing
him into her bed. Neither Beloved nor Denver like the fact that Sethe is with Paul
D and they feel that that is causing her to become even more negative towards
them two. Paul D also always has an eye on them two.

“I thought she was trying to kill her that day in the Clearing. Kill her back. But then she
kissed her neck and I have to warn her about that. Don’t love her too much. Don’t.
Maybe it’s still in her the thing that makes it all right to kill her children. I have to tell
her. I have to protect her.”
o
Denver thinks that Beloved was trying to kill Sethe at the same place where Baby
Suggs was preaching, and this would be the payment in return of Sethe killing her
daughter in the past. Also, Denver believes that Beloved shouldn’t become too
attached to her mother because she wonders that Sethe still has the reason or right
to kill her own children, which is so that her children don’t become slaves.
Denver’s belief of Sethe still having that reason or right leads her to keep a look
out for or protect Beloved.

“She cut my head off. Buglar and Howard told me she would and she did. Her pretty eyes
looking at me like I was a stranger. Not mean or anything, but like I was somebody she
found and felt sorry for. Like she didn’t want to do it but she had to and it wasn’t going to
hurt.”
o
Denver is afraid of her mother since she believes that she still has reason or right
to kill her own children, so she doesn’t trust Sethe with scissors near her head.
This feeling is also similar to the feeling that all slaves have, which is that they
are constantly aware of their surroundings in fear of death.

“When she finishes the combing and starts the braiding, I get sleepy. I want to go to sleep
but I know if I do I won’t wake up. So I have to stay awake while she finishes my hair,
then I can sleep. The scary part is waiting for her to come in and do it. Not when she does
it, but when I wait for her to.”
o
Denver is always on the lookout and is cautious around her mother, because she
fears that Sethe will kill her. This reflects how slaves were always on the lookout
for themselves and could not be at ease. The fear of death is the worst part for
Denver.

“Only place she can’t get to me in the night is Grandma Baby’s room. I was safe at night
in there with her.”
o
Denver felt secure with Grandma Baby, she felt that she would protect her from
Sethe.

“They had a kitchen outside, too. But Grandma Baby turned it in to a woodshed and tool
room when she moved in. And she boarded up the back door that led to it because she
didn’t want to make that journey no more. [...] Said she didn’t care what folks said about
her fixing a two-story house up like a cabin where you cook inside. She said they told her
visitors with nice dresses don’t want to sit in the same room with the cook stove and the
peelings and the grease and the smoke. She wouldn’t pay them no mind, she said.”
o
Baby Suggs wanted the family together inside the room when they ate meals now
that they were no longer slaves. She wanted to build the family and paid no
attention to those who disagreed with her. This shows Baby Sugg’s strength,
which allows Denver to find safety in the presence of Baby Suggs.

Denver says, “I always knew he was coming. Something was holding him up. He had a
problem with the horse. The river flooded; the boat sank and he had to make a new one.
Sometimes it was a lynch mob or a windstorm. He was coming and it was a secret.”
o
Denver believes that her father is coming back for her and Beloved. She does not
want to believe that Halle left her, rather, she wishes to believe that he could not
come rather than him not wanting to come. This is her hope, trust, and love for
her father. She probably thinks of him more now that Baby Suggs has died
because she no longer has anyone to protect her from Sethe.

“Then Paul D came in here. I heard his voice downstairs, and Ma’am laughing, so I
thought it was him, my daddy. Nobody comes to this house anymore. But when I got
downstairs it was Paul D and he didn’t come for me; he wanted my mother. At first. Then
he wanted my sister, too, but she got him out of here and I’m so glad he’s gone. Now it’s
just us and I can protect her till my daddy gets here to help me watch out for Ma’am and
anything come in the yard.”
o
Denver was disappointed, at first, that it wasn’t her dad that arrived at 124, but
Paul D. Since his arrival, she has always given Paul D an attitude even though her
mother tries to make her respect him more. Paul D came for Sethe, so Denver felt
a further dislike toward him for not caring for anyone but her mother. Also,
Denver begins thinking about her dad to get away from the fear of her mother
trying to kill her children. Denver is waiting for the day her dad comes back
because she needs someone to protect her from Sethe and anyone else that may be
trying to kill her.

Denver transitions from talking about her mother Sethe to talking about her father Halle.

“He was too good, she said. From the beginning, she said, he was too good for the world.
Scared her. She thought, He’ll never make it through. Whitepeople must have thought so
too, because they never got split up. So she got the chance to know him, look after him,
and he scared her the way he loved things.”
o
Baby Suggs painted a picture of Halle for Denver as someone who couldn’t do
wrong. This makes Denver think of Halle as a savior who will someday come and
take her and Beloved away from Sethe.

“But my daddy said, if you can’t count they can cheat you. If you can’t read they can beat
you.”
o
Halle is portrayed as a responsible person and it has Denver naturally trusting him
and having hope in him as a father.

“I knew who [Beloved] was too....And when she wondered about Ma’am’s earrings-something I didn’t know about--well, that just made the cheese more binding: my sister
come to help me wait for my daddy.”
o
Denver sees her sister primarily as a companion to help her through her life with
Sethe.

“If Paul D could do it my daddy could too. Angel man. We should all be together. Me,
him and Beloved. Ma’am could stay or go off with Paul D if she wanted to.”
o
Denver believes that her mother still has feelings for Paul D, and since she
doesn’t like him, Denver says that she doesn’t care if her mother goes with Paul
D. Denver just wants to be with her father and Beloved because she loves them.

“Grandma Baby said people look down on her because she had eight children with
different men. Coloredpeople and whitepeople both look down on her for that. Slaves not
supposed to be like that, but they have to have as many children as they can to please
whoever owned them. Still, they were not supposed to have pleasure deep down. She said
for me not to listen to all that. That I should always listen to my body and love it.”
o
Denver understands what blacks are obligated to do as slaves, and she follows
Baby Suggs’ words that she should not care whether she has pleasure or not, but
that she should just love her own body. Slaves are abused for pleasure for the
owners, and they are ashamed after being raped. Baby Suggs told Denver not to
care about what happens, but she must still love her body.

“The secret house” is Baby Sugg’s clearing

“When she died, I went there. Ma’am would not let me go outside in the yard and eat
with the others. We stayed inside. That hurt. I know Grandma Baby would have liked the
party and the people who came to it, because she got low not seeing anybody or going
anywhere--just grieving and thinking about colors and how she made a mistake.”
o
Denver takes on the attitudes of Baby Suggs, in that she wants to socialize with
others and do not want to isolate herself inside the house, possibly for the same
reasons Grandma Suggs did not want to be alone. When inside the house, Denver
is unhappy, surrounded by disheartening memories of the past, which Sethe
cannot let go. Therefore, Denver knows that Grandma Suggs would have liked
Denver to go out and socialize for her. However,

“She had done everything right and they came in her yard anyway. And she didn’t know
what to think. All she had left was her heart and they busted it so even the War couldn’t
rouse her.”
o
Denver is bitter, because the whites took away the person she loved and only
person she felt safe with--Baby Suggs. The whites took away the slaves’ soul
more than anything.

“And that I shouldn’t be afraid of the ghost. It wouldn’t harm me because I tasted its
blood when Ma’am nursed me. She said the ghost was after Ma’am and her too for not
doing anything to stop it. But it would never hurt me. I just had to watch out for it
because it was a greedy ghost and needed a lot of love, which was only natural,
considering. And I do. Love her. I do. she played with me and always came to be with me
whenever I needed her. She’s mine, Beloved. She’s mine."
o
Denver knows that Beloved wouldn’t harm her because she hasn’t done anything
to her, but she fears that Beloved would try to kill Sethe if she doesn’t receive the
love she wants or needs. However, Denver says that she provides that love, so
Beloved feels satisfied with it. Also, both Sethe and Denver said either “She’s
mine” or “She mine”, meaning they both love Beloved and claims ownership of
her.

The effect of putting this chapter in Denvers point of view opens the reader to a whole
new perspective that was not open to us when not in first person. It allows Denver to
open up more and we realize her true feelings of her mother, sister, and father. It also
shows her accepting that Beloved is her sister and that she will now care for her.
o
Beloved is my sister. I swallowed her blood along with my mother’s mil. The first
thing I heard after not hearing anything was the sound of her crawling up the
stairs”

In this chapter Denver touches on her feelings towards her mother and how she feels that
she is not as important to this family because she killed her own daughter. She does not
know what can give a mother to kill her own daughter, and in case she tries to kill her,
her brother thought her how to fend her off. Denver also talks about how her father will
come back and that she is now to take care of Beloved and make sure she stays safe and
away from Sethe. She also talks about how she is continuously scared when she is around
Sethe and when it is silent.
o
“She was my secret company until Paul D came. He threw her out. Ever
since I was little she was my company and she helped me wait for my
daddy. Me and her waited for him. I love my mother but I know she
killed one of her own daughters, and tender as she is with me, I'm
scared of her because of it. She missed killing my brothers and they
knew it. They told me die-‐witch! stories to show me the way to do it,
if ever I needed to.” “All the time, I'm afraid the thing that happened that
made it all right for my mother to kill my sister could happen again. I
don't know what it is, I don't know who it is, but maybe there is
something else terrible enough to make her do it again. I need to know
what that thing might be, but I don't want to.” “Waiting for me. Tired
from her long journey back. Ready to be taken care of; ready for me to
protect her. This time I have to keep my mother away from her. That's
hard, but I have to. It's all on me. I've seen my mother in a dark place,
with scratching noises. A smell coming from her dress. I have been with
her where something little watched us from the corners. And touched.
Sometimes they touched.”

By saying “She’s mine, Beloved. She’s mine.”, beloved is stressing that it is now her
responsibility to care for Beloved and that she needs to keep her away from her mother.
Since Beloved now spends most of her time with her, Beloved is hers and her
responsibility.
o
“Tired from her long journey back. Ready to be taken care of; ready for
me to protect her. This time I have to keep my mother away from her.
That's hard, but I have to. It's all on me.” “I just had to watch out for it
because it was a greedy ghost and needed a lot of love, which was only
natural, considering. And I do. Love her. I do. She played with me and
always came to be with me whenever I needed her.”
Chapter 22
This chapter is structured into fragments, with no punctuations, and there are spaces
throughout to display the pauses within the thoughts. The thoughts Beloved’s, who is not yet
mature enough to formulate complete thoughts. Her monologue is a mixture of different places,
time periods, thoughts, and memories, which Beloved refers to as “pictures,” because they are
short memories, some of which are not even fully hers. She also repeatedly refers to ‘a hot
thing’ throughout this chapter, which is supposed to resemble love in its physical meaning. It
can also be described as being dangerous like hot things.
The chapter starts off with the quote, “I am Beloved and she is mine.” In parts of this
chapter, the speaker is Beloved’s soul, rather than Beloved as a human being. Because she is a
soul, she is unable to use her body. “I would help her but the clouds are in the way.” She sees a
woman “opening the grass,” and although she wishes to help, she cannot, because she is a soul
in the clouds, which is a reference to heaven and the spirit world.
Half of the chapter takes place on a slave ship. Although Beloved was not physically
present and alive during this time period to experience this, she represents the thoughts and
experiences of her ancestors. “Beloved becomes the embodiment of all slave daughters; Sethe
stands for generations of slave mothers” (Rodrigues, 162). She serves to bring back these
memories and experiences from the past. The reader receives many clues to it being taken place
on a slave ship. “The men without skin bring us their morning water to drink [...] The men
without skin are making loud noises [...] The men without skin push them through with poles”
The men without skin are the white captains and people running the ship. She constantly refers
to a “man on her face,” who is dead. This is a literal reference to a man on a slave ship who is
dead and lying on top of her due to the lack of space in the ship. The people in the ship “[try] to
leave their bodies behind,” meaning that they want to die. However, it is “hard to make
[themselves] die forever,” because “you sleep short and then return.” There are “little hill[s] of
dead people,” for ‘those able to die are in a pile.” These are in reference to the slaves with weak
bodies like “little birds,” who died of illness as they “[fight] hard to leave [their] bod[ies].” The
people in ship are not only sick, but also have a “circle around [their] necks,” which Beloved
wants to “bite away” with the “pretty little teeth” of the dead man, for she knows that “[they do]
not like it.” This is in reference to the collars the slaves had around their necks while in the
slave ships.
While Beloved refers to the experiences inside a slave ship, she incorporates thoughts
related to her mother. She starts the chapter off with “I am Beloved and she is mine. I see her
take flowers away from leaves she puts them in a round basket” ‘She’ is in reference to Sethe.
The readers know this because in chapter 23, it states, “Sethe is the one that picked flowers,
yellow flowers.” In addition, there “is a shining her ears,” which refers to the diamond earings
that Sethe was given from Mrs. Garner. Beloved frequently repeats that ‘her’ face is ‘[her] own’
and that she ‘wants to be there in place where her face is.’ She also repeatedly calls this face
hers. This shows that Beloved wants to be united with Sethe, and her face is the same as Sethe’s
because she is her child. Beloved says, “I cannot lose her again […] her sharp earrings are
gone.” This is, once again, in reference to Sethe, who Beloved believes was going to smile at
her.
Beginning from the paragraph that starts with “I am standing in the rain falling,” Beloved
no longer talks about the slave ship. Instead, she is “falling like the rain” and “is crouching,”
which refers to her in a fetal position as a child inside Sethe’s womb. Unlike others’ souls,
whose souls are taken by heaven, hers is not. Therefore, she is able to come down to earth. The
bridge she waits on is a link from heaven to earth, and Sethe is “under it” because she is on
earth. She eats the bread that is “sea-colored,” because she is feeding from her mother’s
placenta, which is blue and red. Then suddenly, she transitions into saying that “nobody wants
her.” This sudden transition reflects her disjointed thoughts and refers to Sethe leaving her.
Then “on the bridge,” she is waiting “again again” as the days pass by from “night day night
day.” She soon hears “chewing and eating and laughter” and says “it belongs to [her].” Upon
hearing these noises, she states, “I have to have my face I go in the grass opens she opens it I
am in the water and she is coming.” Beloved wants Sethe and is “looking for the join.” Sethe
chews and swallows Beloved, because Sethe removes Beloved’s body in an attempt to join with
Beloved. She goes in the water, both as herself and the woman, to be reborn. Then, they come
out of the water together as one. In addition to the physical resemblance between Beloved and
Sethe because of their blood relation, this is why when Beloved sees Sethe’s face in the water,
she believes she sees her own. Her thoughts then shift to the times when Sethe would show
Beloved her diamond earrings. Beloved would be on Sethe’s lap, and when she looked up to
Sethe while she was showing Beloved her earrings, Beloved would see Sethe through the
crystal earrings. “She goes up where the diamonds are I follow her we are in the diamonds
which are her earrings now” Beloved then comes “out of blue water,” which signifies the birth
of Beloved. She repeats “I am not dead,” trying to point out the fact that she has come back to
life and is no longer dead even after Sethe’s murdering of Beloved.
“Sethe’s is the face that let me Sethe sees me see her and I see the smile her smiling face is
the place for me it is the face I lost she is my face smiling at me” The chapter ends with
Beloved’s reunion with Sethe, who Beloved claims to have been abandoned by, for Sethe killed
her and sent her to a different world. Sethe is said to be smiling at Beloved, which is why when
Beloved comes out of the water, she is smiling. Beloved is happy to be reunited with her
mother, for they can join, ‘at last.’
Chapter 23

Chapter 23 is composed of all three character’s voices: Sethe, Denver, and Beloved.

Three conversations are presented in this chapter: one between Sethe and Beloved, one
between Denver and Beloved, and one between Beloved and her soul. However, they all
aren’t literally talking to each other because their thoughts from the previous chapters are
all combined together to give the sense that they are conversations. The conversations are
formed in the poetic sense rather than the dialogue style, and we better understand the
feelings and tone of coherency and closeness among the three characters’ thoughts. The
poetic style gives the passage a proper rhythm and momentum. This chapter also begins
with the same sentence as Chapter 22, and this technique shows the different periods of
Beloved’s life because in Chapter 22, her words and sentence structure are still
developing while in Chapter 23, her speech is now developed with punctuations.

“Tell me the truth. Didn’t you come from the other side?”
o
Sethe is asking if Beloved came back from the dead which she calls the “other
side”.

“Where are the men without skin?” “Out there. Way off” “Can they get in here?
o
Beloved is referring to schoolteacher coming back to 124. Beloved is scared to be
back there because Sethe killed her once, she does not want her to kill her again.

“I was going to help you but the clouds got in the way.”
o
When schoolteacher came to 124 to get Sethe back, he took her earrings. Beloved
says that she would have helped her, but she was already in heaven because Sethe
had killed her already.

“Tell me the truth. Didn't you come from the other side?
Yes. I was on the other side.
You came back because of me?
Yes.
You rememory me?
Yes. I remember you.
You never forgot me?
Your face is mine.
Do you forgive me? Will you stay? You safe here now.
Where are the men without skin?
Out there. Way off.
Can they get in here?
No. They tried that once, but I stopped them. They won't ever come back.
One of them was in the house I was in. He hurt me.
They can't hurt us no more.
Where are your earrings?
They took them from me.
The men without skin took them?
Yes.
I was going to help you but the clouds got in the way.
There're no clouds here.
If they put an iron circle around your neck I will bite it away.
Beloved.
I will make you a round basket.
You're back. You're back.
Will we smile at me?
Can't you see I'm smiling?
I love your face”
o
This section of the chapter involves the thoughts from the previous chapters from
both Sethe and Beloved. These feelings occur during the time when Sethe realizes
that her child that she killed has come back, and Beloved says that she never
forgot about Sethe.

“We played by the creek.
I was there in the water.
In the quiet time, we played.
The clouds were noisy and in the way.
When I needed you, you came to be with me.
I needed her face to smile.
I could only hear breathing.
The breathing is gone; only the teeth are left.
She said you wouldn't hurt me.
She hurt me.
I will protect you.
I want her face.
Don't love her too much.
I am loving her too much.
Watch out for her; she can give you dreams.
She chews and swallows.
Don't fall asleep when she braids your hair.
She is the laugh; I am the laughter.
I watch the house; I watch the yard.
She left me.
Daddy is coming for us.
A hot thing”
o
We know that this section is about the thoughts/feelings from both Denver and
Beloved because it says “I will protect you”, referring to how Denver was willing
to protect Beloved after she got so attached to her. Also, Beloved’s thoughts are
depicted here when she says, “I am loving her too much”, referring to how she
loves Sethe too much even though Denver was thinking about telling Beloved not
to.

“Beloved
You are my sister
You are my daughter
You are my face; you are me
I have found you again; you have come back to me
You are my Beloved
You are mine
You are mine
You are mine”
o
Here, all three voices are present, and all three characters say, “You are mine” just
like from the previous chapters. Sethe builds love for Beloved since she
recognizes her as the reincarnate of the baby she killed; Denver dislikes Paul D
and begins to enjoy having a child to play with again; Beloved’s soul is a part of
Beloved, claims that she is her, and wants to join together to become one.

“I have your milk
I have your smile
I will take care of you”
o
“I have your milk” is said by Sethe and directed to Beloved, “I have your smile”
is said by Beloved’s soul and directed to Beloved, and “I will take care of you” is
said by Denver and directed to Beloved. All three have previously said these three
sentences before in the book, and these sentences are specifically directed toward
Beloved.

“You are my face; I am you. Why did you leave me who am you?
I will never leave you again
Don’t ever leave me again
You will never leave me again
You went in the water
I drank your blood
I brought your milk
You forgot to smile
I loved you
You hurt me
You came back to me
You left me”
o
All three characters’ voices are portrayed together here. However, the last two
paragraphs before this one end with three sentences, each said by the three
different characters, and this paragraph quoted here changes by including only
Sethe’s and Beloved’s soul’s thoughts in the last three sentences. But this entire
paragraph still includes all three voices.

“I waited for you
You are mine
You are mine
You are mine”
o
The first line in this quote can be from any of the three characters’ voices. Sethe
was waiting for Beloved to return to her after she had killed her. Denver was
waiting for Beloved to return because she had no other siblings around the house,
and after enjoying so much time with Beloved, Denver realizes that she loves
Beloved and she can be here to wait together for their father’s return. Beloved
was waiting for Sethe since she died and wanted to see her mother again.

This chapter starts out with “I am beloved and she is mine” because it show the reader the
speaker that starts out is still beloved, just as it was for the previous chapter.
o
“I AM BELOVED and she is mine. Sethe is the one that picked flowers,
yellow flowers in the place before the crouching. Took them away from
their green leaves.”

Beloved associate Sethe with the place where they crouched because Beloved portrays
herself and Sethe as one and them crouching resembles both of them in the fetus as one.
So when Beloved comes out of the water as a new birth, so does Sethe.
o
“I come out of blue water after the bottoms of my feet swim away from
me I come up I need to find a place to be the air is heavy I am not
dead I am not there is a house there is what she whispered to me I am
where she told me I am not dead”

The “gunsmoke” is a reference to the atmosphere surrounding Sethe, which is in bad
conditions and full of violence. The conditions that the slaves had to endure were similar
to those of wars, which included harsh situations and consequences.
o
“I wanted to help her when she was picking the flowers, but I could not move; I
wanted to help her when she was picking the flowers, but the clouds of gunsmoke
blinded me and I lost her.”

The use of “rememory” is exclusive to Sethe because “rememory” refers to thoughts and
experiences that have been repressed, however Beloved uses “remember” because she
has retained the thoughts of her mother the whole time.
o
“[Sethe] You rememory me?
[Beloved] Yes. I remember you.”

“I will take care of you” is said by Beloved and she is talking to Sethe. This is referring
back to the previous chapter when Beloved is coming back to Sethe after being reborn. It
is her telling Sethe that she is now going to be there for her and support her. It is also
referring to when Beloved says that they can now join, meaning they can now become
one and Beloved can be with Sethe and Sethe with Beloved.
o
“I come out of blue water after the bottoms of my feet swim away from
me I come up I need to find a place to be the air is heavy” “Sethe's is
the face that lef me Sethe sees me see her and I see the smile her
smiling face is the place for me it is the face I lost she is my face
smiling at me doing it at last a hot thing now we can join”

The chapter ends with saying you are mine three times because it goes back to each
character claiming that Beloved is theirs and that is also the main point of all the previous
three chapters, Beloved being either Sethes daughter, Denvers sister, or Beloved being
the sole of Beloved. It sums up the views of all three characters.
o
“Beloved, she my daughter. She mine” “Beloved is my sister” “I am beloved and
she is mine”
Characters
Amy
Amy is a minor character who is round yet static. Though she is a white woman, she is
impartial, for she helps Sethe give birth to Denver despite her race. She is intense and eccentric,
having long hair that is “enough [...] for four or five heads.” Her arms are skinny “like cane
stalks” and she has slow-moving eyes. “She didn’t look at anything quick,” analyzing situations
and having a keen eye. She is also garrulous, taking “so much it wasn’t clear how she could
breathe at the same time.” However, her words are encouraging and soothing, keeping “the little
antelope,” which represents Sethe, “quiet and grazing.” She is a strong and different woman,
who “needed beef and pot liquor like nobody in this world” with arms that “were as strong as
iron.” Readers can also tell that Amy is a strong and determined character just by her journey.
She set off for Boston on food to find “the prettiest velvet” everyone believed she could not find.
“They don't believe I'm a get it, but I am,” she said. In addition, after the death of her mother, she
“worked for em [alone] to pay [the debt] off.”
Amy constantly mentions how she was on her way to Boston, yet she was still willing to
stay with Sethe after seeing that she was in need. Amy said, “How old are you, Lu? I been
bleeding for four years but I ain’t having nobody’s baby. Won’t catch me sweating milk cause...”
but Sethe interrupted, knowing that she would say that she was “going to Boston.” Amy and
Sethe have a connection together since they are both fleeing from being servants, and after Amy
saw the marks on Sethe’s back, she mentions that “Mr. Buddy had a right evil hand too”, saying
that he whipped her hard just as Sethe was whipped by schoolteacher. These common
experiences tie these two characters together, having Amy be impartial and unprejudiced to
Sethe, despite her race.
Amy’s importance in the plot is helping Sethe to give birth to the new born child. She
encounters Sethe as she was running from Sweet Home to 124, and she sees that Sethe was
pregnant, weak, and in need of help. Amy doesn’t really have any motivations in the story, but
she played a large role in helping Sethe. Amy’s real desire was to get velvet from Boston, but she
had no other intentions of doing anything or acquiring anything. Throughout the whole story, her
helpful traits stay consistent because she isn’t involved much in the entire plot, therefore making
her a static and minor character. Amy doesn’t hide anything from Sethe, and is very open about
her life, talking about her life even when Sethe did not ask about it. It is evident that Amy had a
large effect on Sethe since Sethe named her daughter Denver after Amy Denver.
In addition to contributing to the plot, Amy contributes to the theme as well.“‘It's gonna
hurt, now,’ said Amy. ‘Anything dead coming back to life hurts.’” Denver believed this was true,
relating this to Beloved’s return. The revival of Beloved, Denver knows, will be one that hurts.
We know this is true because Sethe was greatly affected by Beloved’s return, and in the end, was
sick and left with nothing. Amy’s words also reflect the general theme of slavery. Former slaves
live the rest of their free lives trying to come back to life. However, their past still hurts them and
the memories still linger.
Ella
In the book, Ella plays the role of assisting in the process of helping slaves relocate to
places where they could live, such as 124. She is responsible for taking Sethe’s three other
children, Howard, Buglar, and Beloved to 124. Later on, she also helps take Sethe and Denver to
124. Because she helps slaves, Ella is considered a character that is thoughtful, caring, and
considerate of others. However, “she had been Baby Suggs’ friend and Sethe's too till the rough
time,” meaning that she viewed Sethe differently after learning that she had killed her child.
Because of this, Ella is considered a round and dynamic character. While at first, she was willing
to help Sethe and saw her as another slave who deserved to be treated better, Ella changed her
feelings towards Sethe afterwards and was disappointed with her and what she did. At the end of
the book, “when Ella heard 124 was occupied by something or--other beating up on Sethe, it
infuriated her,” showing how she changes her feelings towards Sethe once more. She disliked
“the idea of past errors taking possession of the present,” believing that Sethe did not deserve to
be mistreated by Beloved and agreed to help Sethe by making Beloved leave.
In the story Ella acts as a community leader and her thoughts reflect those of the people
in the town. She is the one who is able to rally the women to go to 124 and try to somehow get
rid of Beloved. Ella is connected to Sethe because both of their demons haunt them even though
they want to bury them. Ella says “‘You know as well as I do that people who die bad don't stay
in the ground,’" showing that just like Beloved coming back from the dead, things from Ella’s
past have come back to haunt her as well. Despite their connection, Ella wants nothing to do with
Sethe because she believes that Sethe did the wrong thing in killing her child. She doesn’t even
want to give Paul D a place to stay after he moves out of 124 because of her desire to have
nothing to do with Sethe.
Although Ella dislikes the fact that Sethe killed her own daughter, she still helps Sethe to
organize the exorcism of Beloved. Before Beloved returned, Ella didn’t have any reason to do
anything with or for Sethe, and she has always not wanted to have any part with Sethe. However,
Ella is always willing to do things for others such as Sethe despite realizing that what Sethe did
was wrong.
Ella contributes to the theme in several ways. “If anybody was to ask me I'd say, 'Don't
love nothing,” she says. This relates to the theme of detachment with slaves. Former slaves were
taught to become detached to everyone, including their children, because they did not know who
they would lose. Ella also serves as a contrast to the theme of memory and the past. Like the
others, she too experienced something traumatic. “For more than a year, [a father and a son] kept
her locked in a room for themselves.” However, in contrast to the other characters, Ella is able to
move on from the past and treat the past as what it is--the past. “The future was sunset; the past
something to leave behind,” she says. “And if it didn't stay behind, well, you might have to
stomp it out.”
124
124 is the house that Sethe and Denver live in, but it is more than just a house. The
number 124 represents how the third child of the family is not present because she was killed by
Sethe, and only the first, second, and fourth child are alive. The house is grey and white with a
white staircase and has two stories. “There is only one door to the house and to get to it from the
back you had to walk all the way around to the front of 124,” and it has a shed that was
converted from a kitchen in the back of the house. In the kitchen was a small table by the stove.
Before the Misery, 124 was full of laughter and enjoyment. Baby Suggs would have her
gatherings at 124, inviting the town over for blackberry pie. “124 [was] rocking with laughter,
goodwill and food for ninety” and was generous. However, after the Misery, 124 represents the
spirit of Beloved and her fury. When Paul D first enters 124, he is met with a “pool of red and
undulating light that locked him where he stood.” Later, when he and Sethe are talking, the
“floorboards were [shaking] and the grinding” and it “was pitching.” And as Paul D told the
house to leave them alone, “a table rushed towards him.” Paul D’s presence was unwanted, and
so the house acted out in a violent manner. Paul D was then able to push the ghost of Beloved
out, causing the house to become quiet. 124 was also a place of seclusion for Denver and Sethe
after Sethe was ostracized from the community for killing her daughter. Denver feels especially
trapped by the house, and she notes that “Not since Miss Lady Jones' house have I [Denver] left
124 by myself. Never. The only other times--two times in all--I was with my mother.”
124 is a dynamic character in that 124 was open to everyone at the beginning of the story,
but after Sethe killed beloved, it became closed and excluded everyone but Sethe, Denver, and
Beloved. Stamp Paid considered going to 124 to apologize to Sethe for showing the “clipping” to
Paul D, which caused Paul D to leave Sethe and 124. 124 wanted to get rid of Paul D because he
was acting as the replacement for Halle after Halle had left the family, and Paul D wasn’t
welcomed to the house; 124 was closed. Stamp Paid was closed away from 124 as well, and he
“raised his fist to knock on the door he had never knocked on (because it was always open to or
for him) and could not do it.” 124 is the mask of Beloved’s ghost because Stamp Paid said, “he
thought he heard a conflagration of hasty voices–loud, urgent, all speaking at once so he could
not make out what they were talking about or to whom. The speech wasn’t nonsensical, exactly,
nor was it tongues. But something was wrong with the order of the words and he couldn’t
describe or cipher it to save his life. All he could make out was the word mine.”
124 had the urge or motivation to seek revenge because it was angry at the deaths of
blacks, and one major death was when Sethe killed her daughter. Once Paul D entered the house,
he felt a sense of not being welcomed, and he “followed her through the door straight into a pool
of red and undulating light that locked him where he stood.” The red light represents the anger of
the house. 124’s characteristics come into sharper focus first when Paul D enters, and when
Stamp Paid attempted to knock on the door of the house, no one answered the door even though
there were people inside, depicting how he was just as unwelcome as Paul D was. 124 realizes
later that the spirit of Beloved needs to leave because “when they got Sethe down on the ground
and the ice pick out of her hands and looked back to the house, it was gone.” Beloved was
standing in front of 124, but she disappears. 124 made her disappear, and all the townspeople
eventually begin to forget that she was ever around. 124 has a close relationship to Sethe,
Denver, and Beloved because it is the Beloved’s spirit. When Stamp Paid decipers the word
“mine” from the voice he hears, this voice is from Beloved’s ghost, saying that Beloved is hers.
The Bodwins
The Bodwins were “the white brother and sister who gave Stamp Paid, Ella and John
clothes, goods and gear for runaways because they hated slavery worse than they hated slaves.”
They “lived right in the center of a street full of houses and trees.” Edward Bodwin, the brother,
had “beautiful mustache,” which was generally agreed upon by the women in the Society that,
except for his hands, it was the most attractive feature he had. Dark, velvety, its beauty was
enhanced by his strong clean-shaven chin. But his hair was white, like his sister's--and had been
since he was a young man. It made him the most visible and memorable person at every
gathering, and cartoonists had fastened onto the theatricality of his white hair and big black
mustache whenever they depicted local political antagonism.” "Twenty years ago when the
Society was at its height in opposing slavery," his enemies called him a "bleached nigger." “He
had one clear directive: human life is holy, all of it.” This explains his compassion and equal
treatment for blacks.
The Bodwins and Mr. Garner had known each other for “twenty years or more” back
when Baby Suggs was about to be freed. Mr. Garner took Baby Suggs to the Bodwins and
promised her that “they [would] give [her] what help [she] need[ed].” When they first meet, the
Bodwins were “both dressed in gray with faces too young for their snow-white hair.”
The Bodwins contributed to the story’s theme in several ways. For one, they were the
providers of Baby Suggs and Sethe’s new life. This is important, because slavery stripped former
slaves of all their possessions. They had nothing to claim as their own, which was one way the
slave owners sought to dehumanize the slaves. The Bodwins referred Baby Suggs to a job
position at the slaughterhouse, where she would receive “all the meat [she] want[s], plus twentyfive cents the hour.” In addition, Baby Suggs rented a two floor house and a well from them.
“Money? Money? They would pay her every single day? Money?” was her reaction to a job.
This emphasizes the importance of the ability to claim something her own, especially property--a
two floor house.
The Bodwins also gave Sethe and Denver a job. “The Bodwins got me the cooking job at
Sawyer's,” Sethe said. This job allowed Sethe to “smile on [her] own,” which another sign of
independence. When the Bodwins give Denver a job, Denver feels stronger and independent and
she matures. The Bodwins were the providers of independence, strength, and identity.
The Bodwins were also the providers of the love, protection, privacy, and trust former
slaves sought. Miss Bodwin loved Baby Suggs and treated her like a human being, even giving
her a good-wool castoff dress on Christmas. Sethe believed that the Bodwins’, like Amy, the
Gardners, or “even a sheriff[‘s],” touch at her elbow was gentle. In addition, she mentions that
they “looked away when she nursed,” which refers to the idea that the Bodwins treated Sethe as a
human being with rights of her own. The Bodwins also “taught [Denver] stuff” and “treated her
more than all right over there.” Mr. Bodwin also represents the importance of privacy. “There
was a time when he buried things [at his house]. Precious things he wanted to protect. As a child
every item he owned was available and accountable to his family. Privacy was an adult
indulgence.” By giving Baby Suggs an opportunity to rent her own house is an example of him
contributing to the theme by providing privacy.
The Bodwins strongly opposed slavery for they are abolitionists, yet they don’t fully
tolerate blacks because the majority of the population are prejudiced or against blacks. However,
they are fully against slavery, and they dislike most slaves. We understand this when it says that
the Bodwins “hated slavery worse than they hated slaves.” The Bodwins are round yet static
characters because even though they are white, they still oppose slavery. However, they aren’t
fully racist against blacks. The Bodwins don’t change in characteristics, but those characteristics
intensify and become more focused. We learn that the Bodwins helped Sethe to get a job at
Sawyer’s, and they played a small role in caring for Denver even though they gave her some
work to do down the street. If the Bodwins were to completely discriminate against blacks, then
Sethe would have never gained her freedom from slavery.
Beloved
Beloved is the titular character and is portrayed as a static character whose beliefs and
actions intensify as we progress through the book. While first occupying the house as a spirit,
Beloved does not allow outsiders to enter, and when she encounters people face-to-face, she
doesn’t act the same way she does as when she is with Sethe or Denver. She requires love from
both of these two characters. She almost always needs to be satisfied with her wants. Beloved is
definitively a round character in that she acts in odd and uncontrollable manner when she
believes that something is getting in her way between her close relationship between either Sethe
or Denver. We learn that Beloved is a very insecure character as we see her actions in the house.
When Paul D came to 124, he began to create problems for Sethe’s family such as replacing
Halle with Paul D as the husband and father in the house and forming hostility onto Denver for
this reason. However, “the damage [Paul D] did came undone with the miraculous resurrection
of Beloved.”
When Beloved first appears as a physical being and comes to 124, Denver is the only one
who realizes that it is the reincarnation of her dead sister. While she is not hiding her identity
from Sethe, Beloved doesn’t tell Sethe, and Sethe doesn’t realize Beloved’s true identity.
However, Sethe experiences a “click,” or her realization of Beloved’s identity, after she realizes
that Beloved was humming a song that Sethe made up and that only her children knew. As soon
as this realization is made, Sethe becomes excited by her belief that Beloved was not angry at her
for killing her. She also begins to think about the possibility of Howard and Bugler returning
and having a complete family. However, she later starts to focus all her attention on Beloved
and cuts out Denver, and as Beloved becomes more and more demanding, Sethe becomes more
submissive.
Beloved is the reincarnate of the same child Sethe killed before she came to 124, and she
is the missing number in 124, for she was the third child to be born. The death of Beloved
brought about all the spiritual occurrences or events at the house such as the “pool of red and
undulating light that locked [Paul D] where he stood.” Beloved creates the conflict because she is
trying to rejoin with her family again, and she was the one that got Paul D out of 124 since she
didn’t want him here. Paul D wanted to be with Sethe as a replacement for Halle, but he needed
to get Beloved out of the picture. Beloved becomes frustrated from not being able to gain true
love with her mother, but she enjoys spending time with her sister Denver. Denver too wants
Paul D to leave since she knows that he is trying to replace Halle, yet she doesn’t want that to
happen. Also, Stamp Paid tries going to 124 to try to learn about the new child in the
neighborhood, who is Beloved, but he doesn’t realize that this new child is the Sethe’s dead
child’s reincarnate. Paul D learns about the “clipping”, or the death of Beloved by Sethe, so this
forces him to think differently about Sethe and to leave 124.
Throughout the entire plot, Beloved is portrayed as childish and immature because she is
reborn, meaning she must develop herself all over again. In chapter 22, Beloved’s speech wasn’t
fully developed as portrayed by the fragments and diction, but in chapter 23, her speech
completely changes, for there are punctuations, complete sentence structures, and more formal
language. However, her behavior remains the same throughout the events in the plot. Beloved
acts very childish when compared to her sister Denver, who is mature and responsible. Beloved
has the motivation to acquire the love from her mother, physically and artificially. She constantly
says “a hot thing”, meaning the physical appearance of love, and here, love is implied as being
something dangerous like a “hot” fire. In her monologue, Sethe constantly says “You are mine”
while directing it toward Beloved because she recognizes Beloved as the reborn child that she
killed and is glad that she is now physically with her.
When Beloved seeks to get what she wants, she goes out of her way to explicitly acquire
that satisfaction. For example, she sees that Paul D is taking Sethe away from her when she
wants Sethe for herself, so she tries everything to get Paul D to leave 124. Beloved mainly acts
as a child, always wanting attention, so Sethe and Denver continue to attend to her and satisfy
her wants and needs. Sethe was so attached to Denver that she found the money that she had
saved and spent it almost completely for Beloved by buying food, crafts, and other playful items.
Then another conflict arises from Beloved being present when Sethe is fired from her job at the
restaurant since she always arrived late for attending to Beloved so much. Sethe puts practically
all her focus on Beloved, so Beloved is basically manipulating Sethe. “Denver began to drift
from the play, but she watched it, alert for any sign that Beloved was in danger.” “But it was
Beloved who made demands. Anything she wanted she got, and when Sethe ran out of things to
give her, Beloved invented desire.”
Style Analysis
Passage:
And him. Eighteen seventy-four and whitefolks were still on the loose. Whole towns
wiped clean of Negroes; eighty-seven lynchings in one year alone in Kentucky; four colored
schools burned to the ground; grown men whipped like children; children whipped like adults;
black women raped by the crew; property taken, necks broken. He smelled skin, skin and hot
blood. The skin was one thing, but human blood cooked in a lynch fire was a whole other thing.
The stench stank. Stank up off the pages of the North Star, out of the mouths of witnesses, etched
in crooked handwriting in letters delivered by hand. Detailed in documents and petitions full of
whereas and presented to any legal body who'd read it, it stank. But none of that had worn out his
marrow. None of that. It was the ribbon. Tying his flatbed up on the bank of the Licking River,
securing it the best he could, he caught sight of something red on its bottom. Reaching for it, he
thought it was a cardinal feather stuck to his boat. He tugged and what came loose in his hand
was a red ribbon knotted around a curl of wet woolly hair, clinging still to its bit of scalp. He
untied the ribbon and put it in his pocket, dropped the curl in the weeds. On the way home, he
stopped, short of breath and dizzy. He waited until the spell passed before continuing on his way.
A moment later, his breath left him again. This time he sat down by a fence. Rested, he got to his
feet, but before he took a step he turned to look back down the road he was traveling and said, to
its frozen mud and the river beyond, "What are these people? You tell me, Jesus. What are
they?"
When he got to his house he was too tired to eat the food his sister and nephews had
prepared. He sat on the porch in the cold till way past dark and went to his bed only because his
sister's voice calling him was getting nervous. He kept the ribbon; the skin smell nagged him,
and his weakened marrow made him dwell on Baby Suggs' wish to consider what in the world
was harmless. He hoped she stuck to blue, yellow, maybe green, and never fixed on red.
Mistaking her, upbraiding her, owing her, now he needed to let her know he knew, and to
get right with her and her kin. So, in spite of his exhausted marrow, he kept on through the
voices and tried once more to knock at the door of 124. This time, although he couldn't cipher
but one word, he believed he knew who spoke them. The people of the broken necks, of firecooked blood and black girls who had lost their ribbons.
What a roaring.
Analysis
Toni Morrison uses literary elements to portray the theme of the horrors of slavery. The
passage depicts Stamp Paid’s memory of a site of a lynching and how the experience and other
memories affected him. Through a tired yet emotional and angry tone, the author portrays Stamp
Paid’s incredulous reaction to the event.
Through the author’s diction, we better understand how extreme the lynchings were, and the
extent to which the sights affected him. The blacks were “wiped clean” and the “stench stank,”
which both convey negative and bitter tones. The word “woolly” is used to describe the hair that
Stamp Paid found on the floor. The word is usually used to describe the hair of a sheep, and
when used in this context, it causes one to think of those who died at the lynching as animals
rather than people. Stamp paid says that the smell of the burning skin did not simply stay with
him, but “nagged” him. This description shows the reader that he had a negative reaction to the
scent bothered him and was engraved in his mind. The experience also made Stamp “dwell on
Baby Suggs' wish to consider what in the world was harmless.” The word dwell in this sentence
lets us know that the experience gave him a new sense of the world, as he was no longer just
thinking about Baby Suggs’ wish, but also finding the meaning in what she told him.
Through Morrison’s syntax, readers are better able to understand Stamp Paid’s intense
emotions when reflecting upon the memories of slavery. Morrison uses short clauses that create a
rapid pace when recalling the lynching. “Whole towns wiped clean of Negroes; eighty-seven
lynchings in one year alone in Kentucky; four colored schools burned to the ground; grown men
whipped like children; children whipped like adults; black women raped by the crew; property
taken, necks broken. He smelled skin, skin and hot blood.” These clauses list the horrors of the
lynching in a rapid pace that is filled with bitterness. Through repetition of the simile “whipped
like” and the arrangement of the words “children” and “adults,” Morrison emphasizes that slaves
of all ages were punished. Then the author resumes to normal length sentences, and then again,
abruptly stops the flow. “None of that. It was the ribbon,” Morrison writes. This pause creates an
impact, which is used to highlight the importance of the one ribbon that represented the lynching
of all the former slaves. Sentences then resume its normal length, once again, and readers are
now met with the only dialogue from this passage. “What are these people? You tell me, Jesus.
What are they?” Stamp Paid asks. This, again, creates another impact, now highlighting Stamp
Paid’s angry and incredulous reaction to these memories. Then at the end of the passage,
Morrison adds one last fragment--”The people of the broken necks, of fire-cooked blood and
black girls who had lost their ribbons.” By writing this sentence as a fragment, Morrison puts the
focus of the sentence on just the victims one last time, then ends with a short sentence that serves
as a contrast to the long sentences before it--”What a roaring.” In this short sentence alone,
Morrison once again conveys Stamp Paid’s anger.
The imagery in the passage is used to describe the dreadful state of Kentucky during the year
that there were 87 lynchings. Stamp recalls when he “smelled skin, skin and hot blood. The skin
was one thing, but human blood cooked in a lynch fire was a whole other thing.” The image of
cooked blood helps the reader to understand the terrors of racism and slavery. Stamp Paid
describes the ribbon with a metaphor, calling it “a cardinal feather stuck to his boat.” This shows
that Stamp Paid values the feather and sees it as a delicate reminder of the past. The red ribbon
is “knotted around a curl of wet woolly hair, clinging still to its bit of scalp.” Morrison gives us a
sharp visual image of the remains of the hair and scalp to remind the readers that these were, in
fact, human beings, which evokes sympathy from the readers. Morrison then uses a imagery and
metaphor of colors “blue, yellow, [...] green, and [...] red.” These represent colors Baby Suggs
focused on, because they were considered safe--with the exception of red. The passage then ends
with the last imagery, “The people of the broken necks, of fire-cooked blood and black girls who
had lost their ribbons.” The “broken necks,” “fire-cooked blood,” and “black girls” all relate to
each other and serves as a last reminder of what the memories that Stamp Paid reacted to were
about.
Through the use of diction, syntax, and imagery, Toni Morrison provides a more physical
and personal view of what Stamp Paid has gone through and why he is so aggressive toward the
entire idea of slavery. It is understood that Stamp Paid’s presence explicitly depicts the full event
from an included point-of-view. The literary elements also help connect all the details previously
given about Stamp Paid, and along with that, the passage clearly defines the theme of the horrors
of sl
Timeline
Chapter 19

1874: Stamp Paid is in front of 124, deciding whether he should knock on the door or not.

Stamp has a flashback to Baby Suggs’ funeral in 1865.

Stamp Paid hears voices in front of the house and cannot bring himself to knock.

Sethe decides to “lay it all down” and go ice skating with Denver and Beloved. Nobody
sees them fall.

After the group goes back to 124, Beloved starts humming a song that only Sethe and her
children know, and she realizes that Beloved is her daughter.

Shifts to Stamp Paid in the present fingering a ribbon with a tired marrow.

Immediately shifts to the past and recalls his conversation with Baby Suggs where he
tells her not to quit the word. Sometime between 1856 and 1865.

Shifts back to Sethe in the present, when she wakes up and makes breakfast for Beloved
and Denver.

Sethe thinks about the things that happened as a result of Sethe killing Beloved in 1855.

Shifts to Stamp Paid who goes to knock on 124, and when nobody answers he goes to see
Ella and John.

It then shifts to Stamp’s past when he had to turn over his wife to his master’s son.

Switches back to the present where Stamp Paid talks to Ella about taking Paul D in.

Shifts to Sethe in the present who goes to work.

She thinks about her life in Sweet Home, 1848-1855.

Goes back to the present, Mr. Sawyer talks about her work.

Shifts back to memories of Sweet Home and Schoolteacher, and a time when she was
called an animal, and Mrs. Garner’s explanation of what characteristics mean.

The events are still in Sweet Home, Sethe and the men start to plan their escape from
Sweet Home.

Sethe come home in the present.

Stamp Paid hears the “unspeakable thoughts” in the present.
Chapter 20

1874: Sethe begins the first of three monologues by saying “[Beloved] is my daughter.”

Sethe is talking specifically to Beloved

Shifts back to 1855, when Sethe killed Beloved; Sethe says, “I put her where she would
be.”

Switches back to the present; Sethe blames Paul D for making Beloved run off, causing
Beloved to come back in physical form.

Shifts back to moment when Sethe was being raped by schoolteacher’s sons; “I never had
to give it to nobody else--and the one time I did it was took from me--they held me down
and took it. Milk that belonged to my baby.”

Shifting back to the present, Sethe says, “It was her all right, but for a long time I didn’t
believe it,” meaning she didn’t believe that Beloved was her dead daughter.

Sethe’s thoughts shift back to the past about Baby Suggs, when she was “pondering” for
colors her “last years.”

Comes back to the present in which she talks about the things she’ll do with Beloved.
“Think what spring will be for us! I’ll plant carrots just so she can see then, and turnips”
“Because you mine and I have to show you these things, and teach you what a mother
should.”

Shifts back to the memory of Amy and Mrs. Garner and focuses on their characteristics.
“Eyes must have been gray, though. Seem like I do rememory that. Mrs. Garner’s was
light brown-while she was well.” During this time she also mentions Mrs. Garner calling
her Jenny while she would be sick.

Sethe then moves to the past about her memories at Sweet Home when she is getting
raped by schoolteacher’s sons. “They dug a hole for my stomach so as not to hurt the
baby.”

Talks about the past when Beloved was alive and when Denver was still inside of Sethe;
Talks about time back at Sweet Home and birth of Denver.

Shifts back to the present when Sethe explains how “[she] would have known right off”
about Beloved’s true identity, but blames Paul D for distracting her from finding out.

Sethe then refers back to the time when Schoolteacher came to 124 and Sethe killed
Beloved, saying that her plan was to kill all her children and then herself, but Baby Suggs
and the others were able to stop her. “My plan was to take us all to the other side where
my own ma’am is. They stopped me from getting us there, but they didn’t stop you from
getting there.”

Sethe then goes back to the time when her mother was hanged and compares and
contrasts the incident to make clear if her mom actually left her to go to the other side.
She also says that she would have been able to be a good girl just like Beloved and come
back to her mother if she was not stopped from killing everybody. “”You came right on
back like a good girl, like a daughter, which is what I wanted to be and would have been
if y ma’am had been able to get out of the rice long enough before they hanged her and
let me be one.” “..nobody’s ma’am would run off and leave her daughter, would she?”

Shifts to time when Sethe was in jail and continues to the point when she gets out of jail
for killing her child.

Goes back to the time when Beloved was buried; Sethe wanted to “lay in there” with
Beloved if she didn’t have to care for her other three children.

Shifts back to present; Sethe says Beloved has come back to her, and she is hers.
Chapter 21

Denver thinks of all the events in this chapter in the present

She thinks of waiting for her father with the ghost beloved

Thinks back to the times when her brother told her die-witch! stories and how she was
scared of her mother

Talks about how she never left the house and the 2 times she did--Baby Sugg’s funeral
and the carnival with Paul D and Sethe

Thinks back when she first saw Beloved and how she has to keep Sethe away from
Beloved to protect Beloved

Thinks back to the times when Sethe would cut and braid her hair and how she slept in
Baby Sugg’s room for safety

thinks to how Baby Sugg’s remodeled the kitchen and house and how Baby Sugg’s didn’t
care about what others thought about the kitchen

Talks about the silence and how she would hear the breathing of Here Boy

Thinks back to the time when she was disappointed that Paul D was not her dad

Talks about her father’s characteristics, how much she admires him, and how Baby Suggs
described him

Thinks about her not being able to go outside during Grandma Sugg’s funeral

Thinks back to the time Baby Suggs reassured Denver that Beloved would never harm
Denver because Denver tasted Beloved’s blood
Chapter 22

This chapter is in Beloved’s perspective

Thinks to the time Beloved saw Sethe “take flowers away from leaves” and “put them in
a round basket”

Talks about how she is “not crouching and wtching others who are crouching too”

Talks about the conditions in the ship, the “small rats,” “dead men,” “sea-colored bread,”
and “the little hill of dead people” who “fall into the sea” because “the men without skin
push them through with poles”

Shifts to Beloved not able to “help [Sethe] because the clouds were in the way”

Talks about the boat again and how “the storms rock [them] and mix the men into the
women and the women into the men”

Shifts to visions of Sethe and her “dark face that is going to smile at” her

Then she is “standing in the rain falling”

Beloved hears “chewing and swallowing and laughter” that “belongs to [her]”

She is now “in the water and [Sethe] is coming” and she is “looking for the join” and
their faces are close
Chapter 23

Goes back to the moment when Sethe is picking flowers while Beloved is inside her
stomachwhile Beloved is inside her stomach.

Beloved thinks about how she lost Sethe in the past when she “went into the sea.” “Sethe
is the face I found and lost in the water under the bridge.”

Beloved mentions that she lost Sethe three times. “Three times I lost her: once with the
flowers...once when she went into the sea...once under the bridge.”

Beloved and Sethe talk about the people “without skin”

While Denver and Beloved are talking, Denver says that Beloved shouldn’t be too in love
with her mother, and Beloved says she loves her mother too much.

Then, all three voices are combined while they all say the same thing: “You are mine”,
Denver referring to Beloved, Sethe referring to Beloved, and Beloved referring to Sethe.
AP Study Questions
1. What is the overall tone of this passage? (B)
a. Incredulous
b. Angry
c. Fearful
d. Sorrowful
e. Nonchalant
In a greater aspect, red ribbon represents: (C)
a. The free women who rebuilt their lives
b. Former slaves who were lynched as animals
c. The blood shed by former slaves who were lynched
d. The struggles of the former slaves
e. The daughters of the former slaves
How are the people who were lynched characterized? (B)
a. Brave
b. Animals
c. Heroic
d. Justified
e. Bitter
Why was the ribbon described as a “cardinal feather stuck to his boat”? (E)
a. Because it was from a bird
b. Because it symbolizes freedom
c. Because it emphasizes the light situation
d. Because it was a delicate reminder of slavery
e. All of the above
Why does Morrison use the word “nagging” to describe the smell of the blood? (A)
a. Because it continued to bother him after the smell was gone
b. Because the blood was stained onto his shirt
c. Because the smell reminded him of his mother
d. Because the spirits of the dead continued to follow him
e. None of the above
What is the “roaring”? (D)
a. The sound of the lynching fires
b. Stamp Paid’s soul
c. Stamp Paid’s sister’s voice
d. The sounds of the women in 124
e. The lynchers
Why does Stamp Paid ask Jesus “What are these people?” (D)
a. Because he is hallucinating
b. Because he wants to know the occupation of the people who were killed
c. Because he doesn’t understand why people would kill blacks
d. Because he feels betrayed by religion and is angered
e. Because he is unsure whether his mother was killed in the lynchings
Who are the “people” in Stamp Paid’s question to Jesus, “What are these people?” (B)
a. The lynchees
b. The lynchers
c. The traveling salesmen
d. Schoolteacher
e. Mr. and Mrs. Garner
Which of the following statements are true? (A)

I. Stamp Paid wanted to right his wrongs from the past

II. Stamp Paid does not know why the people were lynched

III. Stamp Paid wanted to be a part of Sethe’s family
a. I only
b. II only
c. I and III
d. II and III
e. I, II, and III
What feelings do the short syntax portray? (E)
a. Confusion
b. Happiness
c. Disbelief
d. Sorrow
e. Anger