Beloved Ch 16-19 Quiz:
1. When Stamp Paid first shows Paul D the newspaper clipping Paul D says that it isn’t Sethe because
of what physical feature?
2. Why does Paul D focus on the picture and not the words of the clipping?
3. What does Paul D say to Sethe that makes a “ forest spring up between them”?
4. What does Beloved know that only Sethe and her children know?
5. Why does Stamp change his name from Joshua?
Beloved Ch 16-19 Discussion Questions
Chapter 16
1. What is the most horrifying thing for you about this chapter?
Chapter 17
2. There were several things Stamp was going to tell Paul D in relation to the news clipping, do you
think this information would have changed Paul D’s response when Sethe tells him the truth?
3. Was Stamp right to tell Paul D? Why or why not?
Chapter 18
4. Why does Sethe decide to go ahead and tell Paul D the truth? In your opinion does she owe him an
explanation? Why or Why not?
5. “I did it. I got us all out. Without Halle too. Up till then it was the only thing I ever did on my own.
Decided. And it came off right, like it was supposed to. We was here. Each and every one of my
babies and me too. I birthed them and I got em out and it wasn’t no accident. I did that. I had help,
of course, lots of that, but still it was me doing it; me saying, Go on and Now” Re-read this section
and the next few paragraphs. What does this mean? Why is this important?
6. What does freedom mean to Sethe? How is it different than what freedom meant to Baby Suggs or
to Paul D? How do you know? Why is this important?
7. How are love and freedom related?
8. Why was Sethe’s choice “simple” so her?
9. What options did Sethe have? In your opinion did Sethe make the right choice? Why or Why not?
10. Why does what Sethe meant about love scare Paul D? Why can’t he understand what Sethe did?
Chapter 19
11. How does Morrison use the house throughout the story to mirror the arc of the story?
12. Why is it important that Stamp make things right with Sethe?
13. Is Sethe sacrificing her happiness for her children? Does she have a choice? Why or Why not?
14. “Nobody saw them fall.” What is significant about this line?
15. Color reappears heavily in this chapter what do you notice about White and Red specifically vs.
other colors mentioned?
16. What killed Baby Suggs?
17. The discussion between Baby Suggs and Stamp Paid. How does it mirror the discussion between
Sethe and Paul D from Chapter 1?
18. What is important about Baby Suggs’s moral dilemma?
19. What is red associated with in this chapter? How do you know?
20. Who does Stamp Paid think is in 124? Why is this important? How does it relate to the theme of
memory?
21. “Whatever is going on outside my door aint for me. The world is in this room.” How is this
connected with previous warnings in the book?
22. Is Sethe right? Has Beloved absolved her of her crime?
23. What does the change from 3rd to 1st person narrative do to the reader?
24. “ Paul D dug it up, gave her back her body, kissed her divided back, stirred her rememory and
brought her more news: of clabber, of iron, of roosters’ smiling, but when he heard her news, he
counted her feet and didn’t even say goodbye.” Why does she say this?
25. “No, no. That’s not the way. I told you to put her human characteristic on the left; her animal ones
on the right.” What does this connect back to? Does this explain anything that you read previously?
26. What happened to Paul A? How do you know?