ChiArts English III: American Literature
READING AND ANNOTATION GUIDE
FOR TONI MORRISON’S BELOVED
How can love be
both a healing
and destructive
force?
How does the past live
on in the present and
affect the future?
What do people need
to be truly free?
How do writers
capture the human
experience?
How can names and labels shape
our identities?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Born Chloe Anthony Wofford, in 1931 in Lorain (Ohio), Toni Morrison was the
second of four children in a black working-class family. Displayed an early interest
in literature. Studied humanities at Howard and Cornell Universities, followed by
an academic career at Texas Southern University, Howard University, Yale, and
since 1989, a chair at Princeton University. She has also worked as an editor for
Random House, a critic, and given numerous public lectures, specializing in AfricanAmerican literature. She made her debut as a novelist in 1970, soon gaining the
attention of both critics and a wider audience for her epic power, unerring ear for
dialogue, and her poetically charged and richly expressive depictions of Black
America. A member since 1981 of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, she
has been awarded a number of literary distinctions, among them the Pulitzer Prize
in 1988.
From Nobel Lectures, Literature 1991-1995, Editor Sture Allén, World Scientific Publishing Co.,
Singapore, 1997
ANNOTATION EXPECTATIONS AND TIPS
Throughout our reading of Beloved, you are expected to actively annotate the text in addition to synthesizing your
thoughts on the novel in the Reader Response Journal. For this novel, we will work in groups to create the Major Works
Data Sheet after reading the novel.
So, what should you annotate? The possibilities are limitless. Keep in mind the reasons we annotate. Your annotations
must include comments. I want to see evidence of thinking.
Some general tips:
 Have a conversation with the text. Talk back to
it.
 Ask questions (essential to active reading).
 Comment on the actions or development of a
character. Does the character change? Why?
How? The result?
 Comment on lines / quotations you think are
especially significant, powerful, or meaningful.
 Express agreement or disagreement.
 Summarize key events. Make predictions.
 Connect ideas to each other or to other texts.
 Note if you experience an epiphany.
 Note anything you would like to discuss or do
not understand.
 Note how the author uses language. Try to note
the significance of:
o Effects of word choice (diction) or
sentence structure or type (syntax)
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
Point of view / effect
Repetition of words, phrases, actions,
events, patterns
Narrative pace / time / order of
sequence of events
Irony
Contrasts / contradictions /
juxtapositions / shifts
Allusions
Any other figure of speech or literary
device
Reliability of narrator
Motifs or cluster ideas
Tone / mood
Imagery
Themes
Setting / historical period
Symbols
The most common complaint about annotating is that it slows down your reading. Yes, it does. That’s the point. If
annotating as you read annoys you, read a chapter, then go back and annotate. Reading a text a second time is
preferable anyway.
Approach the work with an open mind. Let the novel inspire you and stretch your imagination.
If you do this and do it well, you will save yourself the agony of boring literary discussions and the pain of low
literature quiz grades.
CHARACTERS
As you read, make sure to note characteristics of each of the people you encounter in the novel. What defines them? Do
you relate to them? How do they interact?





Sethe
Beloved
Denver
Paul D
Baby Suggs





Stamp Paid
Ella
Lady Jones
Mr. Garner
Mrs. Garner





Schoolteacher
The Bodwins
Halle
Sixo
Amy Denver
THEMES
This list is not an exhaustive list of the themes discussed in Beloved, but will serve as a good starting point.




Race and the effects of
slavery
Facing and dealing with
past
The everyday nature of
evil
Moral ambiguity






The nature of love
Role of family
Masculine/feminine
identity
The meaning of freedom
Role of community
Role of the supernatural




Faith and religion
Slavery’s destruction of
identity
The nature of humanity
The power and limits of
language
SETTING
Beloved is set during an appalling period in America’s history:
the years before, during, and immediately after the Civil War.
After the Civil War ended, life was still dreadful for black
people, whether slaves or freed. While the action of the novel
covers only a brief time, Morrison covers approximately 50
years through the use of flashbacks. Although other places are
mentioned, the two major settings are Sweet Home in Kentucky
and 124 Bluestone Road outside Cincinnati, Ohio.
124 Bluestone Road is located in Cincinnati, Ohio,
while flashbacks are set at Sweet Home plantation in
Kentucky. A third setting that Paul D remembers is a prison in
Alfred, Georgia. Flashback sequences include the six slaves and
Sethe at Sweet Home, along with the Garners and
Sweet Home may have looked something like this.
schoolteacher. The events described bring back painful memories
to Sethe; it was the place where she obtained the scars on her back.
The novel encompasses an era where slavery was still in existence in many forms. Although by 1873 the Civil War was
over and the Reconstruction era was underway, racism and sharecropping were still common, especially amongst the
southern states. There were hundreds of laws that restricted African-Americans' rights, and the novel graphically
displays the hurt that many ex-slaves experienced.
124 Bluestone Road: Most of the novel takes place at Sethe's
home. Baby Suggs received it from the Bodwins after she
was freed and handed it down to Sethe. The ghost of her
baby daughter haunts the house. It has two bedrooms
upstairs and two downstairs. There is a wood shed and
bathroom outside the house. There are no houses that are
extremely close by (no next-door neighbors by modern
standards.) It used to be used as a stopping point for other
ex-slaves where they could rest, eat, and leave messages. At
the time of the novel, this history is long gone and it is an
eerie place people avoid.
Church/Work - After Paul D. leaves, he is shown talking to
Stamp Paid on the steps of a church where he asked to stay with a
family. Additionally, Paul D. talks to Stamp at his job to find out
that Sethe killed Beloved.
124 Bluestone Road may have looked like this.
SYMBOLS
The following is a list of symbols throughout the novel. This is not a complete list – you will find many more in your
reading. Jot down your thoughts about the meanings of the following symbols as you read on post-it notes or in your
notes (make sure to keep track of page numbers!) Don’t forget to add what you learn through class discussion and
lectures.





Sethe’s milk
Other liquids – water,
blood, etc.
The chokecherry tree
Paul D’s tobacco tin
The rooster Mister




The scar on Beloved’s
throat
The colors mentioned
throughout the book
The hummingbirds
The forest



The number of Sethe’s
feet
Stamp Paid’s red ribbon
Animals
“BIG QUESTION” READING GUIDE
1. Read the first episode of Beloved carefully, and notes your reactions to it. What expectations does the opening scene
raise for the work to follow? After you finish the first session's reading assignment, and then again after you complete
the whole novel, return to this episode and read it again. How does it function in relation to book as a whole?
2. As you read the novel, think about its complex structure. Why does Morrison choose this particular way of telling
Sethe's story? What does the way the story is told suggest about Morrison's view of the human mind and its workings?
3. What judgments does Toni Morrison make on Sethe's killing of her daughter? How does Sethe's community judge
her? How does Paul D. judge her? How does she judge herself? How do you judge her?
4. Slave narratives, such as Frederick Douglass's autobiography, are the starting point of the African-American literary
tradition. One of the biggest themes in Frederick Douglass's story is the question of his name, or his identity. How does
this issue relate to Beloved? If you are familiar with slave narratives, can you find ways that Morrison refers to, uses, or
reworks the slave narrative tradition in Beloved?
5. Morrison makes a point of including traditional, folkloric, non-literary African-American culture in Beloved, some of
which is derived from ancient African roots. What is the effect of this inclusion?
6. Among other things, Beloved is a ghost story. What are the special problems for writer and reader in having a ghost
featured as a main character?
7. Give some thought to the presence of (and commentary on) white people in the novel. Why does the author make
the choices she does in her presentations of whites?
8. Reflect on the detailed attention that Morrison gives to experiences that will certainly claim your attention (and will
probably shock and disturb you): Paul D. on the chain gang, locked in the box; Paul's experience of the bit; the milking of
Sethe; School Teacher's recording of the slaves' animal characteristics; Sixo's death. What is the effect of those
experiences, on those who live them and on us as readers?
9. When you finish the book, note your reaction to the last passage. How do you feel about the ending? Why do you
suppose the book concludes (or doesn't conclude) in this way?
BIBLICAL ALLUSIONS IN BELOVED
“So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”—St. Paul
According to the Bedford St. Martin’s Glossary of Literary Terms, an allusion is:
A brief reference to a person, place, thing, event, or idea in history or literature. Allusions conjure up biblical
authority, scenes from Shakespeare's plays, historic figures, wars, great love stories, and anything else that
might enrich an author's work. Allusions imply reading and cultural experiences shared by the writer and reader,
functioning as a kind of shorthand whereby the recalling of something outside the work supplies an emotional
or intellectual context, such as a poem about current racial struggles calling up the memory of Abraham Lincoln.
Throughout Beloved, Toni Morison uses allusions to develop her characters, ideas, and themes. The following list of
allusions is not in chronological order, nor is it a comprehensive list, but it should help give you an idea of the impact of
allusions on the meaning of a text.
As you read:
1. Mark these allusions in your annotations and consider how they add to the meaning of the text.
2. Find at least two more Biblical allusions and discuss them in your Reader Response Journal. Write down the
specific allusion and page number from Beloved that corresponds to these references. Consider the following
questions: How does the use of the Bible as literature impact the meaning of the text? What do you gain as a
reader by knowing the reference?
3. Don’t be afraid to use Google. If you don’t “get” a reference, look it up! It won’t make sense until you do.
1. The novel opens with the following inscription:
I will call them my people,
Which were not my people;
And her beloved,
Which was not beloved. -- Romans 9:25
This reference comes from the Epistle to the Romans, a book of the New Testament written by Paul. As he prepares to
visit Rome, he sends a letter stating his beliefs. He discusses the nature of God’s relationship with humanity and focuses
5
on the sovereignty of God. He also raises the problem of the justice of God, power mixed with mercy, even if it leads to
problems. This chapter, despite its examination of the evils on earth, ends on a note of reconciliation. The following
verse reads as follows, “And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto thee, Ye are not my people;
there shall they be called the children of the living God” (Romans 9:26). See also Romans 1:22, 23.
2. Loaves and Fishes
This line is used to describe Baby Suggs’ feast for the others in the community. This allusion comes from Matthew 1515, Mark 6, and Luke 9. They all mention the miracle of Jesus feeding the thousands with five loaves of bread and two
fish.
3. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
When Schoolteacher comes to get Sethe, Morrison describes the group as “four horsemen.” The Four Horsemen of the
Apocalypse are described in Revelations 6. The chapter tells of a scroll in God’s right hand that is sealed with seven
seals. When the first four of these seals are opened, four horsemen appear.
And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto
him: and he went forth conquering and to conquer.
And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see.
And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given him that sat thereon to take peace
from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.
And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a
black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the
four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt
not the oil and the wine.
And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see. And I
looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And
power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with
death, and with the beasts of the earth. Revelations 6: 2—8
See also Revelations 7, in which the four angels appear. Specifically, 7:17.
4. Lot’s Wife
When Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed, Lot’s wife was warned not to look back. When morning dawned, the
angels urged Lot, saying, ‘Arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the
punishment of the city.’ But he lingered; so the men seized him and his wife, and his two daughters by the hand, the Lord
being merciful to him, and they brought him forth and set him outside the city. And when they had brought them forth,
they said, ’Flee for your life; do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley; flee to the hills lest you be consumed.”
Genesis 19:15-17. Lot’s wife behind him looked back, and she became a pillar of salt. Genesis 19:26.
5. Pride
Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. Proverbs 16:18
6. The Spirit is Willing
Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. Matthew 26:41
7. Sufficient Unto The Day
Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto
the day is the evil thereof. Matthew 6: 34
8. Don’t Study War No More
6
And they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword
against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. Isaiah 2: 4
A Final Thought:
Hope has two beautiful daughters. Their names are anger and courage; anger at the way things are, and courage to
see that they do not remain the way they are. –St. Augustine
How can this quote relate to the novel? To Morrison’s purpose in writing the novel?
BELOVED ANNOTATION QUESTIONS
How to use this document: You do not have to answer each question, nor should you necessarily try to. However, these
questions can serve as an excellent guide for your reading and can help jump start your personal annotations. We will
also use these questions in class discussion, and they can help guide small group Socratic Seminars.
I recommend that you read over the questions before you begin reading that section and refer back to them after you
read. You are welcome to highlight or mark questions you want to discuss in class.
Part I, First Chapter, pages 3-23
1. Elie Wiesel has said that nothing compares to the Holocaust from World War II and has rejected any
comparisons. In her dedication, Toni Morrison is drawing a clear parallel to the Holocaust. Is this a valid
comparison? If so, why? If not, why not?
2. What is 124?
3. Why are the sideboard moving, the house pitching, and the dog thrown across the room?
4. Who dies on page 5?
5. Why does Sethe want “Dearly Beloved” engraved on the tombstone?
6. Why does she have only “Beloved” engraved?
7. What do you understand from “The picture of the men coming to nurse her”? (p. 6)
8. Do the nephews rape Sethe in addition to taking her milk?
9. Who is Paul D, and what kind of person is he?
10. Why do the male slaves on Sweet Home let Sethe decide which man she wants?
11. Why does Mr. Garner say, “Neither would I”? (p. 12)
12. Why does Sethe choose Halle?
13. Why are so many of the slaves named “Paul”?
14. What details are you given about Sweet Home?
15. On page 13, Denver says the baby is “rebuked.” What is the connotation of this word?
16. Why is there a tree on Sethe’s back?
17. What is the significance of its being a chokecherry tree?
18. What is a tobacco tin?
19. What does Paul D do to the ghost?
20. What is Denver’s attitude toward the ghost?
21. Why does Beloved’s spirit stay on earth? Why doesn’t it go to Heaven or to Hell?
Part I, Second Chapter, pp. 24-33
1. What motivates Sixo?
2. What happens to Baby Suggs’ other children?
3. How do Sethe and Paul D feel after they make love?
Part I, Third Chapter, pp. 34-51
1. Why does Denver like the bower behind 124?
7
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Who is in the white dress kneeling down next to Sethe with its sleeve around her waist?
What is the significance of the antelope metaphor on page 36-7?
Why does Denver love the part about Amy the best?
Why does Sethe lie about her name to Amy?
Why does Amy message Sethe’s feet?
What is the significance of the colors described on pages 41?
Part I, Fourth Chapter, pp. 52-59
1. What is the effect on the reader of having the three shadows holding hands?
2. What is the importance of the dying roses?
Part I, Fifth Chapter, pp. 60-67
1. Who appears in front of 124?
2. Why is she wearing new shoes?
3. Why is her skin soft and smooth?
4. How does Denver react to Beloved’s arrival?
5. Why does Beloved like sugar so much?
6. Why does Denver contradict what Paul D says at the end of the chapter?
Part I, Sixth Chapter, pp. 68-75
1. Why does Mrs. Garner give Sethe the earrings?
2. What are Sethe’s memories of her own mother?
3. Why does her mother have a brand under her breast?
4. What is the meaning of a circle with a cross in it?
5. Why does Sethe’s mother throw away all the other babies she had?
Part I, Seventh Chapter, pp. 76-85
1. Why is Beloved shining, and how does Paul D feel about it?
2. What is Sethe’s reaction when she learns that Halle witnessed the incident in the barn when schoolteacher’s
nephews took her milk?
3. Why was Halle “sitting by the churn [with] butter all over his face”? (p. 82)
4. Why couldn’t Paul D help Halle then?
5. What is a bit?
6. Why does Paul D have such affection and admiration for the rooster, Mister?
Part I, Eighth Chapter, pp. 86-99
1. What does Denver see when Beloved lets her head fall back?
2. What place is Beloved describing on page 88?
3. Who does Denver think Beloved is at this point in the story?
4. Is Beloved using Denver, or does she genuinely care for her?
Part I, Ninth Chapter, pp. 100-124
1. What does Sethe want to lay down?
2. What purpose does the Clearing serve during Baby Suggs’ days?
3. Why does Sethe go to it now?
4. Why does the word “holy” follow Baby Suggs’ name on page 89 and elsewhere?
5. What does the word “grace” mean in religious terms?
6. What is the significance of the name “Stamp Paid”?
7. Why does Baby Suggs say not to clean the baby’s eyes until she gets the mother’s urine?
8. Why is Sethe’s older daughter called the “crawling-already? girl”?
9. Why is Beloved given name never mentioned?
8
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
Who is trying to strangle Sethe in the Clearing?
Why is Sethe bothered by the kiss?
What are Beloved’s feelings toward Paul D in this chapter?
Why does Denver accuse Beloved of choking Sethe?
Why does Morrison include Lady Jones in the story?
Why is Denver deaf for two years?
What is the answer Denver cannot bear to hear?
Why does Denver feel so possessive about Beloved?
What is the importance of the turtle?
Why does Denver want Beloved’s forgiveness?
Part I, Tenth Chapter, pp. 125-133
1. Make a quick sketch of the ditch and boxes where Paul D and the rest of the chain gang are kept.
2. Why is Paul D trembling?
3. How do the guards demean the prisoners?
4. Who is Hi Man?
5. The Bible tells the Flood story in the book of Genesis. How does the story of the rains on the chain gang reflect
the Flood story?
6. How do the men escape?
7. What disease do the Cherokees have?
8. Why does the chain gang stay near the Cherokees?
9. What is the significance of the trail of flowers that Paul D is told to follow?
Part I, Eleventh Chapter, pp. 134-138
1. Does Beloved consider Paul D a threat?
2. Why does Paul D decide to move out of 124?
3. What is the “confusion Beloved’s shining [causes] him”? (p. 135)
4. What are “house-fits”?
5. What is the meaning of the reference to Lot’s wife?
6. Why does Paul D call Beloved by her name?
7. What happens to his tobacco tin?
8. Why does he say, “Red heart” over and over again?
Part I, Twelfth Chapter, pp. 139-146
1. Why does Sethe ask Beloved about her mother?
2. Why does Denver believe that Beloved is the baby incarnate but Sethe doesn’t see it yet?
3. Why does beloved always have a “licking fire that seemed always to burn in her”? (p. 141)
4. What is the “original hunger” that Denver feels? (p. 143)
5. Why does Beloved play a cat-and-mouse game with Denver in the cold house?
6. What is Denver’s reaction to Beloved’s disappearance from the cold house?
7. Whose face does Beloved see?
Part I, Thirteenth Chapter, pp. 147-156
1. Why does Paul D feel unable to control his own actions around Beloved?
2. Why doesn’t Paul D want to ask Sethe for help?
3. Why does Paul D want Sethe to have his baby?
4. Why does Sethe say, “Mercy.” (p. 152)
5. Why is Beloved feeling malicious?
Part I, Fourteenth Chapter, pp. 157-158
1. Why is Beloved afraid that her body might be falling apart?
9
2. Why is Beloved crying?
Part I, Fifteenth Chapter, pp. 159-173
1. Why does Stamp Paid gather berries and bring them to Baby Suggs?
2. Why does Morrison include the reference to loaves and fishes?
3. Why is the rest of the community “offended by [the] excess”? (p. 163)
4. What is Baby Suggs’ perspective on her other seven children?
5. Why doesn’t Mr. Garner call Baby Suggs by her real name?
6. What mixed feelings does Baby Suggs have toward Mr. Garner at the end of the chapter?
Part I, Sixteenth Chapter, pp. 174-180
1. Why does Morrison use a Biblical allusion in the description of the four men coming to take Sethe back?
2. What is Sethe doing with her children in the shed?
3. What is schoolteacher’s reaction to what Sethe does?
4. What is Baby Suggs’ reaction?
Part I, Seventeenth Chapter, pp. 181-186
1. Why does Stamp Paid decide to show Paul D the newspaper clipping?
2. What is Paul D’s reaction to it?
3. Why does Baby Suggs look at the stream and miss the arrival of the four horsemen?
4. Why doesn’t the community warn them?
5. How does Sethe justify killing her own child?
Part I, Eighteenth Chapter, pp. 187-195
1. Why does Paul D show Sethe the clipping?
2. What is the importance of the hummingbirds?
Part II, First Chapter, pp. 199-235
1. Why does Sethe refuse to attend the service for Baby Suggs?
2. Why does Morrison include the Biblical verse, “Pride goeth before a fall”? (p. 202)
3. What are the voices that stamp Paid hears as he approaches 124?
4. Why can’t he knock on the door?
5. Why does Morrison include the biblical reference, “Spirit willing, flesh weak”? (p. 203)
6. Why does Sethe decide that the three of them will go ice-skating?
7. Why does Sethe say, “You finished with your eyes?” (p. 206)
8. When Sethe finally accepts who Beloved is, what is her reaction?
9. Why does Morrison use repeated references to locked boxes? (p. 207)
10. What is the importance of the red ribbon that Stamp finds?
11. What is the “roaring” on page 213?
12. Why don’t they open the door when Stamp knocks?
13. Why does he change his name from Joshua?
14. Why does Paul D stay in town and sleep in the church cellar?
15. Why does Sixo say, “Improving your property, sir.” (p. 224)
16. Why does Sethe tell the particular stories she does on pages 226-234?
17. What are the “black and angry dead” that Stamp Paid thinks of on page 234?
Part II, Second Chapter, pp. 236-241
1. Page 236 starts a series of four chapters that are markedly different in point of view and style from the earlier
ones. Why are they different?
2. The point of view is Sethe’s, done in first person. What is the effect of this shift of perspective?
3. What does Sethe reflect upon in this chapter?
10
Part II, Third Chapter, pp. 242-247
1. This chapter is spoken in first person by Denver. What is the effect of this perspective?
2. What does Denver reflect upon in this chapter?
3. Why does Denver say, “She’s mine, Beloved. She’s mine.” Who’s the “she”? (p. 247)
Part II, Fourth Chapter, pp. 248-252
1. This chapter is spoken in first person by Beloved. What is the effect of this perspective?
2. Morrison chooses a stream of consciousness style for this chapter. How does this affect the reader?
Page 248
3. Who is taking flowers away from leaves?
4. What pictures is Beloved thinking of?
5. Why does Beloved say, “[H]er face is my own”?
6. What is the “hot thing” Beloved refers to?
7. Why are they crouching?
8. Why is the man on her face dead?
9. What does it mean when the “men without skin bring [them] their morning water to drink”? What does Beloved
mean by “[W]e are all trying to leave our bodies behind”?
Page 249
10. Why is the man’s body “a small bird”?
11. Why is the bread “seacolored”?
12. What “little hill of dead people” is she referring to?
13. Why are the dead people being pushed through with poles?
14. What is the circle around the woman’s neck?
15. Why is the woman with Beloved’s face in the sea?
16. What is the shining in the woman’s ears?
17. Why are the clouds in the way?
Page 250
18. Why does she like his “pretty little teeth”?
19. Why does the woman go in? Where is she going?
20. Why is it Beloved’s “dark face that is going to smile at [her]”?
21. Why is Beloved not taken?
22. Where is the bridge that Beloved describes?
Page 251
23. Why does Beloved go in the water?
24. Why is the woman chewing and swallowing?
25. Why does Beloved say, “Sethe’s is the face that left me.”
Part II, Fifth Chapter, pp. 248-256
1. Why does this chapter start with the same words as the previous one?
2. What sea does Beloved describe when she says, “Sethe went into the sea”. (p. 253)
3. Why does Beloved associate Sethe with the place where they crouched? (p. 253)
4. What gunsmoke does Beloved refer to?
5. Part of this chapter is written in poetic form. What is the effect of this technique?
6. Sethe uses the word “rememory,” but Beloved answers, “Yes. I remember you.” Why is this Sethe’s word
alone?
11
7. On page 255, the point of view becomes more complex. Identify who is speaking each line on this page and the
next, and explain why Morrison uses this intermingling of perspectives.
8. “I will take care of you.” (p. 256) Who is “I”? Who is “you”?
9. Why does the chapter end with “You are mine” repeated three times?
Part II, Sixth Chapter, pp. 257-270
1. What doubts does Paul D have of his own manhood?
2. What is the shining that lights the Thirty-Mile Woman?
3. Why does Sixo sing?
4. What does Sixo mean when he shouts, “Seven-O! Seven-O!” (p. 270)
5. Why is Sixo laughing when he dies?
Part II, Seventh Chapter, pp. 271-277
1. What is the tone of the conversation between Stamp and the man who asks about Judy?
2. Where does Stamp think Beloved comes from?
3. What is the tone of the last sentence: “Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?” (p. 277)
Part III, First Chapter, pp. 281-309
1. Why is Denver worried?
2. In what ways have Sethe and Beloved traded places?
3. Why is Beloved becoming tyrannical and vindictive?
4. Why is Beloved’s stomach getting larger?
5. Why does the community rally in response to Denver’s request for work and the obvious problems at 124?
6. What accounts for Beloved’s behavior?
7. Why is Sethe getting smaller as Beloved gets bigger?
8. Why does Janey say, “I guess there’s a God after all.”? (p. 299)
9. Why do the Bodwins have a statue of a black boy that says, “At Yo Service”? (p. 300)
10. Why does Ella change her mind about Sethe and organize the other women to rescue her?
11. How does the singing of the women at the end of the book parallel to Paul D’s description of the escape of the
chain gang?
12. In what ways does the group of neighborhood women serve the same function as the chorus in Greek tragedy?
13. What is the meaning of the Biblical reference, “Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof”?
(p. 302)
14. Why do the women decide to drive out Beloved?
15. Why does Sethe think that Mr. Bodwin is schoolteacher?
16. What is Beloved’s reaction to Sethe’s running toward the women?
Part III, Second Chapter, pp. 310-322
1. Why does Beloved disappear?
2. Why do some people say she exploded?
3. Why are Stamp and Paul D finally able to laugh?
4. Why does Denver change her attitude toward Paul D?
5. Why does Paul D go to 124?
6. In what ways is Beloved’s departure in this chapter similar to and different from her death at the beginning?
Part III, Third Chapter, pp. 323-324
1. Why does the memory of Beloved disappear?
2. If this is not a story to pass on, why does Toni Morrison write it and “pass it on”?
12
BELOVED SUMMARIES AND TARGET PASSAGES
How to use this packet: This packet is a guide and resource to help clarify your understanding of the novel. It is NOT a
replacement for reading the novel, and will not be enough to pass assessments over your reading.
I recommend reading the summaries after you have read the original text, then re-reading the target passages and
annotating them thoroughly. Remember to go back to the annotation questions in your guide if you have trouble.
Chapter 1: The novel opens with an introduction to a house: "124 was spiteful. Full of a baby's venom." The house
belongs to Sethe, an ex-slave who had run away from the place of her enslavement, "Sweet Home," 18 years ago. The
house is spiteful because it is haunted by the spirit of Sethe's one-year-old baby, who died 18 years ago (buried under a
tombstone reading the single word "BELOVED"). Besides Sethe and the ghost, there is only Sethe's youngest daughter,
Denver, living in 124. We learn, however, that there were two sons, Howard and Buglar, both of whom fled at from the
house when they were thirteen. Sethe's mother-in-law, Baby Suggs, also lived with them until eight years ago, when she
died. Sethe's husband, Halle, is presumably dead, having not been seen since Sethe left Sweet Home.
The main action of the first chapter revolves around the visit of Paul D Garner, the "last of the Sweet Home men." From
him, we learn a bit of Sethe's past. The Garners, owners of Sweet Home, treated their slaves decently, but at Mr.
Garner's death, an evil man referred to as "schoolteacher" arrived. At the time of Sethe's flight from Sweet Home, she
had already sent the two boys and a just-born, unnamed baby to live with Baby Suggs in Cincinnati. However, before she
could run away herself, two white men cornered her and took her milk (which she was saving for Beloved). When she
told Mrs. Garner about the abuse, the schoolteacher had her whipped. In the present time, Sethe has a "chokecherry
tree" of scars upon her back as a result of that beating. In her kitchen, Paul D. touches her scars and her breasts and
makes her feel beautiful again, but before they continue their romantic encounter the ghost causes the house to go
crazy, shaking it and sending a table flying at Paul D. He screams back at the angry ghost and basically beats it away,
telling it to leave Sethe alone because she already had “enough” without it.
Denver finds herself left out by the "twosome" of Sethe and Paul D, who share the same past. "I can't live here," she
pronounces, crying. "I don't know where to go or what to do, but I can't live here. Nobody speaks to us. Nobody comes
by. Boys don't like me. Girls don't either." Denver's only solace, it seems, is the company of the ghost. At the end of the
chapter, however, the ghost is scared off by Paul D.
Important Concepts:
 Sethe is the main character; she used to be a slave.
 She had four children: Howard and Buglar, an unnamed baby who died, and Denver.
 The dead baby’s ghost haunts their house, 124 Bluestone Road. The baby died violently, having her throat cut.
 Baby Suggs is Sethe’s mother-in-law and Denver’s grandmother – she is NOT a ghost. She died eight years
before Paul D. arrives, but Sethe and Denver remember her throughout the chapter.
Chapter 2-4: Chapter 2 begins with Paul D and Sethe rushing upstairs to have sex, but "it was over before they could get
their clothes off" and they both seem to regret it; the things that seemed beautiful about Sethe (like her scars) now
seem ugly to Paul D. Instead of enjoying their romance, the past rushes over them and both are caught in flashbacks of
Sweet Home. Sethe recalls how Baby Suggs lost all her children to slavery and how Halle sold himself for his mother’s
freedom "when it didn't mean a thing” because by then she was too old to have much of a life left outside of slavery.
She also remembers her “wedding” – she wanted to actually marry Halle, but because they were slaves they weren’t
expected or allowed to have a real ceremony. She remembers how she stole scraps of fabric to sew herself a “bedding
dress” and then remembers her wedding night; she and Halle went out to the cornfield thinking it would be private, but
all the men on the plantation can see the stalks waving.
13
Chapter 3 opens with a description of the place Denver goes to be alone; as she’s returning to the house, she sees Sethe
kneeling in prayer and sees the ghostly figure of a white dress wrapped around her mother in an embrace. This sets off a
series of flashbacks regarding Denver's birth – Denver has heard Sethe tell the story of her birth so many times she
knows it by heart, and she tells the tale of how a "whitegirl" named Amy discovered Sethe, six-months pregnant and
running from Sweet Home. An unlikely savior, Amy managed to coax a fallen Sethe back onto her hands and feet and to
a nearby lean-to, where she gives birth to Denver prematurely.
Sethe continues thinking about "schoolteacher," and we learn that he had two nephews with "pretty manners" whom
he also brought with him to Sweet Home. She mentions how he went around asking the slaves questions and writing
down what they said and how this questioning seemed to “tear up” one of the Sweet Home men, Sixo. Denver tells
Sethe about the white dress and claims that the baby “has plans, ” which prompts Sethe to think about her own plans.
She says that “The one set of plans she had made – getting away from Sweet Home – went awry so completely she
never dared life by making more.” However, as she and Paul D. continue to share their pasts, she begins to think that
maybe, finally, it might be ok for her to think of the future.
Paul D promises to be there for Sethe, and she reluctantly agrees to let him take hold of her life. Under Paul D's urging,
Sethe and Denver go with him to a carnival on Colored Thursday, where excitement and cheerfulness abounds. Many
Negroes smile at the two women for the first time, and Denver is delighted. Her feelings about Paul D begin to change,
and Sethe sees their shadows holding hands, which in her mind serves as a positive sign for the future.
Important Concepts/Passages:
 Page 43: Sethe speaks about the concept of time and place, and how places where evil things happen always
retain that evil – she and Denver agree that “nothing ever dies.”
 Page 54: Theme of ‘dangerous love’
 Page 57: Shadows holding hands
Chapter 5-7: Chapter 5 opens with the disturbing image of a woman, 19 or 20 years old, coming out of the marsh water
fully dressed. She is tired and thirsty, but her shoes and clothes are new and her skin is flawless except for three
scratches on her forehead. It takes her more than two days to drag herself to 124, where she arrives just as Sethe,
Denver, and Paul D come back from the carnival. When they see her, Sethe is struck by a powerful urge to urinate and
her lack of control reminds her of how “there was no stopping water breaking from a breaking womb.” With a harsh
voice, the mysterious woman pronounces that her name is "Beloved." Paul D. assumes that she is “drifting from ruin”
like so many freed slaves with nowhere left to go, but wonders about her odd appearance. Sethe feels “especially kindly
towards her” because of her name, and Denver immediately becomes obsessed with her.
It takes weeks for Beloved to build up strength, and in the mean time Denver cares for her. Paul D. becomes suspicious
of her when he sees her lift heavy rocking chair effortlessly, as if she’s curious about ordinary objects, despite the fact
that she seems to be barely able to walk. Even though it’s Denver that is taking care of her, Beloved begins to show a
devotion towards Sethe. She begins inquiring about Sethe's past, asking questions that trigger old memories. "Where
your diamonds?" Beloved asks, and Sethe reveals that at one point in her life she had been given crystal earrings by Mrs.
Garner as a wedding gift. At another point, Beloved asks about Sethe's mother. Sethe remembers how her mother
showed her a brand on her body so that she could identify who her mother was, and then she remembers seeing her
mother’s dead body hanging in a mass murdering of slaves. Sethe remembers being told by an elder woman – possibly
her grandmother – that she was the only baby whom her mother had kept from the slave ship, because she was born
out of love and not rape. Denver hates when they talk about the past that doesn’t include her, and wonders how
Beloved could have possibly known about her mother’s earrings.
Despite Sethe's and Denver's affections for the girl, Paul D begins to grow suspicious of Beloved. He begins to question
her about her past, but Beloved evades his questions and grows angry with him for asking. He notes that before her
14
arrival Sethe, Denver, and him were just beginning to build a future, but that their progress has been interrupted by
Beloved’s presence. In an argument over Beloved, Paul D tells Sethe that Halle never followed her to freedom because
he had seen schoolteacher's two nephews drink up her milk and the sight of his wife being brutally abused “broke him
like a twig.” Sethe is hurt and furious at this news; she can’t understand how Halle could have seen and let the boys
“keep breathing air,” but Paul D. defends Halle, saying that the sight drove him insane. In his last memory of Halle, Paul
D. saw him raving like a lunatic, smearing half-churned butter on his face because he was unable to forget what
happened to Sethe and her milk. He reveals that he wanted to help Halle but couldn’t even say anything to him because
he had a “bit in his mouth” and was being led away from Sweet Home as part of a chain gang. This sets off a storm of
memory and emotions for Sethe and Paul D. as they struggle to come to terms with the past. As chapter 7 ends, Paul D.
tells Sethe that he remembers seeing an ugly, scraggly rooster named Mister as he was being led off, and thinking that
that rooster was allowed to have more freedom and dignity than he was allowed to have. They stop talking because
“Saying more might push them both to a place they couldn’t get back from.”
Important Concepts/Passages:
 Page 60-62: Beloved’s description
 Page 72-74: Sethe’s mother’s fate
 Page 83: Pain of Sethe’s memories
 Page 85: Dehumanizing effect of Paul D.’s experience
Chapters 8-9: Up in Denver's room, Denver reveals to Beloved that she knows Beloved was the ghost of 124, and asks
why she came back alive. Beloved replies that she came for Sethe, that Sethe "is the one I need." Hungry for stories
about Sethe, she asks about Denver's birth, and Denver continues the tale. At the edge of the Ohio River, the "water
broke loose" in Sethe and the baby began to come. With Amy's help, the baby was born and Sethe had named it after
the whitegirl, Miss Amy Denver. Amy then leaves Sethe, and hours later Sethe stumbles across Stamp Paid and his sons
fishing by the river. Stamp Paid, a former slave himself, ferries her across, where she is taken to Baby Suggs and 124.
124 eighteen years ago was nothing like it is now. Then, it was a waystation for colored folks, run by Baby Suggs who
"had nothing left to make a living with but her heart." In those days, Baby Suggs would lead all the Negroes to a clearing
in the forest and Call to them about love. In need of advice, a present-day Sethe walks down to "the Clearing" to think
things through. There, she feels fingers upon her neck, first caressing her and then strangling her. She is saved by the
arrival of Denver and Beloved, the latter of which strokes the newfound bruises and comforts Sethe.
Walking back home, Sethe realizes something that Denver secretly knows: that those hands were not Baby Suggs's, but
the ghost's. However, this thought does not bother her; she has decided to start a life with Paul D, opening back up the
past they share. Back at the house, she makes love to them, secretly watched by an angered Beloved.
Meanwhile, Denver reminisces about her own past. Apparently she was not always alone, and used to go to school with
other colored children. However, one day a boy asked her a question: "Didn't your mother get locked away for murder?
Wasn't you in there with her when she went?" After that Denver never went back.
Important Concepts/Passages:
 Pg. 88: “In the dark my name is Beloved…she is the one that I have to have.”
 Pg. 103: “She did not tell them to clean up their lives…twenty-eight days after her daughter-in-law arrived.”
Chapters 10-15: Chapter 10 begins the tale of how Paul D came to 124. We learn that schoolteacher sold him to another
master, and that Paul D attempted to murder that master. We learn that he and roughly fifty other Negroes were
15
imprisoned in cages in the ground, tied to each other by "a thousand feet of chain." As a part of the chain gang, Paul D.
experiences and witnesses extreme cruelty and has trouble holding himself together. He describes feeling a “trembling”
that he can’t control. After years of mining, there is a flood and all the Negroes escape, led by the “Hi man” They come
across a Cherokee concentration camp, and the Cherokee free them from the chains. Paul D heads North.
Chapter 11: In the present day, Paul D is on his feet again; he is being moved out of the house. First he can no longer fall
asleep in the bed with Sethe, and then he is moved out of the rocker, then Baby Suggs's bed, then the storeroom, and
finally he must go outside to the cold house to rest. He believes it's Beloved's doing, and one night she visits him in the
cold house and seduces him with the cryptic "I want you to touch me on the inside part and call me my name." He does
not want anything to do with her, but she has a mysterious control over him. She goes to him nightly.
Chapter 12: Denver continues to be obsessed with Beloved and asks her more about her past, which Beloved does not
seem to remember. Taking care of Beloved has changed Denver’s character; whereas before she was kind of lazy, now
she is industrious and is always thinking up chores and ways to keep Beloved occupied so that she can spend more time
with her. Sethe believes that Beloved had been held as a sex slave, “locked up by some whiteman for his own purposes
and never let out the door,” because Beloved’s story reminds her of her friend Ella, who had experienced something
similar. At the end of the chapter, Denver and Beloved are playing in the cold house, and Beloved disappears in the
complete darkness. Denver panics because she thinks Beloved went back to the magical place she came from, “eaten
alive by the dark,” but after a few moments Beloved reappears, “standing where before there was nobody when Denver
looked.” Beloved emphasizes again that “this is the place” she wants to be, and implies that she has to focus on Sethe to
remain there.
Chapter 13: Paul D, concerned about Beloved's control over him, is determined to enlist Sethe's aid against her and tries
to tell her what Beloved is doing to him. However, all he manages to say to her is "I want you pregnant, Sethe." In a way,
this does save him from Beloved's spell because Sethe requests that he stop moving around and sleep with her.
However, Sethe has decided that she does not want any more children.
Meanwhile, (Chapter 14) Beloved is upset at Sethe's choice to sleep with Paul D. Her uneasiness manifests itself in the
kitchen, where she manages to pull out one of her wisdom teeth, noting that "it is difficult keeping her head on her
neck, her legs attached to her hips when she is by herself."
Chapter 15 is a narrative of past events, beginning with Baby Sugg's introduction as a slave to Sweet Home. After ten
years there, Halle bought her freedom and she moved to 124, where she set up the waystation and began preaching
about love to whoever would listen. Years later, Howard, Buglar, and their sister (Beloved) showed up, then finally Sethe
with Denver. Twenty days after Sethe's arrival, Baby Suggs hosted a party like had never before been seen, and amidst
the laughter of 90 Negroes was the scent of disapproval, because "she had given too much, offended them by excess."
Important Concepts/Passages:
 Pg. 128: Work songs of the chain gang
 Pg. 137-138: Beloved’s “seduction” of Paul D.
 Pg. 144-5: Beloved’s disappearance
 Pg. 148: Paul D.’s perception of manhood
 Pg. 161: Baby Suggs’ party – allusion to biblical “loaves and fishes”
Chapters 16-18: Chapter 16 continues the narration of chapter 15. The morning after the party, schoolteacher and a
nephew arrive at 124 with a slave catcher and sheriff. They search for Sethe and her children in order to take them back
to Sweet Home, and discover her in the darkness of the shed. She is found attempting to smash Denver against the walls
16
of the shed, but Stamp Paid grabs the girl from her. Upon the floor are Howard and Buglar, covered in blood. Against
Sethe's breasts is the unnamed child (Beloved), dead.
Schoolteacher pronounces Sethe unfit to be a slave anymore. He, his nephew, and the slave catcher leave, and the
sheriff takes Sethe, now nursing Denver, to jail.
In the present day, Stamp Paid calls Paul D aside at work to show him an old newspaper clipping. It has a sketch of Sethe
on it, and describes the murder of her baby girl. Paul D, however, refuses to believe Stamp Paid, claiming that the article
can't possibly be about Sethe because "that ain't her mouth" in the picture. Despite this, Paul D takes the newspaper
clipping back home with him, presumably to get confirmation of the error from Sethe. Instead, Sethe retells the story of
chapter 16 to him, arguing that "I took and put my babies where they'd be safe." Protesting that "there could have been
. . . some other way" and that telling Sethe she has "two feet…not four," Paul D leaves the house.
Important Concepts/Passages:
 Pg. 175: “Inside, two boys bled…the cannibal life they preferred.”
 Pg. 184: “Stamp Paid looked at him…a pretty little slavegirl had recognized a hat, and split to the woodshed to
kill her children.”
 Pg. 192: “No. No. Nono. Nononono….I took and put my babies where they’d be safe.”
 Pg. 193: “This here Sethe was new….You got two feet, Sethe, not four.”
Book Two
Chapter 19 opens with the words "124 was loud." It is this loudness, but also a coldness that chases Stamp Paid away
when tries to visit. We learn of Stamp Paid's history-that he changed his name the day he was forced to give his wife up
to his master's son to have sex with him. On that day he'd decided that all his obligations, whatever they were, were
paid, and began to help runaway slaves to freedom. In the present day, Stamp Paid's spirit is broken because he has
found a piece of ribbon attached to a piece of scalp from a young black girl. Finally understanding what made Baby
Suggs give up Calling in the woods, Stamp decides to visit 124 to talk to Sethe, but nobody answers the door. However,
when he looks through the windows, he catches sight of Beloved.
Stamp visits John and Ella, two other Negroes who help runaway slaves in an effort to find out who the girl is he had
seen in the window. They have no answer for him, but Stamp does learn that Paul D is sleeping in the cellars at a church.
He is angered that Ella knew about this but didn't do anything. Ella admits she didn't want to help Paul D because he'd
associated with Sethe.
Meanwhile, Sethe finally discovers who Beloved is when, one night by the fire, Beloved begins to hum a song that Sethe
had made up long ago: "nobody knows that song but me and my children," she says. Sethe takes Beloved's return as a
signal that she has been forgiven and freed from the past. With the words "I don't have to remember nothing," she
decides not to worry anymore about the outside world, but to turn her focus towards her family. Consequently, she
begins to show up late to work and daydreams while there.
Chapters 20-23: Chapters 20 to 22 are a series of stream of consciousness pieces from the points of view of Sethe,
Denver, and finally Beloved.
Sethe's stream of consciousness reveals her possessiveness over Beloved, which manifests in the refrain "Beloved, she
my daughter. She mine." In her mind, she assures Beloved that she will be a good mother. She attempts to justify the
murder as an act of love. Threaded through the writing are also hints of the past: we learn that Sethe's back was opened
17
because schoolteacher wanted to study her. We learn that Sethe doesn't understand why she was separated from her
mother. Finally, there is a thread of hate for Paul D in the stream, for he attempted to make Beloved leave.
Denver's stream of consciousness reveals a fear of Sethe-that she might kill her too. Denver believes that her father is
alive and is convinced that Beloved came back to wait with her for their father. Like Sethe, she is possessive of Beloved,
and like Sethe, she also harbors a hate for Paul D, because she feels he violates her father. We also get a hint of a
warning with regards to Beloved, from a time when Baby Suggs told Denver that the ghost "was after Ma'am."
Beloved's stream is crafted in disjunct phrases and images, as fit for a one-year-old child who has known death and
rebirth. She describes a place where "there will never be a time when I am not crouching and watching others who are
crouching too." In that place there is no water, but only rats and death. Beloved describes her own birth, her existence
at Sweet Home, her murder, and her rebirth with images of clouds and water. "Sethe's is the face that left me . . . her
smiling face is the place for me it is the face I lost she is my face smiling at me."
Chapter 23, also called the "Chorus," is a sort of joining of the three voices, as they interact in a sort of surreal dialogue.
At the center of this chorus are the words "You are mine / You are mine / You are mine.”
Chapters 24-25: In Chapter 24, Paul D is found brooding upon the steps of the church, thinking both about how life
could have been with Sethe, and also about the loss of his manhood through Beloved. The thoughts make him question
what constitutes a man, and his mind floods with images of Sweet Home.
In his mind, Paul D recounts the day Sixo returned from a neighboring farm with news that two men would be coming
down to take slaves North. However, while trying to flee, he and Sixo had been caught. Sixo had been burned alive,
singing and laughing, and Paul D had been collared. On his way to find Sethe, Halle had been caught by schoolteacher,
and somehow that day Sethe ended up locked in the barn and her milk taken from her while Halle watched, helplessly.
Only her children managed to escape unharmed.
In Chapter 25, Stamp Paid comes to try to convince Paul D to move out of the preacher’s cellar, claiming that the people
in the community will support him, even if “Pride…bothers em a bit.” Stamp Paid talks about his wife, and the pain he
felt from being forced to give her up to his owner’s son. Stamp Paid defends Sethe to Paul D, saying that she loved her
children and was just trying to “out-hurt the hurter,” but Paul D refuses to relent, saying that he is scared of Sethe and
disturbed by Beloved. Stamp Paid notices that besides him and Paul D, no one outside of 124 has ever seen Beloved. He
wonders if she was the same girl who was “locked up in the house with a white man” in a neighboring town. Apparently,
that girl had been locked up with him “since she was a pup,” but had disappeared last summer after the white man died.
Talking about Beloved triggers more painful memories for Paul D, and he wonders “How much is a n----r supposed to
take?” to which Stamp Paid replies, “All he can.”
Important Concepts/Passages:
• Page 203: "While Stamp paid...that's the way it was."
• Page 206-208: "When the click came...the peace of winter stars seemed permanent."
• Page 209-212: Baby Suggs' sadness
• Page 216-217: "I don't have to remember nothing...how bad is the scar?"
• Discuss: what was schoolteacher's role at Sweet home? (224-231)
• Page 234-235: "The day Stamp Paid...unspoken."
• Chapters 20-23: look at the similarities in the openings
• Page 260: “For years Paul D believed schoolteacher broke into children what Garner had raised to
men…just to stay alive in a place where a moon he had no right to was nevertheless there.”
• Page 277: “A shudder ran through Paul D…Why?”
18
Part Three
"124 was quiet," begins the third section of the novel. It is quiet because its inhabitants are tired and hungry. Sethe has
been fired from work, and has put all her energies and life savings into making Beloved happy. However, Beloved is
never satisfied: "Sethe was trying to make up for the handsaw; Beloved was making her pay for it." As food
and money become scarce, Sethe attempts to reason with Beloved; she tries to explain what she has suffered and why
she had to kill her. Beloved, however, retorts that Sethe was never there for her, and becomes violent as she becomes
fat off of the sweets: "Beloved ate up [Sethe's] life, took it, swelled up with it, grew taller on it. And the older woman
yielded it up without a murmur."
Fearing for her mother's life, Denver decides for the first time in eighteen years to leave the house to ask for food. She
goes to Lady Jones, her old schoolteacher, who is delighted to help. Word spreads throughout the town, all of whose
inhabitants remember Baby Suggs and the days 124 was a waystation. The townspeople leave baskets of food in the
yard, and Denver returns the baskets, slowly becoming acquainted with the people there.
One day, Denver decides to get a job, and finds one at the Bodwins'. There, she tells the servant, Janey, about Beloved.
Rumors quickly spread around the town, and Ella decides to lead a rescue to 124. On the day of the rescue, thirty
women walk to 124, singing and praying. Simultaneously, Mr. Bodwin sets out for 124 to pick Denver up to work. With
Denver on the porch waiting for him and the women in the front yard, Sethe and a seemingly pregnant Beloved emerge.
Through the rumors of the townspeople we get bits and pieces of what happened that day at 124. Sethe had spied Mr.
Bodwin and had run out to kill him with the ice pick. Denver had wrestled her down. Mr. Bodwin had been so intent on
staring at the naked Beloved on the porch he hadn't noticed a thing. The thirty women had rushed to pin Sethe down,
and when they looked back up Beloved had vanished.
Meanwhile, Denver has gotten a second job at a shirt factory, and on her way to work she meets Paul D on the road and
smiles to him, inviting him back to 124. A few days later, Paul D walks in and finds Sethe on Baby Suggs's bed. Paul D
promises to take care of her, whispering that "You your best thing, Sethe."
The novel’s end is ambiguous, leaving readers to construct meaning out of Beloved’s presence in the novel.
Important Concepts/Passages:
 Pg. 285-6: “She was not like them…go ask somebody for help.”
 Pgs. 294-5: “As Denver’s outside life improved…yielded it up without a murmur.”
 Pgs. 307-315: Beloved's exorcism
 Pgs. 322-323: “There is a loneliness that cannot be rocked…Beloved.”
19
VOCABULARY
Directions for Vocabulary Work: You will be responsible for maintaining your vocabulary journal (10 words per week).
25 words from this list will be on your final assessment.
WORDS AND SAMPLE SENTENCES/PHRASES
DEFINITIONS
1

Fugitive
She is on the FBI’s list of most want fugitives.
Someone who flees from an unpleasant situation -especially fleeing law enforcement officers
2

Benevolent
A benevolent contributor
Kind, generous, or charitable
3

Indifferent
About a third are in favor of the change, a third are
opposed, and a third are indifferent.
Without interest -- in various senses such as:
 Unconcerned
 Unsympathetic
 Impartial
 Not of good quality (which may imply average
or poor quality depending upon context)
4

Indolent -- as in: he is naturally indolent
She never recovered from the indolence of her youth.
Lazy; disinclined to work
5

Scrutiny
He scrutinized his likeness in the mirror
Careful examination of something
6

Deliberate -- as in: deliberate insult
A deliberate decision
To do something intentionally
7

Agitate
Agitate public opinion
To stir up -- emotionally (such as anxiety) or physically
(such as shaking)
8

Futile
A futile effort doomed form the start
Effort that is pointless because it is unproductive or
unsuccessful
9

Discriminate -- as in: discriminating taste
A discriminating interior designer
To recognize or perceive differences -- especially fine
distinctions
10

Render -- as in: graph rendered from the data
The pianist rendered the Beethoven sonata beautifully
Give an interpretation -- possibly giving something form
or translating it into another form
or: to extract from
11

Obliged
He obliged her by listening attentively.
Indebted or grateful -- as in "I`m obliged to you."
Or: required (obligated) to do something -- as in "I`m
obliged to do the job."
Or: granted a favor for someone -- as in "She asked for
help and we obliged her."
12

Perfunctory
She gave us menus and a perfunctory smile.
Done without much interest or effort -- especially as
when dispensing with a formality
13

Tentative -- as in: a tentative plan
Just a tentative schedule
With an expectation that there may be changes
20
14

Cajole
She is working to convince, cajole, and pressure other
Representatives to vote for the bill.
Gently persuade
15

Rebuke
She was stung by the rebuke.
Criticize severely; or such criticism
16

Divert
I tried to divert her attention.
To change the direction of something; or to distract
someone`s attention
or more rarely: to change the purpose for which
something is used -- such as an army or funds
17

Profound -- as in: profound sadness
The differences are profound
Of greatest intensity or emotional depth
18

Resolve
He resolved never to drink again
To solve or definitely decide
19
Appropriate -- as in: it is appropriate
These clothes aren`t appropriate for work.
Suitable (fitting) for a particular situation
20

Luminous
A sky luminous with stars
Glowing or shining
21

Skeptical
I am skeptical about her plan.
Doubting the truth of something or given to doubting in
general
22

Circumvent
The President circumvented Congress by appointing the
U.N. Ambassador after the Senate adjourned for the
summer.
Avoid or work around something
23

Devious -- as in: a devious plan
She is devious and will do anything to win.
Deceitful (not honest and straightforward) -- often in a
complicated, clever manner
24

Malicious
Malicious gossip
Wanting to see others suffer; or threatening evil
25

Insistent
The bluejay`s insistent cry
Persistent or continuing or firm -- especially in
maintaining a view or demanding something
26

Sedition
The sedition law signed by John Adams proved unpopular
and was soon allowed to expire.
Illegal acts encouraging resistance to government
authority -- especially overthrow of the government
27
Exhume
To unbury a corpse -- typically for medical investigation
Investigators want to exhume the body for analysis, but the or reburial elsewhere
family is objecting.
28
Vex
A vexing problem
To cause annoyance
29
Sullen
She changed from outgoing child to sullen teenager.
Showing a gloomy or bad mood -- often by not
interacting with others in a friendly way
30
Abundant
Present in great quantity
She made it abundantly clear that she doesn`t want to gout
with him.
21
31
Mockery
I will not permit the defendant to make a mockery of this
trial.
Ridicule (to make fun of)
or:
something so inadequate it is ridiculous (silly)
32
Emerge
China`s emergence as a world power...
To come out of, or to appear
33
Calamity
The whole country was affected by the calamity of 9/11.
A disastrous event; or the distress resulting from it
34
Desolate
The desolate surface of the moon
Empty, providing no shelter or sustenance
or:
feeling very sad and alone
35
Melancholy
She`s been in a melancholy mood.
A feeling of thoughtful sadness; or sad in manner
36
Anxiety
More than the usual pre-test anxiety
Nervousness or worry
37
Simulate
A computer model is used to simulate the effects of wind.
Make an imitation or representation of
38
Congregate
The crowds congregated in front of the Vatican on
Christmas Eve
Come together, usually for a purpose
39
Impregnable -- as in: the fort was impregnable
An impregnable fortress
Able to withstand attack
40
Provoke
Her remarks provoked a public outcry.
To cause a reaction -- typically an emotional reaction
such as anger; and often caused intentionally
41
Apparent
The effects of the drought are apparent to anyone who
sees the parched fields.
Clear or obvious; or appearing as such but not
necessarily so
42
Wither
The grapes withered on the vine.
To shrivel (wrinkle and contract -- usually from lack of
water)
or:
to become weaker; or feel humiliated
43
Confront
You must confront your problems.
To deal directly with an unpleasant situation or person
or:
to challenge someone -- often by presenting evidence
44
Noisome
The noisome atmosphere of the Nairobi slum
Causing or able to cause nausea -- especially from odor
or:
22
harmful
45
Compliance
In compliance with the law
To conform to rules or the wishes of others
46
Intricate
An intricate plan
Complicated -- having many complexly arranged
elements
47
Compassion
She looked on without compassion.
Sympathy for another`s suffering and wanting to help
48
Antagonism
The inherent antagonism of capitalism and socialism
Hostility or opposition
or:
the relation between opposing principles, forces, or
factors
49
Solemn
He took a solemn oath.
Serious, dignified and sincere in manner
50
Accustomed
In the United States we`re accustomed to forming our own
opinion about the promises of advertisements and
politicians.
Psychologically or physically used to something
This novel guide was created by D. Miller and adapted/compiled in part from the following resources:
Stanford Study Guide for Beloved
Beloved: A Homework Online Study Guide
Verbal Workout: Beloved
124 Bluestone Road Wiki
23