Leah Rickard
Fernanda Sandoval
Jessica Pranajasa
Alya Rehman
Period 3
April 20, 2016
Super RRS –Beloved
Title: Beloved
Publication Date: 1987
Author: Toni Morrison
Nationality: African American
Author’s Birth/Death Dates: February 18, 1931- Present
Distinguishing Traits of the Author: On February 18, 1931, Toni Morrison was born in Lorain, Ohio to George Wofford and Ramah. Originally born Chloe Anthony Wofford, Morrison was the second oldest of four children and grew up in a family where reading, music, and folklore was encouraged. Since she lived in an integrated neighborhood, segregation was not something she experienced until she was a teenager. What she saw around the country, however, is what inspired much of her writing in the future. Morrison attended and received her undergraduate degree in the subject of English from Howard University. She also received her master’s at Cornell. Morrison married in 1958 to a Jamaican architect named Harold Morrison. They had two children, but they divorced after six years of marriage. Morrison specialized with black fiction when she became an editor at Random House. Toni Morrison’s first novel, The Bluest Eye, was published in 1970, but was not a great seller. Her next novel though, Sula, was published in 1973, and was later nominated for the American Book Award. Beloved was Morrison’s most famous piece of literature and won many awards including the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. In 1989, Morrison became a professor at Princeton University and in 1993, she won the Nobel Prize for Literature making her the first African- American woman to be selected for the award. Toni Morrison continues to write both fiction and nonfiction novels and recently released God Help the Child in 2015.
Setting of the Work:
Beloved is set between the 1850s and 1870s, an era ripe with socioeconomic struggle, civil war, slavery, and a desperate need for reform in all areas of society. The people most affected by all three elements, including those put in the most compromising situations, were people of color: most prominently the African Americans forced into the country by the plague of the Middle Passage, a trade only recently abolished at that time. The mid to late-1800s is most prominently known as a period of transition. It was the change between farm management and industry, slavery and abolitionism, and poverty and reform.
Morrison begins the novel at 124, a home, former way-station, and refuge for fleeing slaves in the outskirts of Cincinnati. It is the home of Sethe, Denver, Beloved, and eventually Paul D and yet carries itself not by how the characters live within the house, but rather by how the house is depicted itself. It is completely dry of color, with gray outer walls and a barren field surrounding it, save for a stump which settles just outside its front, and barely filters light within. Before Beloved’s death, the house was thriving with life. Lamps were always on and people were always cooking. Smells and voices permeated the house as the community nestled within. After the murder, the liveliness of 124 disappears, leaving only Sethe and Denver left in a cold, dark house. The distinct differences highlight the importance of unity in dealing with the trauma and suffering of an entire people. It is only when people help one another that the past does not loom over their heads, manifest in the voices of the ghosts who have suffered at the hands of slavery. It is only when there is light within 124 that Sethe does not feel the need to fend for herself and protect her children so ardently.
Sweet Home is 124’s exact opposite. It is a supposed Garden of Eden, where the slaves worked happily, talked and joked around, and they appeared to feel some self-respect. The lands are lush with greenery to the point where many of the slaves get lost in the fields and bathe in the sunshine. However, this thriving life and color is deceptive. Sweet Home, in actuality, is deceptively beautiful, despite of its name.The tree that the Pauls once call Brother is the one Paul F is ironically hung on, the corn fields where Sethe and Halle consummate their love are the same which they escape into to hop onto the Underground Railroad, and the once-welcoming Garners become mutilated facades of the systematic oppression white people constantly dealt onto the slaves. It's suffocating atmosphere is so prevalent that Sethe feels the need to place flowers and various plants around the kitchen when she works to make herself feel at peace, to make herself feel freer and at home. In the end, Sweet Home was nothing more than a display of the disparity between the white masters and the colored slaves. It shows, more than anything else, that the happiness these slaves felt were only ever temporary, and that no part of their life would be worthwhile until that pervasive oppression is eliminated.
The exaggerated difference between Sweet Home’s deceptive beauty and 124’s blanched atmosphere tie into Morrison’s definition of “rememory” and how it affects society as a whole. The only reason Sweet Home is so vividly beautiful is because the scarring memories and traumatic experiences remain within the lives of these former slaves, much like PTSD. The colors of the world around them are dimmed because their minds have been left behind in their scarred past. They are unable to move on because of it, even though they crave desperately for the color to seep back into their lives.
The cold house behind 124 also plays a significant symbolic role in the story. It is the only piece of the house that is separate from the rest of the building. It is the lodging of Paul D after he is “kicked out” of the house by Beloved, where Beloved sleeps with Paul D in secret, and where, twenty years prior, Sethe kills Beloved with a handsaw. The cold house itself is atmospherically opaque. The entire building is flooded with darkness, save for “minnows” of light streaming overhead. The walls and floors are cold and newspapers become the only source of heat. With the cold house entrusted with so much sinful action and lack of the gentle touch of warmth or happiness, it becomes a manifestation of the evil of slavery and the pain it inflicts on its victims. It is, in fact, so reminiscent of its horrors that Beloved immediately associates the room with the interior of a slave ship.
Brief Plot Synopsis:
In “Beloved” by Toni Morrison the story begins describing the lonely living situation of Denver and her mother, Sethe. Since Baby Suggs’s death, there has been a ghost haunting 124 Bluestone Road and the house has remained completely empty except for the mother and daughter who live there; no visitors seem to come around anymore. Both of Sethe’s sons have left and her oldest daughter died so Denver has grown up for a majority of her life on her own. Not long after the story begins, a man by the name of Paul D shows up to the house. He and Sethe were both slaves at Sweet Home and Sethe is thrilled when he knocks on the door. Denver, however, is not very happy because he scares the ghost away as soon as he comes inside. For Denver the ghost is her only friend and now that Paul D has come, she feels more alone than ever.
Within a matter of days, Paul D has decided to move into 124 to rekindle a relationship with Sethe. One day he decides to take the ladies to a carnival but when they arrive, Denver comments in saying that it smells like “rotten roses”. When the three arrive back to the house afterwards, there is a young woman sitting on the porch. She acts weak yet looks glowing and healthy. Over the next couple weeks Denver starts to take Beloved under her wing yet all Beloved wants is attention from Sethe. Sethe, however, is preoccupied with Paul D and their relationship.
Although Sethe is initially happy about Paul D’s arrival, his presence causes her to reflect on her memories of Sweet Home; both good and painful. Sethe was born into slavery but does not remember much of her mother. She does, however, remember that she danced the antelope and had a scar on her body from being beaten by her master. Sethe was sold to Mr. Garner when she was a teenager and was a replacement for Baby Suggs, the woman whose freedom was bought by her son, Halle. Paul D, Paul F, Sixo, and Stamp Paid were some of the other slaves who lived at Sweet Home. Sethe and Halle fell in love and consummated their marriage in a corn field. They initially had three children together, Howard, Buglar, and a daughter. Sethe later gave birth to their fourth baby while she was on the run. When Mr. Garner dies, schoolteacher becomes the new slave master and everything changes. All the respect that Mr. Garner had shown his slaves was lost, the African Americans were beaten daily, and they were seen more as property rather than actual people. Even the animals were treated better than this group of people. The lives of the slaves became unbearable and many more people began to plan their escapes. Sixo was the first man to try to get out but he was caught and burned alive to show the other slaves what would happen if they tried to leave as well. Paul D also tried to escape but was caught too and brought back to Sweet Home. Instead of killing him, though, schoolteacher just put an iron bit in his mouth like a horse. Despite what she saw happen to her friends, Sethe still came up with a plan for an escape but before it could be carried out she was raped by schoolteacher’s nephews. The held her down and took her milk; a very important aspect of her being the mother of a baby. After she is taken advantage of by the boys, schoolteacher whips her back leaving her with a scar that looks like a “chokecherry tree”. Sethe finds out later that Halle saw this event take place and went crazy because he knew he could not do anything to protect his wife. When the time came for her and Halle to run, he never showed up so Sethe ended up leaving on her own. It was during this time that she met Amy Denver, the woman who helped her give birth to her second daughter, Denver. Stamp Paid then helped her cross the Ohio River so that she could safely make it to meet Baby Suggs and be reunited with her other three children at 124.
All is well at 124 for twenty-eight days until Schoolteacher shows up with one of his nephews, the sheriff, and a slave catcher at the house for Sethe. The young mother recognizes him right away and takes her children into a shed where she slams her sons’ heads against the wall and slits her older daughter’s throat. Stamp Paid bursts in right before she is about to hurt her younger baby and is able to save little Denver just in time. Schoolteacher decides that freedom has made her crazy and that she should be put in jail instead of being forced to go back to Sweet Home. Sethe argues with Baby Suggs saying that she killed her baby to protect her from having to endure what she did at the plantation but her mother-in-law is still nervous when she decides to take Denver with her to jail because she is still too young to be without her mother’s milk. The Bodwins helps release Sethe from jail but when she returns to 124 she sees that Baby Suggs has fallen into a deep depression. Unable to cure her of the pain that she is experiencing, Sethe watches Baby Suggs finally die after days of suffering.
Paul D’s encounter with Sethe also causes him to remember his traumatic past. After Sethe left Paul D tries to kill his slave owner after schoolteacher and is sent to Georgia where he is forced into a chain gang. This gang of men bound together experiences numerous things together and eventually are able to escape during a severe rainstorm. After getting away the men find a Native American tribe who take them in and take care of them all until they are healthy enough to continue onto their journey of freedom. Paul D decides that the best way to deal with his pain is to lock it away in his tobacco tin heart and not have to deal with it again.
Going back to the year 1873, Denver begins to realize that the girl who has come to her house is in fact is the ghost of her dead older sister in the flesh. Denver becomes incredibly attached to Beloved because of this deep desire for companionship that she has, but Beloved only becomes more attached to Sethe. Beloved is jealous of her interaction with Sethe and seduces him one night enough so that he has sex with her. Stamp Paid comes back into the picture and one day shows Paul D the newspaper article of the incident where Sethe killed her baby. The shock of this news causes Paul D to leave 124 and go sleep in the community church. In the days after he leaves, Sethe and Beloved’s relationship grows and Denver is left picking up the slack of the family. Sethe quits her job and spends her life savings on worthless gifts for Beloved. Denver is forced to reach out to Lady Jones, her old teacher, to help. This is a big step for Denver because she is leaving her house by herself for the first time in 12 years to reach out to the community who turned their backs on her family. She directs Denver to the Bodwins for a job and rallies the ladies of the community to start making meals for the girls of 124. They also go one day to try to get Beloved to leave. Mr. Bodwin shows up the same day, though, and Sethe tries to attack him with an ice pick because she thinks he is the schoolteacher again. He, however, does not see her go at him because he is distracted by the sight of Beloved’s naked body on the porch. It is after this commotion that Beloved slips away and leaves forever.
Stamp Paid feels bad for what he did to Paul D and goes searching for him, eventually finding him asleep in the community church. Paul D returns back to 124 and asks Sethe to try and begin a relationship with him again. He promises to nurse her back to health and always take care of her in life. Over time everyone begins to forget about events that occurred when Beloved was there until it seems as if she may not have really existed at all.
Brief Description of Characters:
●Sethe: Sethe is a devoted mother that has overcome great tragedies due to slavery. The love, compassion and care she has towards her children is much greater than the care she has for herself. The love she has for her children can be described as “too-thick love” (194). Sethe’s love for her children is easily witnessed through her attempt to kill her children in order to prevent them from being subdued into the torturous life of slavery. She is able to succeed in killing one of her children, Beloved. Her actions and consequences haunt her. The spirit of the deceased Beloved haunts her, but she is indifferent. Even a small grasp to her child through the spirit that resides in 124 means everything to her. Guilt has grown within her, but she would not change what she did to Beloved. The horrorous experiences she has had growing up as a slave is what motivated her to kill her child in the first place. These experiences include witnessing her mother being hanged, being raped and beaten by Schoolteacher’s nephews, and having her milk stolen from her breasts. Even though she escapes from Sweet Home--alone and pregnant--and is helped through the kindness of Amy Denver, only 28 days pass until Schoolteacher finds her at 124. It is then that she acts on her love for her children. Sethe is exposed to her reality once again when Paul D arrives to 124. When Paul D leaves 124 with the discovery of Sethe’s past and complicated actions, Sethe’s life is consumed by Beloved. She is drained by her wants and desires, especially when Sethe finally makes the connection that Beloved is her dead baby resurrected. Once the community gathers and rids Sethe’s life and home from Beloved, grief resides in her, but can move on from the life she has always tried to leave behind.
●Denver: Denver is one of the few dynamic characters within the novel. At first, she easily becomes jealous, is very immature, and overall a lonely child. By the end of the novel, she transforms into a hardworking, mature and selfless woman. Because of how sheltered she is from the world outside, her childlike qualities and loneliness are relieved when 124 is haunted by ghosts. Even at the age of eighteen she is seen as “round and brown with the face of an alert doll” (13). After realizing how toxic Beloved truly is for her and her mother, she adapts quickly into an independent woman that leaves her home to sustain her and her mother’s life through a job and the help of their community. She is then described by Paul D as “[looking] more like Halle than ever” (313). Denver emulates the admirable traits of a well-respected man who shares compassion for others and is very responsible.