“”I made that song up,” said Sethe. “I made it up and sang it to my children. Nobody knows that song but me and my children.” Beloved turned at Sethe. “I know it,” she said” (207, Morrison)
Beloved humming Sethe’s song is a confirmation that Beloved is in fact Sethe’s baby girl that she killed many years ago. At Beloved’s funeral, Sethe only caught two words that the pastor spoke “Dearly Beloved”, which coincidentally is the name of Beloved now. It is still a bit of a mystery how Beloved could have survived Sethe’s heinous murder but the fact that Beloved knew the song that Sethe sang only between herself and her children, shows the readers that Beloved is one of Sethe’s baby beyond the grave and act. Perhaps when Beloved was over at the other side of the “bridge”, she watched Sethe’s way of living, coping and her children. This could be seen as a form of protection but also a form of admiration. Sethe believes that the reason why she killed Beloved was to save her the life of being enslaved from the salve-catchers and so on. In a way Beloved admires and understands her mother’s wrong doings but still is emotionally and physical hurt by her actions. Beloved again and again recalls memories and items of Sethe’s past, for example the earrings and now the song. Beloved does massive efforts to make it know to Sethe and Denver, as well, that she is their family, and they are hers.
