As Spring Break winds to an end, your reading beckons. The last time we met, we agreed to read through page 247 (if you have the red cover). This is the chapter that begins with the sentence “Beloved is my sister.” It ends with “She’s mine, Beloved. She’s mine.”
Since we’re covering so much of the novel before we meet in person, let’s use this week’s online discussion to formulate questions and do our best to answer them. In the comments below, please ask a question of the class–something you want to think more about, something you want explained, something that bothers you, excites you, intrigues you. Frame your question with what you do understand and what you’re thinking about it, and quote specific passages that help you set up the question. You can ask related questions in one comment, but if you have more than one unrelated question, please ask them in separate comments.
For homework (instruction post to come soon), we’ll all dive in to answer these questions.
Since we’re still on spring break, discussion participation is due after break: Monday at 3pm.
I have finish reading the book and I have to say this book reminds me of “The Yellow Wallpaper” because the narrators (there was more than one narrator telling the story) were all over the place. Throughout this text, the author would tell the story in the present time then it would shift into things that happened in the past. I was not a fan. Like I have said before, I do not like flashback books and it was hard to understand most of the reading. The author hides the main point of what happens to Beloved in a bunch of nonsensical writing. Furthermore, the read was not enjoyable because once I got to the climax (there were many climax in this text) the author quickly shifts into talking about something else.
Now, going on to the questions, I have a lot that needs clarifying. 1) Was Beloved a ghost that came to terrorize Sethe for killing her with a saw? Did Beloved want to take revenge on Sethe?
2) In “Beloved,” the author makes Beloved as a person that was human. Beloved (Sethe’s baby) died, so did Beloved rise from the dead?
3) What happened to Halle? Halle was going to escape slavery with Paul D and Sixo but Halle just disappeared. Where did Halle go?
4) If Sethe killed her baby, how long was she in jail? I know Baby Suggs took care of Denver, Buglar, and Howard but I cannot recall the book mentioning her getting an extensive punishment for that crime.
5) In Page 137, Beloved ask Paul D to touch her on the “inside part.” What does this mean?
6) Was Sethe going through post-traumatic stress disorder when she killed Beloved?
Furthermore, I would suggest a different text that is more suspenseful and interesting for your future students to grasp. This book is meant for the trash bin.
Hi Stephanie,
I agree with you when you mentioned the shifting in time made it a bit hard to follow up. Well, the reason is because the story was written after slavery was abolished and since slavery still had an impact on the society of that time, the author had to go back and forth to make a liaison between between the past and the present of Sethe’s life.
Every question you listed above was some of the same questions I also had in mind. I came up with some suggested which probably give us a little bit of clarity. I thought that Beloved was reincarnated again into another body, this is why they are so much similarity with Sethe dead child and her. In addition, Beloved knowing many events that had happened in the past. Then speaking of the question about Paul D touching the “inside part” of Beloved, I thought they were talking about sex. This is why Paul D wanted to confess to Sethe outside her job at the restaurant but wasn’t man enough to tell her what happened between him and Beloved. And if this information is true. I am still left confuse because if they did have sex, how old can Beloved be? According to the information that was given in the novel. Maybe I have missed it. When Sethe killed her baby, she thought she was doing the right thing by not letting her child go through the pain and stress such as being a slave, so killing her was easier. As you said, this story is confusing and many unanswered questions.
While reading “Beloved,” one thing that bothered me is the character Beloved. As Stephanie asked, did Beloved rise from the dead? Is she a ghost? Also, Beloved seems to be obsessed with Sethe. “All to be able to say “We got to” and “Ma’am said for us to.” Otherwise Beloved gets private and dreamy, or quiet and sullen, and Denver’s chances of being looked at by her go down to nothing. She has no control over the evenings. When her mother is anywhere around, Beloved has eyes only for Sethe.” Denver sees that obsession Beloved has for Sethe. I found this to be quite confusing because Sethe killed Beloved. Denver feared Sethe for this reason. She was afraid of Sethe killing her too. How come Beloved wasn’t like this? Why does Beloved have so much love for her after she killed her and barely knew her?
I’d say something that covers all the excitement, intriguing, and bothering aspect is pretty much Beloved. She’s a very mysterious character that I’m pretty sure based on the comments so far, no one really understands well. Who is really Beloved? What was her goal or objective? How did her existence cause everyone to grow as a person? Lastly, is her existence more of an existence of destruction or creation?
This book is pretty dark and a bit confusing as well. I agree with imran and stephanie on whether or not beloved is a ghost. i can’t seem to put that together. Why did beloved show up when she did? what’s the reason for the obsession with sethe ?
i agree with Stephanie that the book really jumps around alot. the author really likes to go back into the past and talk about what happen with a certain character out of no where. i also see the point of Beloved not be ghost because her actions are really weird. i also see a common point of obsession with all the characters such as Paul D and Beloved with Sethe, then Denver with Sethe.
I agree there is is lot of flash backs and at times they appear out of nowhere. However, it is these flashbacks that explain the reason behind certain events in the novel. The reader is in suspense until a flashback explains what is going on. As I read the novel I wanted to know from the beginning whose baby was the baby ghost and how she died. Readers are not privy to this information right away. This suspense helps to grab readers and keep them focused until questions like these are answered usually with a flashback event.
I agree with Stephanie and Chun on a few notes…
One of my favorite leisure times activities is to read, and I have definitely read books that have started out slow and then picked up in the middle, so I’m quick not to judge. I admit that this is not the case with Beloved. Its quite frustrating to be in the middle of the book and have to reread pages over and over because it jumps from the past to present so much, which doesn’t really make the book enjoyable. I think the language and the settings that she uses are written very poetically and paint a beautiful picture, but its not enough to grab my attention as a reader. It is a book that I’m constantly putting down which I’m also not used to because it’s always the opposite for me. It seems that all the characters have an obsession with Sethe. Both Beloved, Denver and Paul D. All the characters are dealing with their own demons and all have such a melancholia about them that I feel at times it gets redundant. I also notice that Sethe treats Beloved as though she is a living person… Perhaps that is the guilt she carries because of her death, and that is her way of coping with it, by pretending that she is really still there among the living. Overall, the book ,though beautifully written, is too slow and overwhelming and hard to complete.
That’s exactly the issue, I had to go back just to understand what was going on. I also agree with you every character had something to deal with. The way Sethe treated Beloved did stand out, never looked at it as maybe its the guilt she had to live with from the pass.
I’ve read this book a few years ago and still have certain question. First off, in this book it’s a lot of back and forth of what going on which makes it a little confusing to stick with. One minute we’re in the present next we’re in the pass. The author made hard to really understand beloved Character itself. Was she from the dead? Was she a Ghost or a Spirt? Another thing was what was her main interest with Sethe? Was it to torture or haunt Sethe for the past? The book I won’t consider a bad book, I feel like Toni Morrison is a great writer but this book does capture for attention to make you want more. It has some interesting point then its get dry. Me personally will recommend a different reading in the future. I understand why we had to read it for a Literature class because it really makes us think more than the bigger picture.
This novel by Toni Morrison is very intriguing. Although readers have to keep track of multiple characters, each character have compelling moments that constantly makes the plot more interesting and suspenseful.
It is difficult to figure out at this point who Beloved is and what her purpose is for coming to visit and stay with Sethe and Denver. We get the impression she loves Sethe and wants to be with her all the time. On page 59 of my reading the narrator described Beloved’s thoughts, “but now- even the daylight time that Beloved had counted on, disciplined herself to to be content with was being reduced, divided by Sethe’s willingness to pay attention to other things. Mostly him.” Beloved has this abundance of love for Sethe but yet when they went to the clearing Denver is sure that it was Beloved who tried to choke Sethe. “You did it, I saw you,” said Denver. “I saw your face.” You made her choke. Even Sethe had her suspicion as indicated when the narrator explained her thoughts after her return from the clearing, “the suspicion that the girls’s touch was also exactly like the baby’s ghost dissipated.
At this point, I believe the level of jealousy and possessiveness that Beloved has towards Sethe can be dangerous. In addition, why is she sleeping with Paul D? Why is it no one hears her footsteps when they should? Also, only a ghost can disappear the way Denver described how she disappeared in the cold house.
The story jumps between past and present, giving us bits of information at a time. Each time we get some back-story on a character, it helps us understand his or her actions and thoughts. Some of the writing gets confusing, and uses imagery and symbolism to get its meaning across.
Like for instance the whitegirl Denver is named after. We hear about her multiple times and then afterwards the full story is revealed. On page 61 (red book) the story jumps to when Denver was born, “so much water Amy said, “hold on, Lu. You going to sink us you keep that up.”” At this point we don’t know who Amy and Lu are.
It’s also interesting that the use of water could be symbolism. Having Beloved walk out of the water, and Sethe not being able to make it to the outhouse “there was no stopping water breaking from a breaking womb and there was no stopping now.” Water is used as a symbol of birth.
Yeah I agree with you. Many things are confusing but later on in the story the clear up some of the information. When I was reading this same section, I was puzzled, as I kept on reading; I learned that Lu was Sethe false name she used for Amy not figure out who she was.
Beloved by Toni Morrison is a very exciting peace of reading. We have covered fiction, short stories throughout the semester. I notice in beloved that it has a different style of redaction. First of all, it’s a novel, long story and the story itself is very close to the reality and it was inspired from that specific society. Beloved talks about slavery and ghosts which has a relationship with the life system of that time where Sethe was held as a salve and freed herself eventually. At the same time the novel was written after the civil war of 1861-1865. How could the story be related the civil war?
Furthermore, there has been some difficulties on identifying who is beloved? Was she an ordinary women traumatized by being a slave? Or the ghost that has been mentioned in multiple passages?
In general, I believe that beloved is an imaginary figure that represents the horror of the slavery that lasted even after slavery was abolished.
I agree with you Amine that Beloved is the author’s creative imaginary figure or symbol which represent the horror of the slavery. I think the author is first used the ghost which always haunted the house and then she creates Beloved as a grown girl with childish behavior as a symbol of the flash back of Sethe and the people surrounding her of their horrible slavery experience. Most of the texts are very confusing for me like others students mentioned between the past and the present so I have to go back and read the text over and over again. Then I found out there is DVD available in public library which help me a lot to understand some part of the text with the visual aids.
With the lanuguage and structure of the text. im way behind. i had to constantly re-read pages and go back. What i thought was going on as i read on i found out what i thought was totally off.
Example. i clearly thought Baby Suggs died within years that Sethe and the kids stayed with her then i read the part about Baby Suggs died in 28 days. but i know she was a love long enough Denver to know her if she died 8-9 years from when Paul D got there and that Denver and Beloved are only 2 years apart.
Im assuming i missed the detail of the 28 days. its just so much going on.
text has too many details to keep me engaged
The story jumps around quite a lot and is pretty confusing as others have posted before me but I do find the story interesting and intriguing. I want to find out who Beloved is, how the characters will grow by the end of the story.
What would be frustrating though is if it is one of those stories that just ends with all the questions unanswered as in the Metamorphosis.
Similar to everyone else, I want to know who Beloved is and why is she acting the way she does.
Sometimes I think she is Sethe’s dead daughter because of the name, first of all but also various details.
Beloved is INTRIGUED by Sethe’s past and asks her repetitively about them. The knowledge we lacked in the previous part is now getting clearer in this section because Sethe is opening up to Beloved. We know that Sethe has confined herself because of what has happened in 124. If Sethe is now opening up to her memories, could it mean that she is the dead daughter?
She also always sticks around Sethe similar to a little girl to her mother. Beloved also wants to drive Paul D away similar to how the house shook when Paul D and Sethe consummated their relationship.
But then again, if Beloved is her daughter, why is she asking Paul D to ‘touch her in her insides’?
One minute I think Beloved HAS to be the daughter and then the next I’m confused again.
I’m definitely eager to finish the story and find out the answers to my questions.
I haven’t finished reading yet, but there is something I want explained. Throughout this whole book the author likes to go form present to past then back to present. I don’t really like when this happens because it doesn’t really transition well. I feel like it just confuses the readers on whats really happening. Plus to add to that sometimes the text isn’t really clear and that I would have to reread to try to at least understand it.
During my readings there was this one question I wanted to know. For example when Sethe was sleeping in the chair and dreaming about how Baby Suggs was rubbing her back, she was choked out of nowhere. Then later on Denver said to Beloved why did she choke Sethe. Why doesn’t Denver tell Sethe that she saw Beloved choke her.
Something that bothered me was when Beloved went into Paul D’s room and ask him to touch her insides parts. It was completely random for me because I didn’t expect something like this to happen, it made me cringe a little.
It took me a while, but I’ve finally caught up. The story is very vivid. Sethe character have a lot of anger, when Paid stamp explained to Paul D how she killed her kids when schoolteacher arrived I awed. Belove turned out to be more than innocent due to the fact that she forced herself on to Paul Dec another awed moment. Furthermore it seems as if Denver is terrified by Beloved due to powers to control and manipulate.