One scene that I found to be pivotal was Sethe killing her child. In my opinion, this is what held the book together. The reason behind Sethe’s murder was a good intention. She wanted to protect her children and herself from schoolteacher and the rest of the men. She feared they would’ve taken her along with her children back to the slave life she didn’t want her kids to experience. This action actually showed the amount of love she had for her children.
“I didn’t have time to explain before because it had to be done quick. Quick. She had to be safe and I put her where she would be. But my love was tough and she back now.”
“How if I hadn’t killed her she would have died and that is something I could not bear to happen to her. When I explain it she’ll understand, because she understands everything already. I’ll tend her as no mother ever tended a child, a daughter. Nobody will ever get my milk no more except my own children.”
After Sethe comes to realize that Beloved is her daughter, she wanted to explain to Beloved why she killed her. She knew that her daughter would’ve died anyway at the hands of someone else, and couldn’t handle the sight of that. Now that she has her daughter back, she wants to make up for those lost years. Sethe claims that nobody except her children will ever get her milk. All of this shows the amount of love she has for her children, which is why she ended up killing her daughter.
Also, the baby ghost that haunted 124 would not have been there if Sethe hadn’t killed her daughter. This caused Sethe and Denver to live in isolation because no one visited them. The years of isolation kept Denver inside of 124, until she was forced to get out after her mother lost her job.
