Beloved as we know is a very mysterious character in this novel. She leaves us with many questions but one main thought to think about is her contribution in the growth of each character. In other words, the arrival of Beloved is probably the most pivotal moment of this story. This is due to the fact that this mysterious character known as Beloved is the center of this story and pretty much is the heart of what goes on in this story.
124 Bluestone Road. A house located in Cincinnati and a main setting of this story. This one address is where it all begins. It went through many phases of being loud and quiet however it’s a peaceful house that turned into a haunted house. Why has it become haunted? Reason is the arrival of our mysterious character by the name of Beloved. Beloved is what stirs the household with our characters around.
Moving through our characters, let’s start with our center. Sethe, a former slave who was sold at the age of 14 to the Garners of Sweet Home was a character who went through several children as a result from interactions with Halle. Later on in her life, she moves into 124 and meets Paul D which eventually leads to a sexual relationship. Soon, Beloved enters and without question, Sethe takes her in. An argument soon erupts regarding the truth behind Sethe leading Paul D to move. Beloved becomes someone Sethe cares for. She becomes the reason for Sethe’s existence. She spends almost all her time with and thinking about Beloved. That was until Beloved disappears for good. Without Beloved, Sethe has no where to go that is until Paul D finally returns. So pretty much without Beloved’s arrival, this whole argument and fracas would have never happened and life would’ve been much different and 124 would remain peaceful. Sethe wouldn’t have had any worries or regrets in her life.
Paul D was a major character in this story and had several interactions with Beloved. When Beloved showed up, Paul D showed some confusion. Paul D was known as the frail man with the “Tin Box Heart.” This was due to the many experiences he had as slave and as an escapee from Brandywine. He had no one to be with due to his brothers being dead. That was until he moved to 124 with Sethe. At this point, Paul D still had his “Tin Box Heart”. Beloved was the one who changed that into somewhat of a renewed Steel Beam Heart. After having sexual intercourse with Beloved, Paul D changed and evolved. Later on the story after Paul D moves out, Paul D returns after hearing what happened to Sethe as a result from Beloved’s disappearance. The Tin Can Heart is what Paul D was known for and it was an important symbol in the story. If Beloved didn’t arrive, he would’ve still remained frail and he wouldn’t have had to move out which would really change the story significantly.
To conclude this post, there’s more things to talk about when it comes to the reasons why Beloved’s arrival was very pivotal however the changes in Sethe and Paul D I believe sums this up. Our mysterious character that we call Beloved was the key to each character involved with 124 and without her, this story wouldn’t even be Beloved. It would probably be just a story about a family living in a utopia after slavery.
Monthly Archives: April 2015
Sethe Kills Beloved
The scene that is so pivotal in Beloved is when the sheriff comes to the shed after Sethe kills Beloved. Starting from page 177, paragraph 3, to page 179, paragraph 1, it states: “They unhitched from schoolteacher’s horse the borrowed mule that was to carry the fugitive woman back to where she belonged, and tied it to the fence. Then, with the sun straight up over their heads, they trotted off, leaving the sheriff behind among the damnedest bunch of coons they’d ever seen. All testimony to the results of a little so-called freedom imposed on people who needed every care and guidance in the world to keep them from the cannibal life they preferred. The sheriff wanted to back out too. To stand in the sunlight outside of that place meant for housing wood, coal, kerosene—fuel for cold Ohio winters, which he thought of now, while resisting the urge to run into the August sunlight. Not because he was afraid. Not at all. He was just cold. And he didn’t want to touch anything. The baby in the baby in the old man’s arms was crying, and the woman’s eyes with no whites were gazing straight ahead. They all might have remained that way, frozen till Thursday, except one of the boys on the floor sighed. As if he were sunk in the pleasure of deep sweet sleep, he sighed the sigh that flung the sheriff into action. “I’ll have to take you in. No trouble now. You’ve done enough to last you. Come on now.” She did not move. “You come quiet, hear, and I won’t have to tie you up.” She stayed still and he had made up his mind to go near her and some kind of way bind her wet red hands when a shadow behind him in the doorway made him turn. The nigger with the flower in her hat entered.
Baby Suggs noticed who breathed and who did not and went straight to the boys lying in the dirt. The old man moved to the woman gazing and said, “Sethe. You take my armload and gimme yours.” She turned to him, and glancing at the baby he was holding, made a low sound in her throat as though she’d made a mistake, left the salt out of the bread or something. “I’m going out here and send for a wagon,” the sheriff said and got into the sunlight at last. But neither Stamp Paid nor Baby Suggs could make her put her crawling-already? girl down. Out of the shed, back in the house, she held on. Baby Suggs had got the boys (Howard and Buglar) inside and was bathing their heads, rubbing their hands, lifting their lids, whispering, “Beg your pardon, I beg your pardon,” the whole time. She bound their wounds and made them breath camphor before turning her attention to Sethe. She took the crying baby (Denver) from Stamp Paid and carried it on her shoulder for a full two minutes, then stood in front of its mother. “It’s time to nurse your youngest,” she said. Sethe reached up for the baby without letting the dead one go. Baby Suggs shook her head. “One at a time,” she said and traded the living for the dead, which she carried into the keeping room. When she came back, Sethe was aiming a bloody nipple into the baby’s mouth. Baby Suggs slammed her fist on the table and shouted, “Clean up! Clean yourself up!”
I believe if Sethe did not kill Beloved than Howard and Buglar would not have been afraid of her. In the text, it states that Howard and Buglar did not want to be near Sethe during the day of Beloved’s funeral. Also, Howard and Buglar were afraid if they were going to be the next child that Sethe was going to kill, so, they ran away from. Likewise, Denver would not have been afraid of Sethe if she did not kill Beloved. Although, she did not run away like her brothers, she was constantly living in fear of what Sethe was going to do. Denver was always watching her mother’s every move, being careful with her, less she be killed as well. Also, Denver believed she had to take care of her mother because she did not want the same episode that happened to Beloved to happen again to herself or anyone else. If Sethe did not kill Beloved with a handsaw, then Beloved’s ghost would not have come in the house to torment her. In the text, Beloved comes to 124 as thin frail girl that has no family. At first, Sethe takes her in and helps her to get better without knowing that it was her daughter. Sethe believed that Beloved was a harmless child and that she was a good friend to Denver. However, Paul D realized something was not right with Beloved. He saw that she came to 124 with a nice dress and nice shoes and he became suspicious of her being homeless because the slaves Paul D encountered were either hungry, robbed, or deprived of something (Page 78). Although, Denver and Sethe ignored Paul D’s assumptions, Denver later realizes that Beloved was her sister and that she came back to take revenge on Sethe for killing her. Sethe, also, realized that Beloved was her child when Beloved would ask Sethe of things that only Sethe would know such as her earrings and other stories that she could not have know if she was a stranger to the family. Furthermore, the scar that was on Beloved’s neck was a clue to Sethe showing that Beloved was her deceased daughter that came back to her.
As Beloved got well, any chance she got she would ask Sethe to retell stories of her life and make sweet desserts for her. Sethe did not oblige and she would do them even if she did not have the resources for it. I believe Sethe was trying to mend her relationship that she broke when she killed Beloved. However, Beloved fed into her remorse and started to suck the life out of her like a parasite. As Beloved got fatter from the constant desserts that Sethe was feeding her, the fighting between them got worse (Page 296). Denver believed “she kept them alive” but she became more afraid for the safety of her mother than the safety of Beloved (Page 296). At the end of the text, Beloved has an ice pick in her hand and Denver and Sethe were running away from Beloved (Page 309). Although, Denver and Sethe does not die, Sethe gets a mental breakdown from the trauma that she went through with Beloved, causing Denver to now take care of her and be the head of the household (Page 319-321). Another point I want to make is that, Paul D could have continued his intimate relationship with Sethe. I believe Paul D wanted to be with Sethe and establish a family ( such as a wife, husband, and child), however, the news of Sethe putting a handsaw to her own child was too traumatic for him, so he left (Page 221).
Deft
deft
: skillful and clever
: able to do something quickly and accurately
: characterized by facility and skill
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/deft
In Beloved page 185 paragraph 1
“Young and deft with four children , one of which she delivered herself the day before she got there and who now had the full benefit of Baby Suggs’ bounty and her big old heart.”
This is describing Sethe saying that although she was young, she was very skilled at her age. She was even able to deliver her own children by herself.
Gaiety
gaiety
: a happy and lively quality
plural gai·eties
1
: merrymaking; also : festive activity —often used in plural
2
: high spirits : merriment
3
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gaietyIn Beloved page 87 Paragraph 3
“She had felt warm satisfaction radiating from Beloved’s skin when she listened to her mother talk about the old days. But gaiety she had never seen.”
In this case I believe gaiety is the high spirits and merriment and lively quality of Beloved. This is a kind of happiness that Denver has never seen and this means a lot in a story talking about a time of slavery.
Reverie
reverie
: a state in which you are thinking about pleasant things
plural rev·er·ies
1
: daydream
2
: the condition of being lost in thought
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/reveries
In Beloved 69 paragraph 6.
“She and Baby Suggs had agreed without saying so that it was unspeakable; to Denver’s inquiries Sethe gave short replies or rambling incomplete reveries.”
Reveries here probably means being lost in her thoughts because there were not a lot of pleasant things that may have happened in her past because he and Baby Suggs have refused to talk about it. She is probably lost in her thought of the past and thinking about what to and not to share.
Rebuked
re·buke
: to speak in an angry and critical way to (someone)
re·buked
transitive verb
1
a : to criticize sharply : reprimand
b : to serve as a rebuke to
2
: to turn back or keep down : check
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rebukedBeloved page 16 paragraph 3. “Rebuked. Lonely and rebuked.”
In this dialogue, Denver is trying to explain that the ghost of the house is lonely and angry who is always speaking or expressing her anger by shaking the house, and breaking mirrors.
Ten minutes for seven letters
I want to choose the passage in the beginning of the story on page 5, paragraph 4, 5, and 6.
What stood out to me was the nonchalance air that the section had.
“Ten minutes for seven letters”. This stood out to me a lot because it is the first look at how much she loved her children. It never explicitly tells the reader what exactly this line means. But it is implied that she was willing to give the engraver ten minutes of sexual pleasure in exchange for the 7 letter of beloved to be engraved on her baby daughter’s tombstone. She was even willing to give another ten minutes or maybe even thirty in order to engrave the word Dearly as well.
She was counting on the stillness of her soul, as in she gave her soul away in order to provide and give something deserving to her daughter who had died at such a young age.
She knows that she has repressed her own soul to do this but the only thing she cared about was the soul of her daughter and how it may have raged her more. She believes that as long as her daughter comes and listens to her, she will understand how much Sethe really loves her daughter.
Another detail that explains that she’s lost her soul was how she kept referring to her knees being wide open like the ‘grave’. She was willing to lose a bit of herself to engrave those letters for her daughter because she truly was her beloved.
Something to think about: was she feeling guilty about killing her daughter even though she justifies it? Is she torturing herself to keep herself sane, staying in the house, succumbing to sexual advances of the engraver?
Another thing that crossed my mind when reading this passage is, what is her daughter’s real name? We know that Beloved is not her real name because it was something the preacher had read in the funeral that resonated with Sethe.
It brings to mind the lack of independence Africans had before and after the Civil War. Names are independent of each individual. When her daughter died, she is only referred to as beloved in the story and never by her actual birth name. I feel that beloved is a word of ownership. You have to be someone or something’s beloved. In this way, her daughter (in a way) will always be hers and will always stay with her.
PILFER
Pilfer (Beloved/Part 2/Page 225 (Red Book))
verb
Pronunciation: pil-fer
-To steal things that are not very valuable or to steal a small amount of something.
Context: “Schooltecher took away the guns from the Sweet Home men and, deprived of game to round out their diet of breat, beans, hominy, vegetables, and a little extra at slaughter time, they began to pilfer in earnest, and it became not only their right but their obligation.”
Source: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pilfer
Pivotal passages in Beloved
In your questions in this week’s discussion, it is clear that the flashbacks can confuse us as readers, that there are details we miss, that there are whole sections that require re-reading. In class, we can think about the extent to which this is important in how the story is told. We will continue to discuss the novel so that we can all understand it better.
For homework this week, consider a scene that you think is so pivotal that if it hadn’t happened, the whole novel would be different. Identify the scene, and write a post, 350-500 words, about what is so important about it for the novel.
Categorize your post under Homework, Week 10. Choose the tag Beloved, and any other tags that apply or that you want to create.
