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).

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