Morrison opens Beloved with two very powerful statements. Before the story even begins, there is a page with only the words “Sixty Million and more”: she is referring to the sixty million people who died as a result of slavery. This figure has been much speculated upon, and when questioned about it, Morrison says, “Some historians told me that two hundred million died. The smallest number I got from anybody was sixty million.” One might think from this staggering dedication that

So the family of 124 lives in isolation for twelve years, twelve long years with only the company of the dead baby’s ghost. When the ghost appears in human form, as a girl of eighteen, the same age as the dead baby would have been, Sethe and Denver accept her whole heartedly. As they realize this girl, Beloved, is actually the baby back from the grave, they become obsessed with her, and turn themselves away from the community even further. Both Sethe and Denver have such a craving for this girl that they completely wall themselves in 124, and it becomes their prison. Beloved is more than a homeless girl to them, “she is the catalyst for revelations as well as self-revelations; through her we come to know not only how, but why, the original child Beloved was killed. And through her also Sethe achieves, finally, her own form of self-exorcism, her own self-accepting peace.” Beloved is not just a real ghost; she is Sethe’s ghost, Sethe’s grief, and Sethe’s pain.

When Sethe first came to 124, her mother-in-law’s home, it was “was a softened place in which the African American community of Cincinnati met and exchanged information and food.” Her mother-in-law, Baby Suggs was the heart of this community. Not only was she a warm woman who opened up her home, but she was also an “unchurched preacher”

Sethe is so enveloped in that pain, that the ghost Beloved, actually starts to destroy Sethe and Denver. She demands everything from her mother, as a baby would, until these demands grow uncontrollably and consume Sethe. Because of her pain and guilt, Sethe in unable to do anything but care for Beloved; she is entirely focused on her and neglects all else. Beloved begins to abuse her, but in an effort to make up for what she has done, Sethe takes it. Because there is no one to fall back on and no one to take care of these women, they are destined to die.

Some topics in this essay:
Baby Suggs, Sethe Denver, S” Morrison, Sethe Maybe, Lady Jones, Sethe Ella, Sethe Clearing, Nonono Simple, Toni Morrison, Bluestone Road, baby suggs, community sethe, baby’s ghost, sethe denver, twenty-eight days, yes yes, romans 925 “i, sethe 124, women begin, ghost sethe’s, yes yes yes, role community, “i call people, 925 “i call, people people beloved,