Toni Morrison's novel Beloved is an intense story of Sethe, the protagonist, who's a runaway slave trying to find her identity and a connection to her past and present. The novel consists of ideas such as identity and rememory. These ideas are both connected in such a way that allows the plot and events to take place, flow and to fit together into one big picture. Morrison expresses the search for Sethe's identity throughout the novel with correlation through various events of rememory. .
The last two pages of the novel are the most important factors behind Sethe's search for her identity. The passage within these two pages is talking about Beloved. Beloved is a reincarnation of Sethe's baby girl, whom she murdered as a child. The baby girl was one of Sethe's most cherished aspects of her life and it was only for her protection that she did what she did. Before Beloved's reincarnation, the spirit of Beloved was haunting 124, the house in which Sethe lived in. When the spirit suddenly disappeared, it came back as Beloved. Once again it disappeared and this whole passage is of the town trying to forget Beloved. The reason for her disappearance was probably because she was "disremembered and unaccounted for" and "she cannot be lost because no one is looking for her." "So they forgot her. Like an unpleasant dream during a troubling sleep." Beloved was a burden to the town and to Sethe and ones whom were close to her. They forgot about her. The line "This is not a story to pass on" is repeated various times throughout that passage and this is the same reason as to the quotes mentioned previously. Sethe and the whole town refuse to remember Beloved because all she does is bring bad luck. As a matter of fact, they refuse to think of the past, they don't want to remember anything negative that has happened. And if no one thinks of Beloved, then the occurrences with her in the past will never be mentioned again, thus it is "not a story to pass on.
Beloved was Sethe. ... Sethe was the dearly beloved, and thus Beloved was named after Sethe. Not only was Sethe and Beloved connected by blood, they were connected in name. And Beloved became the embodiment of Sethe. ... With Beloved's return, Sethe can release all the guilt her conscious has laid upon her. ...
beloved "It is the ultimate gesture of a loving mother. ... By killing her "Beloved" child, has Sethe acted out of true love or selfish pride? ... Throughout Beloved, Sethe's character consistently displays the duplistic nature of her actions. ... Sethe's concept of loving and protecting her children becomes synonymous with her killing Beloved and attempting to kill the rest. ... However, Sethe's love for her children does not preclude her responsibility for Beloved's death. ...
Sethe feels badly for killing her daughter and just wants to make it better so Sethe lets Beloved do what she pleases. ... Last time he came Sethe killed her daughter, Beloved, to keep Beloved safe. ... Sethe tries to protect Beloved and Beloved understands. Beloved is "no more powerful than the way [Sethe] loved her" and now that Sethe is at peace with her baby's death, Beloved is gone, "disappeared." It is clear, now that the sequence of events has changed Beloved and Sethe are at peace and Beloved is gone. ...
However, it is not until Beloved, her Nobel-prize winning novel about slavery, that Morrison truly examines the relationship of the community and redemption. ... Morrison opens Beloved with two very powerful statements. ... Beloved is a story about slavery, certainly. ... Directly on the following page is an excerpt from the bible, Romans 9:25: "I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved." ... This warm community quickly excludes Baby and her kin, though, when Sethe commits an unthinkable evil; Sethe murders her baby. ...
Motherhood & Beloved Out of all the different themes explored by Morrison in Beloved, motherhood shows the most omnipresence. ... People must ask themselves, "How can Sethe love her children so much when she try's to kill them and succeeds with Beloved-? ... Denver cried when Beloved disappeared in the cold house. However, Denver was not crying because Beloved disappeared, per se. ... Sethe did not understand. ...
This is the question that is being asked throughout Toni Morrison's Novel Beloved. The character Sethe, in the novel, had killed her own daughter beloved and attempted to kill the rest of her children in the fear that they would live the same tortured life that she had. ... I believe that Sethe had taken away beloved's life prematurely and that she like many other slaves could have become someone important in life. ... In the novel, Sethe did not let Beloved make her own decision on life and that is why the house in the beginning is haunted with her angry spirit. ... If beloved...
This is Beloved, who takes the name from the word that is on the gravestone of Sethe's dead child. ... When Sethe does not need anyone after Beloved's death, Ella ostracizes Sethe and her family from the community for eighteen years. ... Beloved does come back to pass judgment on Sethe. ... Sethe gives Beloved story after story of her love and devotion to her. ... The re-entry of Paul D and Beloved causes Sethe to remember her past and come to terms with it. ...
However, all Sethe could think about is getting her milk to Beloved. ... Then when Beloved shows up at 124 in the flesh, Sethe couldn't have been happier. ... However, it wasn't just Beloved showing up on her stump that broke Sethe, but it was Beloved showing up and then leaving Sethe again. ... Sethe cared for all her children and the absence of Beloved devastated her. Was it right or wrong for Sethe to murder her daughter Beloved to remain at 124? ...
Beloved was the only child who died. ... Sethe was shunned by her children, her owners, and even Paul D. when he leaves her after finding she killed Beloved. A young black woman, calling herself Beloved, comes in to Sethe's life and she takes her in. ... Sethe is soon consumed entirely by Beloved. ... After this incident, Beloved disappears. ...
