In the present day, Paul D is on his feet again; he is being moved out of the house. First he can no longer fall asleep in the bed with Sethe, then in the rocker, then Baby Suggs's bed, then the storeroom, and finally he must go outside to the cold house to rest. He believes it's Beloved's doing, and one night she visits him in the cold house and seduces him with the cryptic "I want you to touch me on the inside part and call me my name." She goes to him nightly.
Analysis
Most of Paul D's history is straightforward, but it is worthwhile to note the appearance of the Cherokee, an example of further injustice caused by racism in the world.
Paul D's seduction by Beloved is juxtaposed against the narration of his past. The most obvious implication is that Paul D, in being seduced by Beloved, is somehow confronting his own past. What was a "tobacco tin" at the end of chapter 10 is now a "Red Heart." By calling her name, like Beloved asks, Paul D accepts the past back into life. Paul D's initial reaction to "knock [Beloved] down" mirrors Sethe's "beating back the past," but in the end he succumbs to her and, implicitly, his own past.
However, though Beloved's presence is a healing one in this way, the picture the novel paints of her is not one of a benign spirit. Beloved's desire to seduce Paul D can be seen in two ways. On the surface, she is forcing him to betray Sethe. On a deeper level, she is asking him to impregnate her: "I want you to touch me on the inside part." Beloved is not truly flesh, being an incarnation of the past, but there is the implication that she can manifest in the present by carrying a child within her.
Beloved's rocking at the end of Chapter 12 is symbolic of the slave ship. She is, above all, a representation of the past in the present. She is the "sunlit cracks" in the cold house, filtering through into the present in bits and pieces. She is the darkness she points to, not truly here but ever-present.
II. Key Literary Techniques
Chokecherry Tree
Upon Sethe's back is a maze of scars, referred to by Paul D as a "chokecherry tree." It is the remains of an operation schoolteacher performed upon her back in an effort to determine how much she resembled an animal. The tree, which is ever-present but can never be seen, is symbolic of the burden which Sethe carries. It is her past, and it is the prejudice of white men against her. It is a mark made by people who believed her to be an animal.
Rememory/Disremember
Instead of using the words "remember" and "forget," Sethe uses the words "rememory" (both a noun and a verb here) and "disremember." To Sethe, the past is alive in the present, and thus the word "remember" is substituted with the more organic "rememory," reminding us that everything is held in memory. Similarly, the word "forget" lacks the conscious effort that the characters must employ to commit such an act. Thus, they "disremember" things, with the implication that they force them to the back of their minds.
Heart
The description of a heart is used many times in the novel, the most obvious being Paul D's "Red heart" comment while he is having sex with Beloved. The heart in this book represents life. Baby Suggs does not have life until she is freed and realizes her heart is beating. Paul D does not have life until his tobacco tin is forced open, leaving him a red heart.
Color
A principle theme in this book is the difference of race, between black and white. However, as Toni Morrison is quick to show, there the difference between races is not so severe-there is color in between. Many different characters hold on to objects of vivid colors, and Baby Suggs, in defeat, went "to bed to think about the colors of things." It is not until the end that Paul D discovers the colors of the flowers in Sethe's yard. The implication is that these men and woman wish not for harsh differences in race, but
III. Themes developed
V. Significant lines
V
chapter 8;Analysis:Chapter 8 returns to Beloved again, dancing and talking with Denver. Beloved tells Denver about where she was before, "in the dark" where she is small and curled up and many people are dead. She says she came back to "see her face" -- Sethe's face. Denver is afraid Beloved will leave her, but Beloved says she needs Sethe, not Denver, and will stay because of her. Beloved asks Denver to tell the story of Denver's birth, which Denver must half make up to placate Beloved's desire for full stories. During the story's telling, however, Denver shifts from feeling the story as a kind of debt she has to pay to seeing and feeling the story through Beloved, understanding what it must have been like for the nineteen year old Sethe. In the story of Denver's birth, a white girl with good hands rubs Sethe's feet, explaining all the while that she is looking for velvet. Amy, the white girl, then looks at Sethe's back and describes the bleeding, puss-filled wounds as a chokecherry tree. She cares for the wound as best she can, talking about beatings she had received as an indentured servant from her own master, Mr. Buddy - a master who was rumored also to be her father, although she would not believe it. They both sleep and awake in the morning to go find a boat, at which point Sethe's water breaks, and she gives birth to Denver. Spores of bluefern drift by, symbols of future generations that may or may not survive while the "two throw-away people, two lawless outlaws" care for the new baby. Sethe decides to name the baby after Amy Denver
In Chapter 8, Beloved's allegorical status becomes clearer. She was "in the dark," in a hot place, small, curled up, and surrounded by people, some of whom are dead. Her description fits both popular ideas of death and burial as well as the conditions on board slave ships traversing the Atlantic. Once again, Beloved's possible dual status reveals the similarity between the conditions on board slave ships and being buried alive. Amy's story of being a white indentured servant echoes some of the stories the black characters tell - she too is beaten by her former owner, who in all likelihood was also her unacknowledged father. But while Amy suffers similar categorization as a social outcast, she is free to move about the countryside while Sethe is not, a distinction drawn as the two part ways.
Beloved's need to possess Sethe is frightening: she insists that Sethe is hers, and that she needs her. The dynamic between Denver and Beloved is unhealthy: Denver is desperate for kindness from Beloved, but Beloved is fickle and selfish, like a child, only needing Sethe. Denver often feels rejected and lonely.
The tree on Sethe's back, and Amy's questions about what it could all mean, are reflective of the need to make sense of slavery's legacy. Amy's re-imagining of the scars as a tree presents a faith in art, in imagination, in hope. The tree is often an image of protection and shelter throughout the book (Paul D's tree at Sweet Home, Denver's boxwood room, the flowering trees Paul D follows to the North in a flashback later in the novel). Amy's aid to Sethe, and the beautiful birth of Sethe's child, shows more cause for hope. When the two women came ashore and tend to the baby, they were coming to see "what, indeed, God had in mind." There is reason to be optimistic. The birth of this baby, the baby who will be named Denver, provides a powerful juxtaposition to the story of the baby ghost, and shows hope for the future.
c12 Summary
As Chapter 9 begins, Sethe is ready to "lay it all down," to let go of her solitary burden. And so she goes to the Clearing to pay tribute to Halle. This is the Clearing where Baby Suggs used to preach and from which she was the center of the community. Sethe remembers "that 124" was full of life and social activity when she arrived after escaping from slavery. Baby Suggs would preach the Word and have the children laugh, the men dance, and the women cry, then reverse it all and do it again. She preached the beauty of life and the invincibility of the bodily spirit when it is given love, a love that black people must give each other to battle the hate whites heap upon them and the self-hatred whites try to teach them. That scene of preaching contrasts in Sethe's mind with the last months of Baby Suggs' life, in which she felt beaten by the whites and just wanted to think about color. Sethe then remembers her travel from the riverbank where Amy left her to Baby Suggs' house. She is picked up by Stamp Paid and brought by Ella the rest of the way. When she arrived at Bluestone Road, Baby Suggs cleaned her feet and back and let her see her children, the boys and the two-year old girl. Sethe has Baby Suggs remove the crystal earrings from her old dress and dangles them for the entertainment of the girl, who surprises her by crawling already. She remembers the 28 days between her arrival and the baby's death as the time when she learned to claim ownership of herself and be free.
As Sethe sits in the clearing and contemplates these losses, she feels fingers massage her neck. She assumes it is the ghostly presence of Baby Suggs, but soon she is nearly choked. Then Denver calls for her, and the fingers release her. Beloved sees the bruises on Sethe's neck and strokes them and kisses them soothingly until Sethe pushes her away. Sethe is rejuvenated on the walk back, planning an elaborate dinner for her new family. She greets Paul D, bathing in the tub, and as they stand entwined Beloved catches sight of them and cannot bear to lose Sethe's attention. She returns to look in the stream, Denver appearing beside her. Denver accuses Beloved of choking Sethe, but Beloved counters that the "circle of iron" did it and that she fixed the wound. Once Beloved runs off, Denver contemplates the time she went to Lady Jones' school and began learning to read and write until Nelson Lord, a boy at the school, asked her a question about her mother. After that she ceased to go to the school, and she suddenly lost her hearing when she asked Sethe to explain Nelson's question to her. It was then that Denver became obsessed with the baby ghost, whose sound of crawling on the stairs finally caused her hearing to return. Now in the present, Denver wonders if Sethe is in danger from Beloved. She remembers Nelson Lord asking if Denver was locked away with her mother after the murder, and her own cloudy memories are stirred. Rejoining Beloved, Denver watches her stare as two turtles slowly mate.
The story of Paul D's past begins Chapter 10. He trembles inside, we are told, after leaving Mister's (the rooster's) sight. He is being taken away to jail in Alfred, Georgia. Paul D is sent to jail for trying to kill Brandywine, the man schoolteacher sold him to. This jail is compromised of 46 boxes buried in the ground for the men to sleep in, from which they emerge each morning after a rifle shot. They then thread the chain for the chain gang through their legs. After being forced to perform oral sex on the white guards, they spend their day in hard labor. After 86 days in prison, Paul D feels life is dead. Then, in a heavy rain, the men on the chain gang communicate with each other by tugs to the chain and manage to escape from their boxes, swimming out through the wet mud. Their escape takes them to a settlement of sick Cherokee who refused to be sent away from their lands after numerous betrayals by the U.S. government. The Cherokee befriend them and give them directions. Paul D learns from them to follow the spring blossoms and to head North, which he does until he arrives at a weaver lady's house in Delaware. He stays there eighteen months, during which time he put all his memories away in the metaphorical "tobacco tin" inside his chest.
hapter 9
Summary:
Sethe feels the need to go to the clearing where Baby Suggs used to preach. Baby Suggs did not give sermons, but instead instructed the crowds of black folks to laugh, dance, and love their bodies, in particular their hearts and mouths. Sethe wants to go there now to pay tribute to Halle, and she feels the need to commune with Baby Sugg's spirit. But she remembers, too, that Baby Suggs died in grief, embittered against whites and without hope for the future, all because of what happened to Sethe.
After Amy left and Sethe was on her own, she walked until she found a black man with two boys. The man was Stamp Paid, who gave her some eel and a coat in which to carry her baby. He left her at a relay station, where a woman named Ella came to pick her up, having been left "the sign" by Stamp Paid. Ella brought her to Baby Suggs, whom Sethe had never met before. Finally, she had made it, although she had to wait until the next morning to see her children so as to avoid frightening them with her haggard appearance. Baby Suggs bathed Sethe and soaked her feet, and Sethe began her life as a free woman. Her third child, a girl, whom she had not seen since she sent her ahead with the Railroad, had started to crawl. Sethe was so happy that for a while the realization that she was free seemed more like a dream, unable to hit her with full force.
In the clearing with Beloved and Denver, Sethe tries to feel Baby Sugg's presence. She feels Baby Sugg's fingers caressing her neck, they way they once did in life, but then the fingers begin to choke her. Beloved and Denver rescue her, and Denver tells her that Baby Suggs would never hurt her. Beloved massages Sethe's neck and kisses her, too passionately, her breath smelling like milk. Sethe tells her she's too old for that. Still, the visit to the clearing makes Sethe feel better, and she also decides that she wants Paul D in her life. She goes back to cook up dinner for all, remember the first day she arrived at 124, when she had milk enough for all.
Beloved hates Paul D, because he takes too much of Sethe's attention. She listens to the to of them for a while and then leaves to go outside. Denver confronts her about the clearing, telling her that she knows Beloved was choking Sethe, even if she did "rescue" Sethe afterward. Beloved warns Denver not to cross her and runs away.
Denver remembers when she used to go to school. When she was seven, she walked away from home and found the house of Lady Jones, a mulatto woman who taught black children reading, writing, and math. The year of school (in which she was avoided by her classmates without realizing it) ended when Nelson Lord asked Denver "the question." When Denver asked her mother "the question," she became deaf, not even hearing her mother's answer or anything else for two years. She regained her hearing when she heard the baby ghost crawling up the stairs.
Analysis:The theme of recognition becomes increasingly clear in these chapters, linked to the developing themes of possession and identity from earlier sections of the novel. Baby Suggs' preaching emphasizes the basic human need for love while also insisting that black people must love themselves and each other in order to reclaim their life force. Baby Suggs acts here in the tradition of itinerant or lay preachers who preach the "Word" unmediated by earthly authority, bypassing the traditions of slave Christianity. Love, as the novel repeats over and over again, is forced to mutate in slavery and fix only to the small things. To take possession of herself, Sethe must love her own self and believe in her own identity. To love as much as one wants becomes a symbol of "freedom," a freedom that cannot be realized fully in the racist conditions of a white supremacist world.
When Sethe is choked, it is unclear whether the cause is Beloved or, as Beloved claims, a "ring of iron." In the first explanation, Sethe is choked because Beloved seeks revenge for her murder when she was two years old. In the second, the act becomes an allegory for the choking hold of slavery and the iron ring used on slave vessels. A third explanation is also possible. As the novel develops, Beloved increasingly appears to absorb and act out the desires of those around her. One argument about the novel suggests that Beloved is a ghost brought to life by the needs of those who are haunted by their own pasts. She has materialized to help them act out and work through the histories which otherwise remain unspeakable. In this case, Denver's identification with Beloved is a "sisterhood" organized against Sethe who remains a threatening murderer. As the end of the chapter suggests, Denver's own personal memory is haunted by her refusal to come to terms with the murder her mother committed. In each explanation, however, accountability for past actions is dramatized but not resolved. Who is accountable for the baby's murder, after all? Sethe? The system of slavery? When did the chain of events begin in which the murder took place, and when do they end? Readings that emphasize either the familial story or the historical story exclusively are likely to miss the ways the book suggests that "generations" inherit the traumas of both personal and historical identity.
Paul D's story provides a counterpoint to Sethe's "too thick love" and the dangers it poses. Paul D suffers such dehumanization that he shuts down his heart, keeping his life and love in a rusted "tin." Beloved acts against him, removing him from the house. But she also acts on his behalf and acts out his own desires, forcing him to repeat the betrayals and dehumanized moments; by repeating them, he can become human again. Only once Beloved has moved him from the house into the scene of the earlier murder does his heart burst open again. The sex scene between them is highly symbolic, Beloved asking to be touched in the "inside part" and Paul D calling her name. This name is transformed into the symbol of the "Red Heart," the force of desire that re-opens his life. But such a desire for recognition does not guarantee freedom or self-possession. Desire has its negative side. The desperation that characterizes Denver's desire to have Beloved recognize her is like Beloved's desire for Sethe.
Baby Suggs instructed the blacks to love their bodies, especially their mouths and hearts. They had to love their mouths to battle the speechlessness imposed on them under slavery, and their hearts they had to love in order to preserve their human feelings-her old philosophy stood in sharp contrast to Paul D's need to keep his heart locked away. But what happened to Sethe broke Baby Suggs, convincing her that there was "no bad luck in this world but whitefolks," and making her feel that her preaching had all been lies.
Sethe was elated at finally achieving freedom, unable even to conceive of the change in her life. Her elation set the stage for the desperate action she took later when schoolteacher found her.
Beloved's actions in the clearing reveal her malevolent streak, and her reaction to Denver's accusations hint at how dangerous she might be. In the clearing, however, Sethe is able to make peace with Halle's memory, and subsequently can resolve that she wants to try and make a new life with Paul D and the two girls. She believes she can take care of all of them, just like when she first arrived in Ohio, when "she had milk enough for all." She understands herself as a provider.
Denver's childhood deafness shows some of the danger of the past, from which Sethe has always tried to protect her daughter. The question of what happened to her mother made it impossible for Denver to hear anything, representing the power of the past to impair life in the present. But Denver's hearing also returned because of the sound of the ghost baby, possibly indicating that the answer to the pain of the past may lie in confronting it rather than avoiding it.
Part One, Chapter 10
Summary:
After failing to escape from Sweet Home, Paul D was sold to a new master, whom he tried to kill. He was sent to Georgia. At a prison for blacks, he was kept in a small box in the ground at night and let out during the day to work in a chain gang. At night, he trembled uncontrollably. After months, a powerful rainstorm gave the men a chance to escape. Still chained, they ran until they found a Cherokee encampment. The Cherokee broke their chains.
Paul D, instructed to follow the blossoms (which would keep him going North) found his way to Delaware, where he stayed with a weaver woman for eighteen months. All of these experiences he put away in the "tobacco tin" lodged in his chest, and "nothing in this world could pry it open."
Analysis:
More of Paul D's painful past is revealed, making clear why his strategy for survival has been to strangle his own feelings. The level of brutality in Georgia far exceeded anything he had experienced at Sweet Home, and showed him how little his life was valued. The relatively gentle treatment he received under Mr. Garner, however, is no argument that there is an enlightened form of slavery. Whatever privileges he enjoyed under Garner were fragile, not his own to keep and protect. After Garner's death, there was nothing Paul D could do to save himself.
The image of the tobacco tin in his chest reveals how tightly he holds back all of his memories. Although we are told that "nothing in this world" can open it, Beloved is not of this world
Quote Text
Those white things have taken all I had or dreamed,' she said, 'and broke my heartstrings too. There is no bad luck in the world but whitefolks.
Commentary
Sethe is remembering Baby Suggs explanation for why she gave up on the world after Schoolteacher came into her yard.
Speaker: Sethe
Location: Section 1, Chapter 9, 4 pages in
