Slavery had detrimental effects on the slaves physically, as well as mentally and emotionally. The women of Beloved had varied individual and maternal responses to slavery

        Baby Suggs’s mental is the result of a long and arduous life under slavery. She is tired and all worn out. ‘Baby Suggs, holy,’ represents her deep spirituality and the reverence she had earned. She preaches to the community in the Clearing; she tells them to love and appreciate themselves, for ultimately it is the person he has. Baby Suggs encourages the community not to give up and to keep fighting against oppression, by simply living each day as free men. Contradictory to her word, after Beloved is murdered, Baby Suggs finally breaks and retreats to bed. Here she lies and escapes the horrors of reality by seeing colors. Now as a mother, Baby Suggs’s advice is to ‘love small.’ She has had many children and was unable to love and connect with any of them, except Halle. It was a miracle to share so many years with Halle.

        Ella, like Baby Suggs, believes in the idea of protecting oneself from the hurt of losing a loved one. In fact, as soon as she saw the look in Sethe’s eyes for her baby, she told Sethe “”. To Sethe, Ella is considered a bad mother. Ella was raped and birthed an illegitimate white man’s child. Her abhorrence for the violation prevented her to love the baby. She did not feed the baby and ultimately it died. Conversely, Sethe would not ever let her children die.

        Sethe’s response to slavery as an individual is deeply tied with her response as a mother. Though as an individual, Sethe’s response works with the pattern; Sethe remains at 124 and tries to make a decent life for her and Denver. She believes that the uppermost freedom is the love unconditionally. It is so important to her because slavery discouraged such feelings. Protecting her children is her ultimate responsibility. And as Schoolteacher came to recapture her children, she reacts by trying to kill her own children. To Sethe, her reaction is the ultimate expression of her love for them; she spends the rest of her life defending her actions. Baby Suggs and Ella understand Sethe’s actions, but they cannot truly connect with her because they have not ever allowed themselves to love their children that much. And finally in the end of the novel, Sethe, crazily desperate, tries to kill Bodwin to prove to Beloved her love for her.

        In response to slavery, the women strategize to protect themselves and for Sethe she had to protect her children as well. Their coping mechanisms do not actually work and prevent them from appreciating life and preventing real personal relationships. Their scars are left unhealed and issues unresolved. Their maternal responses vary, but for the most part, the females as individuals exhibit the pattern of remaining in one place and confronting life.