Beloved: AO1 (themes and quotes)

main themes of Beloved

• homogenous communities (emphasis on motherhood and the absence of men)

• the past, storytelling, memory + rememory

• possession, obsession, manipulation, influence

• locations (role in rememory + trauma)

• supernatural (magical realism, American gothic, horror)

• cruelty of slavery + its destruction of identity

• religion, spirituality, morality

• community (privilege, hegemony)

• white privilege/supremacy, the societal class of African Americans

homogenous communities (emphasis on motherhood and the absence of men)

"No more powerful than the way I loved her," p5

 

All their men - brothers, uncles, fathers, husbands, sons - had been picked off one by one by one. P68 (PD experience w another family)

 

you can know me by this mark. … "I didn't understand it then. Not till I had a mark of my own," p79

 

Was that it? Is that where the manhood lay? In the naming done by a whiteman who was supposed to know?

 

Mrs. Garner never had no children and we was the only women there. P204

The past, storytelling, memory + rememory

Her past had been like her present - intolerable - and since she knew death was anything but forgetfulness, she used the little energy left her for pondering color. P4 (BS)

 

Unfortunately her brain was devious. (disconnection, can't trust) p7

She could not forgive her memory for that. P7

 

"Anything dead coming back to life hurts." (Amy massaging Sethe's feet) (foreshadows Beloved) p46

 

It became a way to feed her. P75

Everything in it was painful or lost. P75

 

the day's serious work of beating back the past p94

 

her spirits fell down under the weight of the things she remembered and those she did not: p126

possession, obsession, manipulation, influence

"Leave us alone, Ma'am. I'm taking care of her." P71

 

Beloved could not take her eyes off Sethe. … Sethe was licked, tasted, eaten by Beloved's eyes. P74

Sethe was flattered by Beloved's open, quiet devotion. … the way a zealot pleases his teacher. P74

The longing she saw there was bottomless. P75

 

"Don't," she said. "Don't. You won't leave us, will you?" (D to B) p97

 

Beloved, she my daughter. She mine. P256

How if I hadn't killed her she would have died. P256

locations (role in rememory + trauma)

124 was spiteful. Full of a baby's venom. P3

 

"Heavy," murmured Beloved. "This place is heavy." p70

 

"I walked here," she said. "A long, long, long, long way. Nobody bring me. Nobody help me." p83 (isolation - emphasis on the importance of the location)

supernatural (magical realism, American gothic, horror)

A fully dressed woman walked out of the water. P65

She had new skin, lineless and smooth, including the knuckles of her hands. P66

 

the eyes were big and black. P72

She moved like a heavier one or an older one … resting her head … as thought it was too heavy for a neck alone. P72

"Where your diamonds?" p75

Just outside music it lay, with a cadence not like theirs. P78 (link to LH)

 

Her eyes stretched to the limit, black as the all-night sky. P97

 

how she flew, snatching up her children like a hawk on the wing; how her face beaked, how her hands worked like claws, p203

 

"You know as well as I do that people who die bad don't stay in the ground." p240

 

And that I shouldn't be afraid of the ghost. It wouldn't harm me because I tasted its blood when Ma'am nursed me. P268

cruelty of slavery + its destruction of identity

the baby blood that soaked her fingers like oil. P6

 

"Being alive was the hard part." p9 (S about BS)

 

She refused to believe that she had come all that way, endured all she had, to die on the wrong side of the river. P116

 

Freeing yourself was one thing; claiming ownership of that freed self was another. P121

 

they (her eyes) were as black as her skin, she looked blind. P194

 

everything belonged to the men who had the guns. P208

Not to need permission for desire - well now, that was freedom. P208

religion, spirituality, morality

In the Clearing, Sethe found Baby's old preaching rock and remembered the smell of leaves simmering in the sun, thunderous feet and the shouts p121

With Baby Suggs' heart in charge, the people let go. P121

 

Went off with two buckets to a place where blackberries grew, tasting so good and happy that to eat them was like being in church. Just one of the berries and you felt anointed. P174

Where does she get it all, Baby Suggs, holy? P175

the berries that tasted like church p176

community (privilege, hegemony)

the shadows of three people still held hands. P64 (nuclear family)

 

If there had been an open latch between them, it would have closed. P73 (PD and D)

 

a feast for ninety people p175

124, rocking with laughter, goodwill and food for ninety, made them all angry. Too much, they thought. Where does she get it all, Baby Suggs, holy? P175

The scent of their disapproval lay heavy in the air. P176

Nothing seemed amiss-yet the smell of disapproval was sharp. P177

This free-floating repulsion was new. P177

Her friends and neighbors were angry at her because she had overstepped, given too much, offended them by excess. P177

 

Maybe they just wanted to know if Baby really was special, blessed in some way they were not. P202 (everyone else not warning 124 of the slavecatchers)

white privilege/supremacy, the societal class of African Americans

in territory infected by the Klan. Desperately thirst for black blood, … the dragon swam the Ohio at will. (supernatural power of racism) p85

 

Here come Mister, bad feet and all. P92

Even if you cooked him you'd be cooking a rooster named Mister p93

 

She is not so afraid at night because she is the color of it, but in the day every sound is a shot or a tracker's quiet step. P100

 

Two lawless outlaws - a slave and a barefoot white-woman with unpinned hair- wrapping a ten-minute-old baby in the rags they wore. P109

 

There is no bad luck in the world but whitefolks. P114

 

One step off that ground and they were trespassers among the human race. P161

 

When the four horsemen came-schoolteacher, one nephew, one slave catcher and a sheriff- p190

 

The woman schoolteacher bragged about … ten breeding years left p192

But now she'd gone wild, due to the mishandling of the nephew who'd overbeat her and made her cut and run.

Schoolteacher chastised that nephew … what would his own horse do if you beat it beyond the point of education. P192

See what happened when you overbeat creatures God had given you the responsibility of p192

 

people who needed every care and guidance in the word to keep them from the cannibal life they preferred. P194

 

A whip of fear broke through the heart chambers as soon as you saw a Negro's face in a paper, p200 … worth a few minutes of teeth sucking of not gasps. P200

…some new whitefolks with the Look just rode in. The righteous Look every Negro learned to recognize along with his ma'am's tit. P202

 

The whitefolks had tired her out at last. (BS) p229

 

"No, no. That's not the way. I told you to put her human characteristics on the left; her animal ones on the right." p247

 

Whitepeople believed that whatever the manners, under every dark skin was a jungle. P254 (lots of racism stuff on p254)

It was the jungle whitefolks planted in them. … until it invaded the whites who had made it. P254

Sethe p204

Unfortunately her brain was devious. (disconnection, can't trust) p7

 

She could not forgive her memory for that. P7

 

But there was no stopping water breaking from a breaking womb and there was no stopping now. p66

 

Other people went crazy, why couldn't she? P90 (crashout after learning about Halle

 

how she flew, snatching up her children like a hawk on the wing; how her face beaked, how her hands worked like claws, p203

 

a pretty little slavegirl had recognized a hat, and split to the woodshed to kill her children. P203

 

This here Sethe talked about safety with a handsaw. P211

"Your love is too thick," p211

"You got two feet, Sethe, not four," p212

 

the Misery (which is what he [Stamp Paid] called Sethe's rough response to the Fugitive Bill) p217

 

the bloodspill in her backyard p225

denver

"Leave us alone, Ma''am. I'm taking care of her." … Sethe looked at her daughter and thought, Yes, she has been lonesome. Very lonesome. P71

 

Long, heavy lashes made Denver's eyes seem busier than they were; deceptive, even when she held a steady gaze as she did now on Paul D. P73

 

"Don't," she said. "Don't. You won't leave us, will you?" (D to B) p97

 

Solitude had made her secretive - self-manipulated. P127

The consequence was a timid but hard-headed daughter Sethe would die to protect. P127

Beloved (baby)

Its 'persecution', 'the ghost' p4

"You forgetting how little it is," said her mother. "She wasn't even two years old when she died." (shift in pronouns) p5

"For a baby she throws a powerful spell," said Denver.

'a haint in my house' p19

 

The potent pride of the mistreated. P122

Beloved ('human')

A fully dressed woman walked out of the water. P65

she sat down and leaned against a mulberry tree. P65 (symbolic of growth/resilience and death w a connection to life and the afterlife)

She had new skin, lineless and smooth, including the knuckles of her hands. P66

 

the eyes were big and black. P72

She moved like a heavier one or an older one … resting her head … as thought it was too heavy for a neck alone. P72

 

Beloved could not take her eyes off Sethe. … Sethe was licked, tasted, eaten by Beloved's eyes. P74

Sethe was flattered by Beloved's open, quiet devotion. … the way a zealot pleases his teacher. P74

 

A touch no heavier than a feather but loaded, nevertheless, with desire.

The longing she saw there was bottomless. P75

 

Just outside music it lay, with a cadence not like theirs. P78 (spectral, link to LH)

 

Beloved was shining and Paul D didn't like it. P82

 

Her eyes stretched to the limit, black as the all-night sky. P97

Baby Suggs

Suspended between the nastiness of life and the meanness of the dead, she couldn't get interested in leaving life or living it. P4

 

Her past had been like her present - intolerable - and since she knew death was anything but forgetfulness, she used the little energy left her for pondering color. P4

 

With Baby Suggs' heart in charge, the people let go. P121

 

Where does she get it all, Baby Suggs, holy? P175

 

Loaves and fishes were His powers-they did not belong to an ex-slave … p176

Who had not even escaped slavery - had, in fact, been bought out of it by a doting son and driven to the Ohio River in a wagon p176

 

and suddenly Baby declared peace. She just up and quit. P225

 

The whitefolks had tired her out at last. (BS) p229

 

his refusal to see the effect of marrow weariness in a woman he believed was a mountain. P229 (SP abt BS)

Halle

"He couldn't get out the loft." p87

"All I knew was that something broke him." … "that day broke him like a twig." p88

"A man ain't a goddamn ax." … "Things get to him. Things he can't chop down because they're inside." p88

"He had butter all over his face." p89

Stamp Paid p215

He knew the secrets of the Ohio River and its banks; p216

Afterward - not before - he considered Sethe's feelings in the matter. P216 (after showing PD the newspaper clipping) P216

 

And right there was the thorn. P217 (Jesus like/biblical allusion, messianic undertone - who's the saviour?)

Since all his visits were beneficial, his step or holler through a doorway got a bright welcome. P220

…that he was indeed a stranger at the gate .. Spirit willing; flesh weak. P220

 

his refusal to see the effect of marrow weariness in a woman he believed was a mountain. P229

 

He clutched the red ribbon in his pocket for strength. P235

 

Born Joshua, he renamed himself when he handed over his wife to his master's son. P236 (biblical - Joshua: God is Deliverance - led the Hebrews to the Promised Land)

124 Bluestone Road in Cincinnati

124 was spiteful. Full of a baby's venom. P3

the gray and white house on Bluestone Road. P3

the lively spite the house felt for them. P4

 

"Heavy," murmured Beloved. "This place is heavy." p70

 

124, rocking with laughter, goodwill and food for ninety, made them all angry. P175

reckless generosity on display at 124 p176

 

He kept on through the voices and tried once more to knock at the door of 124. … What a roaring. P231

 

Was hidden, silent, except once in a while when you could hear its mumbling in places like 124. p254

Sweet Home

One step off that ground and they were trespassers among the human race. P161

The clearing

In the Clearing, Sethe found Baby's old preaching rock and remembered the smell of leaves simmering in the sun, thunderous feet and the shouts p121

With Baby Suggs' heart in charge, the people let go. P121

 

Walking in the dappled tree-light, clearer-headed now- away from the enchantment of the Clearing - p125

Ohio River

She refused to believe that she had come all that way, endured all she had, to die on the wrong side of the river. P116

The other side/the dark

In the dark my name is Beloved. P96

Heaps. A lot of people is down there. Some is dead. P96

 

Collected every bit of life she had made, all the parts of her that were precious and fine and beautiful, and carried, pushed, dragged them through the veil, out, away, over there where no one could hurt them. P210

Over there. Outside this place, where they would be safe. P210

 

I took and put my babies where they'd be safe. P210

 

Tell me the truth. Didn't you come from the other side?

Yes. I was on the other side. P275

the middle passage p269

small rats do not wait for us to sleep   someone is thrashing but there is no room to do it in    p269

colour

she used the little energy left her for pondering color. P4 (BS)

 

It was as though one day she saw red baby blood, another day the pink gravestone chips, and that was the last of it. P51

 

slate-gray house p65

 

the eyes were big and black. P72

Her eyes stretched to the limit, black as he all-night sky. P97

 

What he knew was that when he reached the inside part he was saying, "Red heart. Red heart," over and over again.

 

hey (her eyes) were as black as her skin, she looked blind. P194

 

Sethe wiped the white satin coat … ascended the lily-white stairs like a bride p225

 

I don't believe she [BS] wanted to get to red and I understand why because me and Beloved outdid ourselves with it. P257

trees/nature

she sat down and leaned against a mulberry tree. P65 (symbolic of growth/resilience and death w a connection to life and the afterlife)

water

But there was no stopping water breaking from a breaking womb and there was no stopping now. p66 (connection to pregnancy, rebirth, Beloved, the supernatural)

 

Paul D had the feeling a large, silver fish had slipped from his hands the minute he grabbed hold of its tail. That it was streaming back off into dark water now. p84

 

She refused to believe that she had come all that way, endured all she had, to die on the wrong side of the river. P116

 

When Denver's face joined hers, they stared at each other in the water. P129 (D and B after B chokes S in the clearing)

 

I am standing in the rain falling    … I am falling like the rain is p272

I wait on the bridge because she is under it  (between life and death) p272

 

We played by the creek.

I was there in the water. P275

fire

Punched the glittering iron out of Sethe's eyes, leaving two open wells that did not reflect firelight.

 

In the lamplight, and over the flames of the cooking stove, their two shadows clashed and crossed on the ceiling like black swords.

 

Sethe gathered hair from the comb… tossed it into the fire. It exploded into stars and the smell infuriated them. P79 (link to branding smell of her mother)

 

The stovefire roared. P223 (Denver, Sethe, Beloved) … They went on sipping and watching the fire.

…the huge shadow the fire threw on the wall behind her. P224 (Beloved's shadow)

Sethe’s scar

"I've never seen it and I never will." "A chokecherry tree. Trunk, branches, and even leaves." "But that was eighteen years ago. Could have cherries too now for all I know." p20

"Schoolteacher made one [of the boys] open up my back, and when it closed it made a tree." p21

Paul D’s tobacco tin

Paul D never worried about his little tobacco tin anymore. It was rusted shut. P149