American Literature Notes

Unit I: Toni Morrison, Beloved

Structure

  • Introduction

  • Learning Objectives

  • Toni Morrison: A Brief Biography

  • Historical Background of Beloved

  • Plot Overview

  • Study Guide

  • Themes in Beloved

  • Symbols

  • Characters

Introduction

  • Image of 'Whipped Peter': A Black slave, Peter Gordon, who escaped a Louisiana plantation in 1863. His photograph, showing scars, was published in Harper’s Weekly as visual evidence of slavery’s brutality.

  • Sethe's Character: Similarities between Toni Morrison's character Sethe and Peter Gordon.

  • Civil War (1861-65): Central to the novel's historical context; reflects a nation polarized over slavery, leading to casualties and historical change.

  • Emancipation Proclamation (1863): Abraham Lincoln's declaration that set nearly 3.5 million enslaved people “forever free.”

  • Novel's Landscape: Encompasses the sights Paul D sees, Sethe’s escape, Sixo’s killing, schoolteacher’s pursuit, race memories, the Underground Railroad, and the Ku Klux Klan.

  • Subtle Reminders of Discrimination: Even well-meaning people harbor racial prejudice, shown through examples in the novel.

  • Morrison's Nobel Prize speech: “Fiction has never been entertainment for me…”.

  • Beloved a Political Statement: Morrison’s novel is a tribute to the suffering of slavery’s victims.

  • Dedication Significance: Morrison’s dedication in Beloved is an attestation to the painful legacy of slavery.

  • Sixty Million and More: Allusion to estimated Jewish deaths during the Holocaust, underlying the magnitude of suffering.

  • Approximation of Numbers: Reflects the absence of proper documentation of casualties.

A Note on the Language

  • Terms of Caution: Awareness of offensive language used in the novel about characters.

  • “Nigger” Usage: Derivation, derogatory use, and evolution of more acceptable terms such as “colored,” “negro,” “African-American,” and “black.”

  • Politically Correct Language: The Washington Post's style change to uppercase 'B' in Black to acknowledge shared cultural bonds, historical experiences, and struggles.

  • Importance: Using politically correct language is the first step toward eradicating racial prejudice. Students are advised to follow this practice in writing.

Learning Objectives

  • Familiarity with historical background.

  • Understanding the legacy of slavery in the US.

  • Ability to write about themes and characters.

  • Appreciation of Toni Morrison’s narrative style.

Toni Morrison: A Brief Biography

  • Born Chloe Anthony Wofford, February 18, 1931, in Lorain, Ohio.

  • Editor, academic, novelist, children's book author.

  • Early novels: The Bluest Eye (1970), Sula (1973), Song of Solomon (1977), Tar Baby (1981), Beloved (1987), and A Mercy (2008).

  • Education: Graduated in English from Howard University (1953), master’s degree in American Literature from Cornell University (1955).

  • Teaching: Taught at Texas Southern University and Howard University.

  • Editor at Random House: First Black female fiction editor.

  • Princeton University: Robert F. Goheen Professor in the Council of Humanities.

  • Awards: Pulitzer Prize (1988), Nobel Prize (1993), Presidential Medal of Freedom (2012), PEN/Saul Bellow Award (2016).

  • Death: August 5, 2019.

  • Literary Focus: Race, gender, community, tradition, non-linear plots, and Black experience.

Historical Background of Beloved

  • Based on the story of Margaret Garner, an escaped slave who killed her child to prevent recapture.

  • Fugitive Slave Law of 1850: Allowed slave owners to capture escaped slaves in free states.

  • American Civil War (1861-1865): Polarization over slavery, Emancipation Proclamation (1863).

  • Compromise of 1850: Fugitive Slave Act enabling capture of runaway slaves.

  • Westward Expansion: Debate on new states’ right to continue slavery.

  • Abraham Lincoln: Anti-slavery views led to Southern states' secession and the Civil War.

  • Economic Disparity: Differences between industrialized North and agrarian South.

  • Culmination of Friction: The Civil War resulted from decades of growing friction over slavery.

  • Emancipation Proclamation of 1863: Freed slaves in Confederate areas.

  • Thirteenth Amendment: Granted citizenship to free slaves (1865).

  • Legacy of Slavery: Continues to affect the US, highlighted by the George Floyd incident (2020).

  • George Floyd: Death as a result of police brutality triggered outrage and protests.

Plot Overview

  • Setting: 1855-1874. Sethe, a runaway slave, kills her daughter to prevent her return into slavery. She and her daughter Denver are haunted by the dead child's spirit. The story uses flashbacks.

  • 124 Bluestone Road: Located in Cincinnati, Ohio. Haunted by the ghost of Sethe’s dead daughter.

  • Former Slaves: Paul D, a former slave, arrives at Sethe’s house after eighteen years and removes the ghost from the house temporarily.

  • Sweet Home in Kentucky: Sethe and Halle, along with other slaves, lived at Sweet Home under the ownership of the Garners.

  • Schoolteacher: Following Mr. and Mrs. Garners' deaths, schoolteacher becomes the new owner and is extremely brutal.

  • Sethe's Escape: Sethe sends her three children away and flees to Cincinnati, enduring considerable difficulties on her journey.

  • Halle's Mental State: Halle witnesses Sethe's mistreatment and slowly loses his mind.

  • Infanticide: Sethe attempts to kill her children, but Schoolteacher stops her. Sethe attacks her daughter, 'Beloved' and they both end up in jail only to be released after some time.

  • Baby Suggs: She dies after falling into depression due to the abandonment of Sethe's family by the community.

  • Beloved's Return: Years later, a mysterious young woman named Beloved appears, hinting at being Sethe’s daughter returned from the dead.

  • Paul D's Departure: Paul D moves to the woodshed, where Beloved seduces him, causing Paul D to depart from 124.

  • Denver's Plea: Denver seeks help from Lady Jones and gets a job at the Bodwins’ house.

  • Community Help: Black women come together to exorcise Beloved’s ghost.

  • Mistaken Attack: Sethe attacks Mr. Bodwin, mistaking him for schoolteacher who is now coming to collect her daughter Belovéd.

  • Beloved's Disappearance: In the midst of all of this, Beloved disappears.

  • Paul D's Return: Reminds Sethe that there is a life ahead of her and assures her of his love.

Study guide

  • Novel's Structure: Three parts, each divided into unnumbered chapters. Part I (18 chapters), Part II (7 chapters), Part III (3 chapters).

  • Narrative Style: Non-linear narrative, shifts in time, varying styles in each section.

Part I

Chapter 1 Summary

  • Sethe lives with her daughter Denver at 124, Bluestone Road in Cincinnati, Ohio. The house is haunted by the furious ghost of Sethe’s dead infant daughter.

  • Her two sons, Howard and Buglar, fled the house, while her mother-in-law, Baby Suggs, dies.

  • Sethe recalls agreeing to have sex with a mason for ten minutes to pay for engraving “Beloved” on her baby’s headstone, whose name was proposed by Baby Suggs.

  • Suddenly, Paul D, who also worked with Sethe in Sweet Home, comes to meet her after eighteen years.

  • Sweet Home was owned by Garner, a kind slave owner. After his death, Mrs. Garner sold the farm to her brother-in-law, known as schoolteacher. He was cruel.

  • There were six slaves at Sweet Home: five men—Paul D, Paul F, Paul A, Halle Suggs, and Sixo, and one woman, Sethe. Sethe recalls Halle, left in 1855. She now lives with Denver since her two sons fled away.

  • Paul D feels the presence of a ghost as soon as he enters the house.

  • Sethe remembers when she first came to Sweet Home at thirteen and married Halle.

  • Dinner is interrupted by Denver saying that she cannot live in the haunted house. Paul D suggests moving but Sethe does not want to run away.

  • Paul D sees the scars on Sethe’s back, shaped like a tree that schoolteacher inflicted. He kisses every leaf and branch. The house starts to shake, then Sethe and Paul D leave Denver alone to have her dinner.

Critical Analysis

  • Hints at a malicious presence in the house haunted by Sethe's dead child.

  • Ghost's aggressive behavior: Violence leads to the flee of her three children.

  • The Black community boycotts Sethe and her family after the murder of the little girl. .

Chapter 2-3 Summary

  • Sethe leads Paul D upstairs where they engage in sex, remindind him of his special tree at Sweet Home.

  • Baby Suggs had eight children from six husbands and she lost all her children, except Halle, whom she was able to keep for twenty years. Sethe, on the other hand, was married for six years and all her children are from one husband.

  • Denver has a solitary place in the woods behind 124, surrounded by boxwood bushes. She returns from her secret place and spots her mother kneeling in prayer and a ghostly white dress next to her.

  • Sethe tells Denver that she got help from a white girl, Amy Denver, who was going to Boston to buy velvet since she can barely crawl like a snake. Amy cushioned a place with leaves and massaged her her feet.

  • Paul D sings the songs of his dreadful past which he learnt in Georgia. Sethe also tells Paul D that schoolteacher found her and put her into jail with Denver.

Critical Analysis

  • Slaves' movement were restricted causing them to have unnatural sex with animals. Sethe remembers Halle’s love for her and their marriage.

  • Denver finds salvation in her “emerald closet” surrounded by trees. The baby Denver has a parallel with the struggle of Sethe.

  • The walls are slate-colored, the floor is earth brown, and the curtains are white. The orange squares were added by Baby Suggs. Sethe lost all awareness of colour after her daughter’s pink headstone.

Chapter 4-6 Summary

  • The third day, Dever asks Paul D how long he will stay which hurts him. In the community people nod and smile at Sethe.

  • They see a strange girl arriving from the water, then they start calling her Beloved.

  • Beloved sleeps for four days, getting up only to have water. Denver takes care of Beloved. she acts sick, sounds sick but does not look sick at all; with good skin and bright eyes.

  • Beloved gets attached to Sethe and she is always eager to spend time with her.

  • Sethe recalls how she had made her wedding dress by stitching together stolen pieces of fabric, Denver enquired about those earrings as she has never seen them. She also states that she only remembers a one-armed lady named ‘Nan’ who took care of her after her mother died.

Critical Analysis

  • Paul D remarks that it’s dangerous for a “used-to-be-slave woman” to love so much. Paul D reassures Sethe of comfort and security. he hope for a happy future soon gets disrupted by the mysterious entry of Beloved.

  • Beloved’s emergence from the water, a name turning out to be the same as the one engraved on her dead child’s tombstone suggest that Beloved is an embodiment of Sethe’s dead child.

  • Paul D is reminded of young women like Beloved that he has seen. He remains silent due to new shows and hat being suspicious. An ominous reference to the Ku Klux Klan is present.

  • Here Boy has also disappeared. It seems that something is wrong with Beloved and that Dever is covering up for her.

Chapter 7-8 Summary

  • Many things about Beloved bother Paul D and he decides to find out where she has come from. He also notices that Beloved ‘shining’ but cannot determine whom

  • Sethe is disturbed by Paul D’s being very hard on Beloved and then Halle’s name comes She waits for him to take her to the corn fields; where all the slaves had decided to meet. Paul D gives his version of events, in which it is revelead that the nephews broke the slave down completely and his last time seeing him was when be was in the barn.

  • Schoolteacher has changed Paul D so much that he has leant to suppress his emotions. Denver asks Beloved how she got her name, resulting in Beloved smiling and answering that she has come there to see Sethe’s face.

  • Amy massages her swollen feet. The two women spent the whole night in a lean-to shelter, where Amy took care of her and took her down to the Ohio river.

Critical Analysis

  • Sethe is devastated when she learns that Halle, her husband, saw all that was done to her by schoolteacher and his boys. Paul D does not want to share more of his terrifying memories

  • Beloved’s account of the place where she has come from is unclear such as those that were kidnapped, traded, transported in ships, and sold to Americans in the ‘Middle Passage’ where conditions have inhumane.

  • It can be said that 'I belong here,” is what establishes the connection between the dead baby and herself.

Chapter 9 Summary

  • Sethe is disturbed by Paul D’s revelation about Halle and misses Baby Suggs' presence. they are going to the Clearing, to pay tribute to Halle by Baby Suggs preaching to Black people.

  • She had heard that he sent the baby in that jacket after meeting Amy.

  • Sitting on Baby Suggs’ preaching rock in the Clearing, Sethe feels invisible fingers massaging her neck. Gradually, those fingers start to strangle her. Later she is sure Baby Suggs never actually tried to choke her.

  • Denver never went to school when classmate, Nelson asked, if it was true that her mother had killed her sister, she stopped going to school and turned deaf; this was the first time the ghost baby appeared in 124.

Critical Analysis

  • Halle would return by now.

  • 124 and keeping a distance from the house and the family.

  • Denver’s isolation is reflected in the fact that she has never been outside 124 or the field behind it.

CHAPTER 10-11 Summary

  • Paul D recalls how he was sent to jail for trying to kill Brandywine and the prisoners who managed to escape. They run till they find a camp of Cherokee, advise him to follow the tree flowers and he reaches Delaware.

  • Beloved forces Paul D to move out of the house and then shifts to Baby Suggs’ room is unable to make it work. Then they move to the storeroom and eventually, to the cold house. One night, Beloved comes to the cold house to seduce Paul D and he is able to say the words ‘Red heart’ to Denver.

Critical Analysis

  • The escape of Paul D and the other prisoners shows how solidarity with their community saves Black slaves which includes those running away to torture.

  • Denver also seems happier in her company. Beloved comes between Paul D and Sethe, which suggests Paul D has to move out, for Beloved to stay in the house instead.

CHAPTER 12-14 Summary

  • Sethe occasionally asks Beloved about her mother ,however, Beloved only remembers a woman, a bridge, and one white Then she cannot recall from where she got the new dress and shoes.

  • Denver doesn’t tell Sethe about the cold house as she fears that Beloved may leave,but finds out that Beloved would appear and disapper, making her ask to never leave her.

  • Paul D decides to tell Sethe everything that’s been happening between him and Beloved. He declares that he wants you pregnant, But she laughs because she things she is too old to do it all over again.

  • Sethe and Paul D head upstairs. Then one of Beloved’s teeth falls out and she wonders if all her body parts would drop one day.
    *

Critical Analysis

  • The brutality of slave owners has one the lasting physical, emotional, and psychological well-being of the slaves

  • Denver knows all that is happening between Paul D and Beloved but she does not tell Sethe as she has gotten attached and is sure she is alive after seeing those who have died.

CHAPTER 15-16 Summary

  • The narrative once again has gone back to Sethe and this time in the city of Cincinai where they were to reach. 20 days after Denver arives in 124, Stamp Paid shows up who is one for four black horseman to repture Sethe , but she is able to fight them off.

  • Meanwhile Baby comes and takes the boys inside the house. She takes Denver from Stamp Paid and gives her to Sethe to feed her which causes a rift due to violence that the sherry is forced to take away.
    *

Critical Analysis

  • Babys accounyt and building brings all the horror after the day of reflection.

  • Kentucky was a slave state and Ohio a free state.This explains the arrival of the four horsemen that ends the happy and peaceful life of 124.

CHAPTER 17-18 Summary

  • Paul D and Stamp Paid work at the slaughterhouse where pigs are killed, cut, and skinned to export to the Northern states where he makes it a desision to telPual D to be cautious. He also explains that he couldn't let himself and her children go back to Sweet Home.

  • Paul replies by saying that he love her very much, but his love can never be halfway causing Paul D to leave 124

Critical Analysis

Stamp Paid’s decision to tell Paul D about Sethe’s past is surprising. He has is the same man who is comapring her to hawk , because of what she had done after what the boys had done to her. In constradition Paul's does not beleive the news article.
Paul because he feels obliged to him; he is the only one who gives her hope for the future, and is made to try to expalin because of two feet.
6.2 PART II

CHAPTER 19

  • Stamp Paid feels guilty because Paul D left, also showing a red ribbon with the hair and scalp still attached to it, has tired him out too.

  • One night, Sethe hears Beloved humming a song and knows her has her daughter back.

  • She recalls schoolteacher and the slaves.

  • Stamp Paid felt that Black people work to distance themselves from white people’s image of them as a savage, animalistic species

CHAPTER 20 Summary

  • We learn that Sethe decides to show the colors and smells of the world to Beloved and makes mention of when people had distracted her from recognizing her daughter, who, she thought about from the beggining.

  • Sethe mentions her fears about her daughters being sexually assaulted when all the violence takes place.

Critical Analysis

  • Since Sethe is certain that Beloved is her daughter, come back to her, but is never able to share with anyone before, she feels she is safe with her.

  • She has many issues with mothers and wet nurses from school in child birth.

CHAPTER 21 Summary

  • This chapter follows Denver’s stream of her responsibility to protect Beloved from Sethe and to never go back.

  • Baby has also gave her to baby ghost and has that this is what will never harm her, even the ghost may try in a few ways possible to protect .

Critical Analysis

  • As with chapter 20, all of new things and fears come to her with what might accully occur.

  • Denver shares her fears about the baby ghost with her grandmother, who assures her that it is just hungry for love, whom she seems to love at every moment.

CHAPTER 22 Summary

  • In a complicated and difficult, this chapter has one of the best stream of consciousness but makes it also disjointed in a way.

  • By the end, she has had been restored and the faces are finally made out to see the light better.
    *

Critical Analysis

  • Morrison has done some of her best work here, and has been something new , that allows every reader to try and see her point of view.
    In the hold there is ship abuse on slaves and makes sure there is an unnamed connection between her and them, by the light on her side.

CHAPTER 18

  • Again, the events of that night are recounted but with details never added before.

  • Schoolteacher and the other white men talk as if they are discussing breeding animals and how it is profitable to have a female slave, as she will produce more slaves for free. When Paul D is captured,
    he hears schoolteacher fixing a price for him.

CHAPTER 25

  • Stamp Paid tries to convince Paul D to think again about his decision to leave Sethe and tells them about a bill that was on the name, and wants it to come up for what it is.

  • Paul D seems to be at the end of his tether, to what happened and needs what he needs as any human must.
    6.3 PART III

CHAPTER 26 Summary

  • Sethe and Beloved spend their time playing games. Seeing all of this Denver gets upset over what it has become between them all Denver tries to save her mother.

  • Ella is there to help rid what is wrong with the evil that has been brought over so her way into making more issues with everyone.

  • She has also created to go over to where Denver is located, showing what she is made of.

Critical Analysis


  • This chapter is all about Denver. Denver knows is to come bac for all the demands , however Denver is also looking for help herself to help solve her own issues.

CHAPTER 27 Summary

  • Stamp Paid informs Paul D that 124 is quiet now while talking about Mr. Bond want to save her from being a little to late to show the group of women what is going on and is ready to what is to happen next

  • Over the years, he worked for the Northpoint Bank and Railway, then joined a coloured regiment and picked up dead bodies for the Confederates

Critical Analysis

  • * The historic events lead back before the end of the civil war with what is come ahead.
    It is because of respect for Baby Suggs that the community responds to Denver’s requests for support.

CHAPTER 28 Summary

In short This is a brief reference to both the ghost and to what is really coming forward.With each thought its not as the past ones, all in a form to the rest of what has passed by this one as well.
There are 4 main points to be noted here to all those reading these books.

THEMES IN BELOVED
Slavery

  • Main Theme based on both the dedication and epigraph of the novel, Morrison draws our attention to her theme to the emotion and state of people due the trading.

  • Living with the constant fear of being separated from their children, they train themselves not to get attached to them, as Baby Suggs does.

    • Sethes memories of the events during school in her childhood.

    • however, are other, former slaves like Stamp Paid and Baby Suggs, who have not let their personal pain kill them from the inside .

The Past: its Memory and Burden

  • The past and its memory form an important component of Beloved, because that what is leading so many in need to return.

  • As their only remaining son Halle buys her frees, to have her memories not go past so much with herself.

  • Denver’s childhood memories are of an absent father, a mother who has been in jail for killing her sister causing to go with a loss of loss from the beginning.

  • Each character in has a cross of pain.

  • Paul doesn't want to share memmories.
    There has Ben no direct facts told in till now.

Motherhood

  • How slavery crushes the natural instincts of women because of that constant fear for them.

  • The common wisdom was that a slave shouldn’t form a strong attachment to her children which all come with many isisues.

    • She only wants to see her kids, so she doesnt see themselves.

The Importance of Family and Community

  • strengthened by slavery are sometimes dangerous , by saying that there are family issues.

  • Paul and six are saved from a prison by going in with numbers to not feel any shame from those members

  • Cincinnati’s Black community plays a major role in helping Sethe exorcise her demons.
    AT the end of the day the community gives a helping had to pull her out of the dark state

SYMBOLS
Colour

*symbolizes the quest for joy and beauty. The colour red symbolizes both life and death, it reminds people new life and death, depending on perspective

Trees

*Trees are a traditional source of healing, shade, comfort and life, taking form from the brutual force of school.

The Tin Tobacco Box

  • Paul D locks and puts his heart; reminding him of his special tree at Sweet Home which he called Brother while healing.

Milk

  • it is a symbol to give life and defilement which marks the true healing of what is a proper mother.

The Supernatural

  • When Paul is finally able to drive the baby away is what ends all the terror of that force.
    *The supernatural spirit returns in the form of Beloved, but it is when a group of women come outside they all of evil to see her vanish magically. The whole novel is based on the premise that Beloved makes all them feel as one to then go to another.

CHARACTERS

*The characters in the entire setting bring forth many different view points within the plot.
She runs away alone so then decides to kill them, but it is not stopped by one person. She is haunted by her baby daughter’s ghost for many years with the love she had within from past relationships, and not nurturing her and loving her properly
*the whole point shows what we are capable to do to the ones we love depending on who is around to stop it, this would tell how each act had been in line with other