Beloved - SuperSummary

1 BelovedToni Morrison35 Chapters 1-45 Chapters 5-87 Chapters 9-1210 Chapters 13-1612 Chapters 17-1914 Chapters 20-2416 Chapters 25-281821 Sethe21 Beloved21 Denver22 Paul D2324 The Trauma and Memory of Slavery24 The Destruction of Black Identity24 The Intimacy of Mother-Daughter Relationships2526 The Haint26 The Home26 Ribbons2628 Table of ContentsOVERVIEWCHAPTER SUMMARIES & ANALYSESCHARACTER ANALYSISTHEMESSYMBOLS & MOTIFSIMPORTANT QUOTESB elovedSuperSummary1 COPYRIGHT 202034 ESSAY TOPICSB elovedSuperSummary2 COPYRIGHT 2020 OverviewToni morrison s Beloved was published in 1987. The novel won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and was a finalist for theNational Book Award. Inspired by the real-life story of a runaway African-American slave named Margaret Garner,who killed her own daughter to prevent her capture and enslavement, Beloved tells the story of Sethe, a runawayslave who takes her daughter s life in the same novel begins years after slavery was abolished. Sethe resides in the house numbered 124 in Ohio with herdaughter, Denver, and the haint of her other daughter, who is dead.

2 Her mother-in-law, Grandma Baby Suggs, haspassed away, and her two sons, Howard and Buglar, have left home. When Paul D, who was enslaved with Sethe atSweet Home, meets Sethe again after years apart, the two act on their attraction to each other and pursue arelationship. Paul D scares away the haint that haunts the house, much to Denver s grief, as she has relied on thespirit of her dead sister for company in her isolated home. One day, Paul D, Sethe, and Denver encounter a finelydressed young black woman named Beloved waiting for them at 124. They feed her and give her a place to rest untilshe becomes a permanent resident in the house. They do not realize at first that Beloved is the spirit of Sethe s deaddaughter taking corporeal the mysterious Beloved extends her stay at 124, Sethe s and Paul D s traumatic memories of their enslavementgrow more prominent. Paul D is forced to recall his abuse at the prison farm in Alfred, Georgia, where he wasimprisoned after trying to kill his last master, Brandywine.

3 Sethe confronts her rape and stolen breastmilk at thehands of the nephews of Sweet Home s brutal new master, the schoolteacher. They determine through their sharedstories that Sethe s husband, Halle, became delirious after witnessing Sethe s rape and disappeared. Eventually, PaulD suspects that Beloved s presence may have something to do with the growing unease at 124. When Paul Dinterrogates Beloved , she gets her revenge by seducing him. Feeling guilty, Paul D tries to tell Sethe about hisindiscretion but, out of panic, suggests that they have a baby together instead. The two have a moment of romanticglee despite both doubting that pregnancy is the right path for their day, Stamp Paid, the man who helped Sethe escape Sweet Home, shows Paul D a news clipping describingSethe s arrest for killing one of her daughters. Years ago, when Sethe first arrived at 124 with her newborn baby,Denver, she was finally able to reunite with her two sons and daughter who had escaped before her and were safe inGrandma Baby Suggs care.

4 Jealous that Grandma Baby Suggs family was doing well, the townspeople neglected towarn them about the arrival of the slave catchers. Without any time to make an escape, Sethe took her children withher to the shed and tried to kill them all with a handsaw. She succeeded in killing only her oldest daughter before theschoolteacher and the slave catchers found her. Reasoning that she was not sound enough to return to Sweet Home,the schoolteacher and slave catchers left. Sethe was arrested for murder. The news of Sethe s actions horrifies PaulD. When Paul D confronts Sethe about it, she defends her actions, which leads to Paul D s departure from the Paul D gone, 124 falls into decline. When Beloved reveals herself to be Sethe s murdered daughter, Sethe isovercome with guilt and neglects her job to give into Beloved s every demand. Denver realizes quickly that Sethe shealth is declining due to Beloved s possession. She reaches out to the townspeople for help, leaving her house onher own for the first time.

5 When news of Beloved s haunting makes its way across town, the townspeople gather infront of 124 to exorcize it. At the same time, Denver s new employer, Mr. Bowdin, arrives at 124 to pick her up for hernight work. When Sethe and Beloved come out of the house to see about the commotion, Sethe mistakes Mr. Bowdinfor the schoolteacher. She attacks him with an ice pick, only to be wrestled down by Denver and several of the otherBelovedSuperSummary3 COPYRIGHT D learns of what happened through Stamp Paid and checks on Sethe. When Paul D enters 124, he finds Sethe inGrandma Baby Suggs bed, grieving Beloved s departure. He promises to take care of her along with Denver. Whilethey are both haunted by their pasts, he reminds her that they need to learn to heal to 2020 Chapter Summaries & AnalysesChapters 1-4 Chapter 1 SummarySethe lives in the house numbered 124 with her lone surviving daughter, Denver. The house is haunted by a haint, thespirit of Sethe s dead daughter who did not live long enough to receive a proper name.

6 The daughter is known only as Beloved as indicated on her tombstone. Sethe did not have enough money to order a proper engravement on thetombstone, something she the novel begins, Sethe s two teenage boys, Howard and Buglar, have already left the house, fleeing the haintthat lives within it. Sethe s mother-in-law, Grandma Baby Suggs, has also already passed away, and Sethe believesher husband, Halle, abandoned her long ago. Sethe is alone with Denver and the haint of the dead baby. One day,Sethe encounters Paul D, a former slave from the Sweet Home farm where she was also once enslaved. Paul Dremembers Sethe was the only woman on the farm and that the five enslaved men coveted her until she decided tomarry Halle, who was also one of the Sweet Home men. Sethe invites Paul D into her house where he senses thepresence of the haint. He also meets Denver, who is bewildered by Paul D s appearance, as 124 rarely gets visitorsdue to its Sethe makes bread, she and Paul D reflect upon their time at Sweet Home.

7 Sweet Home was once run by a mannamed Mr. Garner, who took pride in having five black male slaves on his plantation despite other white slaveownerscautioning him about the dangers of black men. When Mr. Garner died, the widowed Mrs. Garner called upon herbrother-in-law, the schoolteacher, to oversee Sweet reveals to Paul D a tragic event that happened to her while at Sweet Home. After giving birth to Denver s sister,she was raped by the schoolteacher s nephews, who then further violated her by stealing her breastmilk. When shetold the schoolteacher about this, he forced the other slaves at Sweet Home to whip her, forming a tree (19) ofscars on her back. Paul D caresses Sethe s breasts and kisses her scars. The recollection of this traumatic memoryincites the haint in the house to shake the house violently. Paul D yells and tosses furniture to scare the haint seems to succeed, as the noise eventually subsides and the house is noticeably 2 SummaryAfter the haint leaves the house, Sethe and Paul D go upstairs to have sex.

8 While both initially long for each other, thesex is over quickly. Paul D remembers how much he used to lust after Sethe, who was the only young woman on theplantation and, therefore, the only viable partner for the five Sweet Home men. Deprived of other contact with womenon the farm, the men resorted to raping cows for their sexual release. They never harmed Sethe but waited for her toselect a mate from among them. Sethe eventually chose Halle as her husband because he was a dedicated son tohis mother, Grandma Baby Suggs, and labored twice as hard to earn her freedom. Though Paul D has dreamed ofhaving sex with Sethe for a long time, he finds that she is less attractive to him now that they have consummatedtheir 2020 Chapter 3 SummaryThe next day, Denver spies an animated white dress hugging Sethe by the waist as she prays. Sethe does not noticethis dress until Denver describes it to her as a long white gown with buttons all the way down the back and a dress reminds Denver of the story of her birth, recounted to her by her the story goes, when Sethe was about to give birth to Denver, she was on the run from Sweet Home, trying toreunite with her three children across the Ohio River while being pursued by the schoolteacher.

9 Weakened by thesnow and her injured, pregnant body, Sethe was about to resign herself to death when a white woman named Amyfound her. Amy told her she was looking for food and was on her way to Boston to acquire some velvet to make adress. Amy s chatter soothed Sethe. Amy knew of an abandoned house nearby where they could take refuge from thesnow. Sethe crawled to the house with Amy beside her and permitted the white woman to take care of her as sheprepared to give Denver asks her mother about her prayers, Sethe responds that she does not pray anymore and instead is talking about time (43) and cautions her daughter against returning to the past. Denver asks about the full storyconcerning her birth. Sethe avoids answering her directly and instead offers some insight into the schoolteacher shabit of studying the slaves at Sweet Home. Denver realizes that Sethe does not want to reveal much more of hertraumatic past and concludes that the appearance of the white dress suggests that the baby got plans (45).

10 The morning after Paul D scares away the haint, he sets out to fix the things he broke in Sethe s house. He singssongs from his time at the prison farm in Alfred, Georgia, where he served time for attempting to kill Brandywine, theman who bought him from the schoolteacher. After that traumatic time, he closed himself off from the world, but thereappearance of Sethe, a figure from his past, has forced him to remember again. He asks Sethe if it s all right toscramble here (50) for work, implying a desire to remain. She permits him to stay. Paul D expresses concerns aboutDenver s feelings about his presence, a worry that Sethe brushes off, saying, Nothing bad can happen to her (50).She cites her last encounter with the schoolteacher as an example. Seth explains that the schoolteacher eventuallycaught her. She does not offer details about the murder of her other daughter, sharing instead that after herencounter with the schoolteacher, she went to jail with the newborn Denver in her 4 SummaryOne morning, Denver asks Paul D bluntly about how much longer he plans to stay with them at the house.