Beloved As A Character Defies Classification.She Is Both

Destruction of identity, another theme of the novel, relates to the violent scenes. In the second part of Beloved, Sethe takes a stand and expresses her feeling on the violent acts being performed on her. “Nobody will ever get my milk no more except my own children. I never had to give it to nobody else—and the one time I did it was took from me—they held me down and took it. Milk that belonged to my baby” (Morrison 200). Sethe finally comes to terms with her past and vows to never let such a horrendous act happen to her again. Beloved’s reincarnation occurs because Sethe needs to face her dark past head on and free herself from living in shame. It took time, but, Sethe eventually overcomes the odds and begins to live freely and peacefully in her house.

The story “Beloved” is developed around the decision Sethe makes when she returns to slavery and decides to murder her baby with a hacksaw. Her choice of doing such action results in the reincarnation of Beloved later on in the story with unknown intentions. When Sethe kills her child, she feels no remorse towards what she has done, due to her lack of knowledge regarding the terrible act she has committed. Sethe’s choice of killing her baby was wrong as it left her mentally suffering, was inhumane, as well led to a series of unfortunate conflicts that the characters face.

We learn a lot about the healing process of Sethe due to what Beloved has done to her. Beloved forces Sethe to confront her past so much that she is

Beloved is seen as the resemblance of Sethe’s dead baby. Beloved is portrayed as a teenage girl, however she is different from other black teenager, “…and younger than her clothes suggested – good lace at the throat, and a rich woman’s hat. Her skin was flawless except for three vertical scratches on her forehead so fine and thin they seemed at first like hair, baby hair before it bloomed and roped into the masses of black yarn under her hat.” (Morrison 62). Beloved unexpectedly came to 124, the house where Sethe, Denver, and Paul D lived. However, Sethe became attracted to her, “Sethe was deeply touched by her sweet name; the remembrance of glittering headstone made her feel especially kindly toward her. Denver, however, was shaking. She looked at this sleepy beauty and wanted more.” (Morrison 63) represent Sethe’s fascination towards Beloved, because she made Sethe recall her dead baby, which also has the word Beloved engraved in the gravestone. The name Beloved itself makes Sethe sentimental from

In the novel, Beloved, written by Toni Morrison, many themes and symbols played a crucial role when analyzing a variety of different characters. One specific theme that has had an everlasting effect between characters and relationships throughout the novel is the transformation of the theme thick love. The idea of love in Toni Morrison 's Beloved is a complicated subject to understand. If love wasn 't hard enough to figure out, it is made more complex through the evils of slavery during this time period and the inevitable division of families. In the novel, we see Sethe 's "unpleasant decision" take over her mind and make her question regardless of whether she was a decent mother; one who adored her kids so much she would do anything to keep from them carrying on with an existence of oppression. Book II of Morrison 's novel digs into the subjects of love, parenthood, and family through the one of a kind lenses of Sethe, Denver, and Beloved herself. This part of the book is very significant when relating the transformation of love. The monologues said by each charter show elements of love and relate the ways the characters express this theme towards each other. By giving careful consideration to the monologs Sethe, Denver, and Beloved herself, perusers perceive how every feels and shows love towards what they need to be theirs.

Memories, however, persist. They remain, lurking in places like 124 and Sweet Home to remind Sethe that the punishment she suffers is self inflicted and self perpetuating. First as a poltergeist and later as a mysterious young woman, the memory of Beloved remains unrequited. Beloved's appetite is insatiable. She "never got enough of anything... the more she took, the more Sethe began to talk, explain.." (240-1). No effort, no amount, no explanation is adequate. Sethe gives her face to Beloved and still she demands more. Beloved eventually becomes bloated with Sethe's loving excesses, but her thirst remains unquenched. Paul D. understands the dangers inherent in this kind of love when he warns Sethe, "Your love is too thick" (164). Beloved has no distinct identity separate from Sethe. Without Sethe, Beloved is ultimately left "crouching in a dark, dark place, forgetting to smile" (252). Likewise, Sethe's own identity is nearly lost or completely surrendered in her fusion with Beloved.

Most people associate cruelty with pain, suffering, and violence. By this definition, cruelty plants itself throughout the novel, Beloved. The novel is a story about slavery and the past that tags itself upon the characters. In the beginning, Sethe is introduced as a mother who seems like she has a simple problem of a ghost in the house, but as the plot unfolds, the “ghost” reveals itself to be more than just a paranormal soul. It turns out to be Sethe’s youngest daughter, Beloved, who had no choice of life or death and was at the mercy of Sethe’s cruel act.

“Excluded from the Beloved-Sethe dyad, Denver is forced into the role of the outside other, and assuming that role is her salvation” (Schapiro 206). Sethe and Beloved share a past that Denver is not a part of. Sethe's distress and regret make her perspective Beloved as another opportunity. The little girl that she slaughtered has returned and, in Sethe's brain, this is her chance to repair the harm that was done as such numerous prior years. Despite the fact that making peace with Beloved can help her to recuperate, it additionally keeps Sethe from seeing what Beloved is doing to her life and her association with Denver.

The arrival of Beloved had a huge impact on the Sethe’s life. When Beloved was discovered by Sethe, she is lonely and homeless, without any memories from her past. As time goes by, Beloved has become a presence in Sethe’s life. Her relationship with Sethe has become an obsessive one. The dynamic between the two is indeed the fact that Sethe does not want to face the past, whereas Beloved’s act has a bearing effect on Sethe’s own past. Recognizing Beloved would imply a confrontation with her past memories and make a recognition.Sethe’s thick love towards her daughter would help her move on and put behind the past (Mckinsey and Potts 13). As Beloved becomes more vicious and malevolent, she has been troublesome for the members of the household

Knowing the value of this rarity, Sethe was extremely attached to her children, and refused to lose them, lest she lose herself.  The link between mother and child, then, is an important underlying theme throughout Beloved, and one with which Sethe became obsessed.

Sethe, the mother of four is tormented everyday by the attempt to make her children safe. Her two boys left home long ago and now she resides in her home at I24 with her only living daughter Denver. In the novel Beloved, written by Toni Morrison the character Beloved seeks to gain power over a her family, and those around her.

Sethe, Paul D., and Denver, are all in some state of conflict in the current circumstances of their lives at the beginning of the novel. Although Beloved's arrival to 124 initially brings more upset to the lives, it eventually leads to resolution for the family. Beloved embodies many of the secrets of the three's pasts. She symbolizes the history of the family not only with her physical appearance, but also with the relationships she forms with the three.

What is more important, is Sethe never got the best experience of being a child and growing up which gives the audience the right to understand her situation about killing Beloved. It follows then that Sethe became a better person as she was moving forward because of Beloved.

Beloved appeared after the arrival of Pauly D to the house, and most of us could assumed that she was a human-like representation of the ghost-like who used to haunt the house. Nevertheless, nobody else knew who Beloved was or where she came from better than Denver. Beloved explained Denver where she came from when Denver asked her why she called herself Beloved, and Beloved said, “In the dark, my name Beloved.” In fact, Denver did not know what she meant by dark and she asked her, “what’s like,” for which Beloved went on explaining that where she came from was a dark and hot place where there was not enough room for her to move. Denver was astonished by this fact, but she did not want her mom to know it because after all, Beloved was in a certain way a human-like representation of Sethe’s eldest daughter who came from the afterworld.

Moreover, both of these ways prove to be emotionally unhealthy for the characters; thus, they learn a way to deal with it throughout the course of the novel. Toni Morrison intentionally utilized a technique of leaving the reader with a lot of unanswered questions, in addition to pulling the reader into the spirits of many diverse and emotionally saturated characters. Since the author purposefully left many unsolved issues for the reader’s interpretations, I will be trying to answer one of the most controversial questions the book arises. Who (or what) is Beloved? Many would argue that Beloved is the soul of Sethe’s third child, who she killed to protect from being a slave, while others think that Beloved did not even exist and that she was nothing but a fabrication of the other character’s troubled lives.