Beloved Chapter 1-3 Analysis

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Recommended: Slavery narratives tropes

Sophia Bordofsky
Beloved
Chapters 1-3:
Sethe is an ex-slave who lives with her daughter in her house, 124. Denver is the daughter that lives with her but she also has two sons, Howard and Buglar who ran away, and she had another daughter who she killed. The other daughter, Beloved, now haunts their house. One day Paul D from Sweet Home (where Sethe was a slave) arrives. The two have sex and decide that Paul D should stay. We learn about Sethe’s husband Halle who has disappeared. Halle’s mother, Baby Suggs, is who Sethe lived with when she ran away. Sethe tells the story of how she ran away from Sweet Home and how she was helped by a white girl named Amy.
“124 was spiteful. Full of a baby’s venom,” (Morrison 3). The house is haunted by a baby. The baby, Beloved, who was skilled by her own mother, is angry. The anger of Beloved has isolated Sethe and Denver from their community, has pushed away Sethe’s two sons, and has abused the family dog. Even though the ghost has made her life miserable, Sethe accepts her dead daughter’s rage because she is the one who has caused this rage.

Chapters 4-6: …show more content…

The three decide to go to a carnival and they have a great time. A young woman walks fully dressed out of a stream. She is found asleep against a tree by Denver, Sethe, and Paul D. Sethe feels the urge to urinate, much like she felt when her water broke before she gave birth. They bring the woman inside and give her glasses of water. She drinks and then falls asleep. Denver becomes very protective over the woman, who says her name is Beloved. At the same time, Beloved becomes attached to Sethe and asks her lots of personal questions about things that Beloved should not know to ask about. Sethe washes Denver’s hair and begins to tell Beloved about her

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