Beloved by Toni Morrison, Parts Two and Three

Continuing through the novel, the women finally admit that they realize the girl present in their house is Beloved. Morrison goes through each women, Sethe, Denver, and Beloved giving them each a chapter to explain their thoughts and feelings about Beloved’s return. Though Sethe and Denver are happy, Beloved turns into a controlling person who tries to smother Sethe with guilt. Beloved seems to remain healthy and even pregnant while Sethe and Denver go hungry. Denver begins to feel ignored but realizes that she must become the caretaker and ventures out to find a job. The community then begins to help out the family by leaving food and Judy even helps Denver find a job. However, the community also realizes the dangers of Beloved. Behind the scenes of what is happening in 124, Morrison gives the audience a glance of how the men are doing, specifically Paul D. Through Paul D, the audience finally realizes what happened during the escape from Sweet Home and why Paul D has become the man he is. Trying to fix the problem of Beloved, the women conjugate in front of 124 and sing. This causes the women of 124 to come out and Sethe seem to start having a breakthrough. However when a white man appears to take Denver to her job, Sethe goes crazy and tries to kill him with a pick. It is during this time that the evil Beloved disappears, escaping from the community. The aftermath of Beloved and the happenings of 124 are forgetting Beloved and moving on. Though Denver moves on, finding a home, a job, and happiness she is still worried about her mother. The worries are also occurring for Paul D because he realizes how much Sethe means to him and how much he does love her. He goes to visit her and realizes she is trying to die, taking her place on Baby Sugg’s bed. However, he tells her that she is the best and promises to be there for her. The novel ends with the description of the community, Paul D, Denver, and Sethe forgetting Beloved.

                Looking at the novel and its stylistic attributes, Morrison creates a strong novel that portrays African American women in this time: haunted by their past, degraded by themselves and others, and putting their children above all else. I have previously discussed the aspects of flashbacks, figurative language, and symbolism. In parts two and three the elements that stand out to me are the structure, repetition, and shift in tone. In the second and third part of the novel the structure changes with each character, especially Beloved. With the chapter of Beloved, punctuation is absent and the structure seems to take that similar to a poem. This stylistic choice seems to show that Beloved has changed. Beloved instead of being the sweet girl trying to connect to Sethe turns into an inhuman figure because of the lack of punctuation (the poem-like structure adds a dramatic effect). Looking back at my last entry and seeing the symbolism Beloved holds, it’s interesting to see how the figure that is representing the past is suddenly becoming inhuman and in a way irrelevant. It shows that the characters are moving on. This sense of moving on and having the past haunt someone, degrade them, and shape them is also illustrated when the townspeople forget Beloved. Even those who were close to her, Paul D, Sethe, and Denver eventually forget her. It shows that they have grown. Continuing the analysis and looking at repetition, repetition plays a main role because it combines to create the shift seen in the tone. Morrison chooses to repeat certain elements such as the structure and language in order to create the dark feelings and controlling aspects that Beloved has created. The tone in part one is reflective but in parts two and three the tone shifts to cynical and gloomy. By having the tone shift, it emphasizes the realizations, the moving-on, and at times the downfalls of those in the novel. All these elements and much more help Morrison to create her style that embodies what she is trying to say about African American women. She is able to reveal the degrading personalities that these women have obtained due to themselves, others, and their pasts. She also illustrates how this past haunts them. They must learn from it but also forget in order to move on and find happiness as those in the community forgot Beloved.

Beloved by Toni Morrison Part One, Summary and Style Analysis

The novel is set up mostly in 124 Bluestone Road, the house of Sethe and her daughter Denver, which is haunted by Sethe’s baby. Throughout part one of the novel, it discusses the relations between Sethe, Denver, the baby, Paul D (a former slave from Sweet Home who moves in and has relations with Sethe), Halle (Sethe’s lost husband), and Beloved (mysterious girl who seems to know a lot about Sethe’s past who is taken in at 124). Sethe begins to face her past, taking steps forward with Paul D as she learns of what happened with Halle. Paul D also begins to grow as he seems to open up and break away from his philosophies. The baby’s ghost continues to fade and grow in the house. Denver becomes more and more attached to Beloved and Beloved seems to stir up trouble as she becomes strange, almost choking Sethe and seducing Paul D. As the plot continues, the past continues to be revealed in order for Sethe to move forward. The novel also introduces characters such as Ella who was abused and raped in her past. She wants to rid 124 of Beloved. It also introduces Baby Suggs, Halle’s mother, who escapes from Sweet Home because Halle has bought her freedom. Within introducing the new characters, the past is depicted. It shows flashbacks and explains the marriage of Sethe and Halle, the escape of Baby Suggs, the abuse of Sethe while she waited for Halle who was watching above, Sethe’s escape, and Sethe’s attempt of murder and her arrest. Sethe faces her past which makes and breaks relationships. Beloved becomes more and more attached to Sethe while Denver continues to fight for Beloved’s attention. Paul D also wants to move forward and have a baby with Sethe until he learns that she tried to kill her children, which is why the baby haunts the house, in order to stop them from being captured and turning into slaves. This causes Paul D to leave 124.

                Throughout the first part of the novel, Toni Morrison’s style helps illustrate the point the novel makes about African American women. The novel is expressing the hardships the women face: the past that continues to haunt them and feeling worthless and trapped which breaks down the character of a person. Morrison’s style includes the use of figurative language, flashbacks, and symbolism. An example of the figurative language that stands out to me while reading because of its strong impact is when Sethe is remembering the story of how she escaped and comparing her baby to an antelope. The comparison allows the audience to see the struggle that Sethe faces when escaping. She is not simply escaping without any hardships. She is escaping while pregnant, with a baby that seems to have the restless power of an antelope, and trying not to be seen. The remembrance of the time Sethe escapes is also a flashback. The novel has multiple instances of flashbacks, discussing the death of the children, the abuse of the schoolteacher, life at Sweet Home, etcetera. By having flashbacks within the novel, Morrison is allowing the audience to see how much the past is having an impact on the characters. The past continues to come back and shape the characters in the novel. In combination, the largest part of the novel is the symbolism, specifically the symbolism of Beloved. Beloved seems to embrace many roles in the novel. For Denver she is a sense of security because Denver desires to be around Beloved and fights for her attention. To Sethe, Beloved seems to represent her past. Beloved asks questions about Sweet Home and seems to recall things that someone would not be able to unless earlier present. By embodying the past, Beloved is illustrating that the past has a large impact on the life of African Americans, especially women. Beloved also could questionably be a symbolism of her past considering that some of the characters imply that Beloved could be a reincarnation of a previously mentioned character.