Thematic Evaluation

Background Information

Beloved Discussion Forum

Annotated Bibliography

Other Interesting Links

As we studied the text of Beloved and considered the characters in Morrison's work, we decided that we should explain who each character is. In addition, we decided a possible explanation of what each character might represent would be helpful for anyone seeking meaning within the text.  

Sethe: Sethe is the character in the novel who kills her daughter rather than see her return to slavery.  Sethe is also a daughter who only knew her own mother as the woman in the field with a felt hat.  She is the character in the novel who has to confront her past and also the character who experiences the most change.  I see Sethe as the protagonist of Beloved [WW].

Sethe is representative of many slaves.  She is a runaway slave and through "re-memories" she represents slaves during their time of internment as property of white owners. Her hardships are demonstrations of what many slaves may have endured. 

Denver is Sethe's surviving daughter.  This young African American seems to embody the consciousness of decedents of those who suffered as slaves. Her life began during her mother's escape, so she is not privy to the immediate knowledge of what the slaves were subjected to. She seems to fight for her loved ones and their return to a sense of normalcy along with her own cry for a life without the memories of her mother's former life. 

Baby Suggs: Baby was Sethe's mother-in-law, Halle's mother.  She gained her freedom because her son bought it for her.  Morrison writes, "because slave life had 'busted her legs, back, head, eyes, hands, kidneys, womb, and tongue,' she had nothing left to make a living with but her heart--which she put to work at once" (87).  She became an "unchurched" preacher.  Baby Suggs witnessed the white men come into her own yard in order to capture Sethe. After witnessing Sethe kill her infant daughter, Baby realized that slavery or the memory of it would always be a scar upon her culture. 

Paul D lived on Sweet Home with Baby Suggs, Halle, and Sethe.  Paul's character seems to represent the pain that many African Americans had to endure during the dark period of slavery and its aftermath. He is used to show examples of that pain when the author writes of his enduring the bit and his forced imprisonment  in the box on the chain gang. 

In the novel he acts as a catalyst for Sethe's change.  He comes from Sweet Home, forcing her to remember and he tells her, "You your best thing, Sethe.  You are" (273).

Beloved: The possible protagonist of the novel, Beloved, can be seen as "Dearly Beloved," or those who have lost their lives to slavery. Her ghostliness might be seen as a forced memory for not only her mother, sister, and Paul D., but it might also be a forced memory for the implied reader who is meant to walk away form the reading with a sense of the suffering slavery brought down on an entire culture. 

Halle: As Paul D. explains to Sethe, Halle witnessed the school teacher's boys stealing her milk,  and "It broke him, Sethe" (69). Morrison then writes of Sethe's thoughts: "There is also my husband squatting by the churn smearing the butter as well as its clabber all over his face because the milk they took is on his mind" (70). Halle is not only trapped in slavery, but he has also lost his mind after witnessing this cruel act.  Halle can be seen as another example of the African American's voice, demonstrating a piece of history that may have been left out of the official history.

Sixo was one of the slaves on Sweet Home.  After Sixo's recapture, he was burned to death by his white antagonists. He laughed, as he slipped away from life.  Sixo was never broken by slavery.  His laughter could be seen as his joy of being released from slavery.  Even though his freedom is purchased by his death, he is still escaping the horrors of what he has endured as a slave. 

Amy Denver: A young white girl, who helps Sethe deliver her child, Denver, during her escape may represent more than one white child. She may also have a place of importance in the novel as a representation of those whites who came to the aid of the slaves, during their escape form their sufferings as slaves on the underground railroad.

Stamp Paid is the man who helped Sethe across the river to Ohio.  He gave himself the name Stamp Paid because his master took his wife.  For that, he figured he had paid is debt to to world.