Summary Of Beloved
The theme of Beloved is revealed in the first few pages of the novel as Sethe wants to leave her house as well as the pain within it. Her mother-in-law, Baby Suggs tells her that "not a house in the country ain't packed to the rafters with some dead Negro's grief." Running from grief will lead to more of the same, but by staying and facing the pain, wounds that have been inflicted can begin to heal through grace. The grace of laughter, dance, and tears allows the worst of the grief to pass through the "trembling red heart" and then be forgotten.
Setting
The physical setting of the novel Beloved is a farmhouse known only as 124, situated on Bluestone Road, outside of Cincinnati, Ohio. ...
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Garner, who tried to kill all of her children when they were captured by her slave owner, and she did succeed in killing one. When the novel begins, Sethe and her daughter, Denver, are living with the ghost of the baby Sethe killed when she was about to be recaptured. After another former slave, Paul D., arrives, he chases away the ghost, but soon a young woman named Beloved comes to Sethe's home. This woman is strangely similar to Sethe's dead daughter, which is ironic because the word "Beloved" is the only word engraved on her baby's tombstone, though it is never entirely clear if the woman truly is the baby's ghost turned to flesh.
The women in Beloved are the stronger characters of the story because they are the ones who stay, despite their past. The men, however, have to run from it. When Sethe is raped by the "nephews," she still finds the courage to move beyond the pain and her fear. Her husband, Halle, only witnesses the rape and this is enough to drive him to smearing ...
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Summary Of Beloved. (2007, November 18). Retrieved May 24, 2025, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Summary-Of-Beloved/74526
"Summary Of Beloved." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 18 Nov. 2007. Web. 24 May. 2025. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Summary-Of-Beloved/74526>
"Summary Of Beloved." Essayworld.com. November 18, 2007. Accessed May 24, 2025. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Summary-Of-Beloved/74526.
"Summary Of Beloved." Essayworld.com. November 18, 2007. Accessed May 24, 2025. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Summary-Of-Beloved/74526.
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