Beloved (1987) (edit title/settings)

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Summary edit see section history

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Characters edit see section history

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• Sethe: The protagonist who escaped slavery.
• Beloved: A young woman who stays with Sethe and Denver
• Paul D: Paul D is one of the former slaves that Sethe knew back on Sweet Home Plantation. He is essentially a wanderer until he finds Sethe and settles down in order to attempt to make a life with her. Essentially, he is to be seen as a male whose concept of self-masculinity has been fractured by slavery.
• Halle: A slave from Sweet Home Plantation, he is also Sethe's first lover and father of her children. He is Baby Suggs' son.
• Baby Suggs: Sethe's mother in law as well as Halle's mother.
• Mrs. Garner: The white female owner on the Sweet Home Plantation.
• Amy Denver: The poor white midwife of Sethe's daughter Denver. Her daughter is named after Amy Denver because Sethe thought Denver was a pretty name. Amy helps Sethe when she tries to escape from slavery while pregnant.
• Denver: Sethe's daughter.
• Stamp Paid: The ferryman over the Ohio River; serves as a symbol of good.
• Sixo: A former male slave from Sweet Home Plantation. Paul D regards Sixo as "a real man".
• Howard: One of Sethe's sons who has run away.
• Ella: A woman who can relate to Sethe
• Lady Jones: A lady who educates poor children like Denver for 5 cents a week.
• Jenny: Baby Suggs' name on her bill of sale which the Garners always call her.
• Vashti: Stamp Paid's former wife with whom his master and master's son had sex.
• Buglar: One of Sethe's sons who has run away.
• Sawyer: Owns a restaurant where Sethe gets a job.
• Mr. and Mrs. Buddy: Amy Denver's cruel master and mistress.
• Janey: Servant at the Bodwins', where Denver gets a job.

Quotes edit see section history

• “The future was a matter of keeping the past at bay.”

• “This here Sethe talked about safety with a handsaw.”

  Paul D

• “Freeing yourself was one thing; claiming ownership of that freed self was another.”

• “It never looked as terrible as it was and it made her wonder if hell was a pretty place too.”

• “Risky, thought Paul D, very risky. For a used-to-be-slave woman to love anything that much was dangerous, especially if it was her children she had settled on to love. The best thing, he knew, was to love just a little bit; everything, just a little bit, so when they broke its back, or shoved it in a croaker sack, well, maybe you’d have a little love left over for the next one.”

  Paul D

• “to get to a place where you could love anything you chose—not to need permission for desire—well now, that was freedom.”

• “schoolteacher beat him anyway to show him that definitions belonged to the definers—not the defined.”

• ““It’s gonna hurt, now,” said Amy. “Anything dead coming back to life hurts.””

• “She told them that the only grace they could have was the grace they could imagine. That if they could not see it, they would not have it.”

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• “It’s gonna hurt, now,” said Amy. “Anything dead coming back to life hurts.”

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• Freeing yourself was one thing; claiming ownership of that freed self was another.

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• It never looked as terrible as it was and it made her wonder if hell was a pretty place too.

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• She told them that the only grace they could have was the grace they could imagine. That if they could not see it, they would not have it.

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• to get to a place where you could love anything you chose—not to need permission for desire—well now, that was freedom.

  Highlighted by 148 Kindle customers

• Risky, thought Paul D, very risky. For a used-to-be-slave woman to love anything that much was dangerous, especially if it was her children she had settled on to love. The best thing, he knew, was to love just a little bit; everything, just a little bit, so when they broke its back, or shoved it in a croaker sack, well, maybe you’d have a little love left over for the next one.

  Highlighted by 146 Kindle customers

• “She is a friend of my mind. She gather me, man. The pieces I am, she gather them and give them back to me in all the right order. It’s good, you know, when you got a woman who is a friend of your mind.”

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• But maybe a man was nothing but a man, which is what Baby Suggs always said. They encouraged you to put some of your weight in their hands and soon as you felt how light and lovely that was, they studied your scars and tribulations, after which they did what he had done: ran her children out and tore up the house.

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• Clever, but schoolteacher beat him anyway to show him that definitions belonged to the definers—not the defined.

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• That anybody white could take your whole self for anything that came to mind. Not just work, kill, or maim you, but dirty you. Dirty you so bad you couldn’t like yourself anymore. Dirty you so bad you forgot who you were and couldn’t think it up. And though she and others lived through and got over it, she could never let it happen to her own. The best thing she was, was her children. Whites might dirty her all right, but not her best thing, her beautiful, magical best thing—the part of her that was clean.

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Setting & Locations edit see section history

• Sweet Home: Sethe's slave home
• Georgia
• Cincinnati
• Ohio River
• Kentucky
• Bluestone Road
• Delaware
• Boston
• Carolina

First Sentence edit see section history

Table of Contents edit see section history

Themes & Symbolism edit see section history

• Slavery: Describe this theme.

Series & Lists edit see section history

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Toni Morrison (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Awards edit see section history

• American Book Award (1988)
• Anisfield-Wolf Book Award (1988)
• Prometheus Award (Finalist, 1988: Best Novel)
• Pulitzer Prize (1988: Fiction)
• National Book Critics Circle Award (Finalist, 1987: Fiction)

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: PS3563.08749B4 1987
• Dewey: 813.54

Notes for Parents edit see section history

References to slavery, sex, and brutality, as well as infanticide.

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Literature & Fiction › World Literature › United States › African American › Morrison, Toni
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Authors, A-Z › ( M ) › Morrison, Toni
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Genre Fiction › Historical
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Literary
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Contemporary

Movie Connections edit see section history

• Beloved (IMDb): 1998 release.

More Books Like This edit see section history

Books with Additional Background Information edit see section history

Books That Cite This Book edit see section history