Beloved 52-100

 Wow, these fifty pages have a lot to cover. We got further insights into Sethe's past and Denver's birth, more exploration on the relationships developing between the characters living in 124, and, of course, the questionable and mysterious appearance of Beloved. 

After having an argument about Sethe's protectiveness over Denver, Paul D thinks that, "for a used-to-be-slave woman to love anything that much was dangerous, especially if it was her children" (Morrison 54). He believes that you should only love a little bit, so that when the thing you love eventually breaks, you have some love left over for the next person. Paul D's life and trauma has left him with the idea that love isn't regenerative, and that what he loves will eventually leave him. He sees love as being finite. Sethe loves in a different way. This novel is about the love she has for her children, and Sethe puts everything into her love for them. She devotes all of her love to Denver and devoted so much to her baby girl, escaping while pregnant to get milk to her. Through Paul D's eyes, if everyone only has a certain amount of love to give, then Sethe gave too much love to her baby, which is why the baby's death continues to haunt her. He believes that if she's giving all her remaining love to Denver, she doesn't have enough for him and the life they could lead. He wants Sethe to make space for him, as well. However, after this conversation, Sethe believes that she sees a good omen for her new family at the carnival. The shadows of Denver, Sethe, and Paul D are all holding hands, which signifies to Sethe that they can make a life together in 124. 

In the next section, Beloved basically appears out of thin air from the water. The way that she's described in this section was so unsettling to me. She shares many attributes that I think of as belonging to a baby or young child. There are scratches on her skin that look like baby hair, and she has soft hands and feet that look like they're brand new. Her feet are described as "barely capable of their new job", and she walks to the bed like she's a toddler who has just learned to walk. The characters also estimate her to be nineteen or twenty, which was especially creepy to me because I think that's how old Sethe's baby would be if she was still alive. Paul D describing that she acts sick yet could pick up a rocker with one hand only added to how off-setting Beloved's character was to me. It was unclear to me here exactly who Beloved is - a ghost? Oh, and later in this section, Beloved seemingly chokes on bread pudding and thrashes around holding her throat. This originally seemed like a random scene to me, yet took on another meaning when I remembered that Sethe's baby had her throat cut. 

Later, when Beloved helps Sethe make bread, "their two shadows clashed and crossed on the ceiling like black swords" (68). This directly contrasts how Sethe's shadow held hands with Denver's and Paul D's shadows, which made me wonder if Beloved's return could mean the ruin of Sethe's other relationships or create tension in this new family. However, Sethe is able to tell Beloved stories about her past that were still too painful to talk about with Baby Suggs or Paul D. It's unclear why it's easier for Sethe to speak about these events with Beloved, maybe because she sees Beloved as more distant from Sweet Home. Sethe is able to talk about memories that aren't completely full of pain, like when she made her own wedding dress or when Mrs. Garner gives her earrings. However, Sethe only pierced her ears and wore the earrings when she moved to 124. This made me wonder if Sethe wouldn't allow herself to appreciate any beauty when she was living such a painful life at Sweet Home. She wouldn't wear the earrings there and describes her self-made dress as ugly. 

In the next section, Paul D tells Sethe that Halle did see her assault, which broke him. Learning about this horrible story leads Sethe to have an internal monologue about how painful it is that her brain keeps absorbing these horrific stories and images. She thinks, "just once, could it say, No thank you? I just ate and can't hold another bite?" (83). This was another example of how Sethe's past continues to affect her present and future. Sethe's brain is so full of her past that it can't even think about the future, which prevents her from moving on. She doesn't want to keep taking in these painful memories, yet she has no choice. 

Finally, Denver and Beloved talk about where Beloved came from. Beloved tells Denver that she got her name from the dark, which is hot and stuffed with people, some of them dead. In the dark, Beloved is forced to lie curled up. Beloved reveals that she came back to see Sethe's face because Sethe left her behind - possibly in the afterlife? This section of the novel left me with so many questions. How will Beloved's appearance affect the potentially budding familial relationship between Paul D, Sethe, and Denver? Where did Beloved really come from, and who is she? Does her shadow's violence toward Sethe's foreshadow Beloved having bad intentions toward the family?