Beloved
Motifs
Supernatural
Every negro house as some sort of ghost
A baby ghost is not the worst kind to have
Litote :)
Everyone accepts that there are ghosts
Beloved is a ghost
Christianity
The woman who come to save Sethe from Beloved pray and sing
Paul D. sleeps in a church cellar
"Four horsemen"
Sacrificed death of Beloved
Christ-like
Baby Sugg's field worships
Communion
Denver drank her sister's blood
Themes
Slavery's destruction of identity/humanity
Support of communities to survive
The community supports the family when Denver asks for help
White People
Mrs. Garner
Mr. Garner
Mr. Bodwin
Nephews
Schoolteacher
Amy Denver
Saves Denver's life
Saves Sethe's life
Symbols
Hearts
Denver doesn't feel or hear as soon as her mother's crime is mentioned
Finds a job, joins the community, and takes care of the family
Doesn't "take heart" until her family is in danger
Sethe stops feeling
Paul D. has a "tin tobacco box" for a heart
Where he locks away his feelings
Trees
The dark side
Sixo's burning death
Lynchings
The scars on Sethe's back form a choke cherry tree
The main thing Sethe focuses on from Sweet Home is the trees
Denver's "emerald closet"
The place in the woods where Denver hid her personal items and went for solitude
She stopped going as soon as she found Beloved
The main source of healing
Colors
The color red represents Beloved's death
Amy Denver likes red "carmine" velvet
She wants to buy her velvet in Boston
Sethe lies in Baby Suggs bed waiting to die after Beloved leaves
Paul D. sees it shining from beneath the door of 124
Baby Suggs lies in bed thinking about color
People are thankful that she finds it before she gets to red
She does not die until she finds the right one
Quotes
"No more clamor for a kiss. Beloved."
"You your best thing, Sethe. You are."
"Seven-o! Seven-o!"
"A hot thing."
"I am Beloved and she is mine."
"I would have known at once when my water broke."
"Freeing yourself was one thing; claiming ownership of that freed self was another."
"There is no bad luck in the world but whitefolks."
"A man ain't nothing but a man. But a son? Well, now, that's somebody."
"A pool of red and undulating light that locked him where he stood."
"124 was spiteful"
