Beloved

Toni Morrison’s Beloved was published in 1987. It is inspired by the real story of an African American woman named Margaret Garner, who, while attempting to liberate herself and her children from enslavement, killed her own daughter to prevent her capture and enslavement. It tells the story of Sethe, a self-liberated, formerly enslaved woman who kills her daughter in the same manner. This daughter later returns to haunt the family. The novel is widely classified as magical realism and incorporates many gothic elements.

The novel won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and was a finalist for the National Book Award. Morrison won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993 for Beloved and her other works, including The Bluest Eye (1970) and Song of Solomon (1977). In 1998, Beloved was adapted into a film starring Oprah Winfrey.

Content warning: The source text and this guide discuss racism, enslavement, rape, sexual violence, suicide, torture, and child loss. This study guide quotes and obscures the author’s use of the n-word.

Plot Summary

The novel begins in 1873, eight years after slavery was abolished in the USA. Sethe, a formerly enslaved woman, resides at 124 Bluestone Road near Cincinnati, Ohio with her daughter, Denver, and the ghost of her other daughter, whom Sethe murdered when she was a baby to prevent her from being captured and enslaved. Sethe had planned to kill all her children and then herself, but she was interrupted after only killing her eldest daughter. After the murder, Sethe, unable to pay for an engraving on her daughter’s gravestone, traded sex with the engraver who left the inscription, “Beloved.”

Sethe’s mother-in-law, Grandma Baby Suggs, has passed away, and her two sons, Howard and Buglar, left home to escape the ghost, their mother, and their family history more broadly. When Paul D, who was enslaved with Sethe at Sweet Home, meets Sethe again after years apart, they pursue a relationship. Paul D scares away the ghost that haunts the house, much to Denver’s grief, as she relied on the spirit of her dead sister for company in her isolated home.

One day, Paul D, Sethe, and Denver encounter a finely dressed young Black woman named Beloved waiting for them at 124. They feed her and give her a place to rest until she becomes a permanent resident in the house. They do not realize at first that Beloved is the spirit of Sethe’s dead daughter taking corporeal form.

As the mysterious Beloved extends her stay, Sethe and Paul D are plagued anew by traumatic memories of their enslavement. Paul D is forced to recall the torture he suffered at Sweet Home and at a prison camp in Alfred, Georgia, where he was imprisoned after trying to kill his last enslaver, Brandywine. Sethe confronts her rape and stolen breastmilk at the hands of the nephews of Sweet Home’s brutal new enslaver, the schoolteacher. They determine through their shared stories that Sethe’s husband, Halle, had a mental health crisis after witnessing Sethe’s rape and disappeared.

Eventually, Paul D suspects that Beloved’s presence may have something to do with the growing unease at 124. As Paul D grows more restless and agitated, Beloved seduces him, and they have sex. Feeling guilty, Paul D tries to tell Sethe about his indiscretion but, out of panic, suggests that they have a baby together instead. The two have a moment of romantic glee despite both doubting that pregnancy is the right path for their relationship.

One day, Stamp Paid, the man who helped Sethe cross the Ohio River into the free North, shows Paul D a news clipping describing Sethe’s arrest for killing one of her daughters. Years ago, when Sethe first arrived at 124 with her newborn baby, Denver, she was finally able to reunite with her two sons and daughter who had liberated themselves before her and were safe in Grandma Baby Suggs’ care. Whether out of carelessness or spite, the townspeople neglected to warn them about the arrival of those hoping to profit from capturing freedom seekers. Without much time, Sethe took her children with her to the shed and tried to kill them all with a handsaw. She succeeded in killing only her oldest daughter before the enslavers found her. Reasoning that she was not sound enough to return to Sweet Home, they left.

Sethe was arrested for murder and later released, thanks to the intervention of the Quaker abolitionist Edward Bodwin. The news of Sethe’s actions horrifies Paul D. When Paul D confronts Sethe about it, she defends her actions, which leads to Paul D’s departure from the house.

With Paul D gone, 124 falls into decline. When Beloved reveals herself to be Sethe’s murdered daughter reincarnated, Sethe is overcome with guilt and neglects her job, giving into Beloved’s every demand. Denver realizes quickly that Sethe’s health is declining due to Beloved’s presence. She reaches out to the townspeople for help, leaving 124 on her own for the first time.

When news of Beloved’s haunting makes its way across town, the townspeople gather in front of 124 to exorcize it. At the same time, Bodwin, who is also now Denver’s employer, arrives at 124 to pick her up for her night work. When Sethe and Beloved come out of the house to see about the commotion, Sethe mistakes Bodwin for the schoolteacher. She attacks him with an ice pick, only for Denver and several of the other townspeople to wrestle her down. Beloved disappears forever.

Paul D learns of what happened and checks on Sethe. When he enters 124, he finds Sethe in Grandma Baby Suggs’s bed, grieving Beloved’s departure. He promises to take care of her along with Denver. While they are both haunted by their pasts, he reminds her that they need to learn to heal to survive.