Thomas-Beloved 25 posts

1. Red, and other bright colors like orange and pink, are seen through out the novel and the meaning varies with each usage. Amy Denver is on an journey for "red velvet", the red in this situation represents hope, positive motivation, and a brighter future. The red light in 124 is a symbol for evil and bad energy. The red luminous light sets the mood for the cursed house.
2. Paul d had a very troubling, difficult past. With so many horrible memories Paul D has forced himself to berry, and lock them deep inside his chest in a "tobacco tin". He does this to protect himself, and ensure he never has to feel the pain of the bad memories he experienced in the past. "He would keep the rest where it belonged: in that tobacco tin berried in his chest where a red heart used to be."
3. Trees play an important role throughout the story. First with the scars on Sethe's back representing a family tree. The scars show what her family has had to endure with the effects of slavery. She will forever be left with the reminder of how miserable that life is and how she has done and will do anything to protect her family from that life. Trees are also an important symbol of power. Baby Suggs preaches from a tree in the woods.
4. The address of the house it's represents the in completion of the pattern. The 3 missing represents the absence of the third child in the family, which was Beloved. When Sethe kills Beloved not only does the family become trapped in the house but the house becomes trapped in time. It is not until Beloved comes back that the family can be set free, and it not until the family is set free that the house can be set free.
5. Schoolteacher scolds his pupil for not putting Sethe's 'human characteristics on the right; her animal ones on the left' as he has been instructed to do. The ultimate violation of Sethe's body and also her motherhood is captured in the scene in which Schoolteacher's white pupils hold Sethe down and 'steal her milk'. Sethe viewed an animal with no human rights. It is not an personal 'badness' which leads her to such a desperate decision but a society which has denied and distorted her ability to love and to choose: 'it wasn't the jungle blacks brought with them to this place from the other place. It was the jungle white folks planted in them'.
6. Water is connected to the journey for freedom. Ohio river is used for the slaves escaping to Kentucky. It's also where Denver is born, on the water, into freedom. Water is a part of freedom, making it apart of birth. Becoming free is like becoming reborn, so Denver experiences both when she is born on the river.
7. Birth is closely related to water. "As soon as Sethe got close tot he river her own water broke loose to join it." At another point in the novel Beloved describes urinating as if it was her water breaking. There is a circle of connections seen here. Freedom relates to the idea of being reborn, in birth there is often water involved, and water is often the passage to freedom.
8.The tile, Beloved, shows the importance of love in the novel. Be loved, when you separate the words it is easier to see what the author is saying. Loving others is important but you must also keep love for yourself. The love you give to others is uncontrollable, you cannot control what happens to those you love. If you gave all your love away to someone and something happened to take them away from you, you would feel completely empty.
9. Sixo being compared to Shedrack is an allusion to the bible. Shadrach and two others were punished and thrown into a fire, they survived however keeping faith in Jesus. In Sixos situation Slavery can be seen as the fire, he refused to let slavery defeat him when he was caught. He laughed when he was burning and mocked the white men, who were enraged by this rebel and shot him. Sixo, like Shadrach, stays true to himself and what he believes.
10. Stamp paid being compared to Charon with the way he helps people cross the river to forget there past is an allusion.
11. The author makes an allusion to the Civil War with talking about the 54th regiment, which was a regiment of all African American men.
12. 124 could be allusion to the bible, first with the numbers adding up to 7, and the 7 days of creation. Second the pattern of 124 with the missing three could relate to the number for the trinity. You could also say how the women of Beloved are a female trinity with Sethe being god, Beloved being Christ, and Denver being the Holy Ghost. When Beloved is killed by her mother is like Christ being sacrificed. And Denver is the Holy Ghost because she remains a constant.
13. Denver's journey backs up the main theme of the story, free slave to free person. She was born free of slavery but she is not free spiritually or physically because she never leaves 124. in part three Denver knows she must do something to save her family. So she leaves the house to get food so the others do not starve. Then she goes even further when see gets a job and is able to earn money to support the family. As Denver explores the world outside and grows more independent she frees herself.
14."Try as she might to make it otherwise...She could never forgive her memory." Pg. 7This quote ties into the theme, the influence of the past has on the present. No matter how hard Sethe tries she will always be haunted by the her decision to kill Beloved.
15. "The deeper and more tangled the jungle grew inside.....It was the jungle the white folks planted in them." This quote is comparing blacks to soil and the white people are planting seeds into them. The idea of the black people and the jungle suggests they are like wild animals and have uncivil ways of living. They are also saying how the blacks are subhuman.
16. "I won't never let her go." Sethe is now acknowledging that Beloved is her daughter and she is becoming attached to her. Sethe and Beloved then begin to take on each others roles. Beloved becomes more of a mother as Sethe begins to worship Beloved like a toddler would worship their mother.
17. The reoccurring image of shadows is a motif in the book. "Obviously the hand-holding shadows she has seen on the road were not Paul D, Denver and herself, but 'us three'."
18. There is one point in the book where Sethe sees a shadow of three people holding hands. This foreshadows first that maybe the family will be happy at some point in the future, and also that there will only be three people in the family. Which either represents the absence of Paul D or Sethe. Paul D when he leaves or Sethe if she really dies at the end of the story.
19. The supernatural and ghost is a motif. The author gives the story a paranormal phenomena within a realist framework.
20. Shoes are a motif and can be seen as protection and security. Not having shoes shows lower social status and that you are not wealthy enough to afford them.
21. Sethe's attack on her children is described as "her rough response to the Fugitive Bill." Under this law, fugitive slaves were denied a jury trial, facing a court-appointed commissioner instead. Under this law, fugitive slaves were denied a jury trial, facing a court-appointed commissioner instead.
22. g 242: “Maybe there is something else terrible enough to make her do it again.” This can be viewed as a foreshadow that Sethe might kill again, which Denver is deathly afraid of. Is Sethe capable of killing again?
23. Pg 213: "He hoped she stuck to blue, yellow, maybe green, and never fixed on red" This is about focusing on the better things in life, and ignoring the negative things. Stamp Paid loves and respects Baby Suggs and he does’t want her to experience pain in her self because of how much she has helped other people. This also strengthens the idea of the color red, which often represents evil and anger in the novel.
24. "He woke to the foot stops of Sethe coming down the white stairs to make breakfast." Every reference and detail of color has some level of significance in the novel. The white stairs leading to the second floor from the red light down stairs is like a stair way to heaven, a brighter place.
25. "Sethe, me and you, we got more yesterday than anybody. We need some kind of tomorrow." This plays into the past influencing the present theme. They have a long, disturbing past together and they can't let it go. Paul D wants to forget the past and embrace and enjoy the present, move forward to something better.