Sethe's Motherlove and Self-Reclamation

Traces the arc of Sethe's fierce maternal love, which leads to infanticide and haunting, then nearly consumes her through Beloved, and finally returns her to herself.

increasingBearing stren­gth in each eventdecreasing

The Milk She Carried

The Milk She Carried A Mother's Purpose Sethe's determination to escape Sweet Home is inseparable from her determination to deliver her milk to her baby daughter, who has been sent ahead. All she knows is that she must get her milk to her girl. The Stolen Milk When the nephews hold her down and take her milk, it is a violation worse than the whipping that follows. Sethe tells Paul D about it in the kitchen, and her voice breaks on the repeated phrase: "And they took my milk!" The Root of the Tree The stolen milk becomes the origin of the chokecherry tree on her back and the buried reason she refuses ever to be powerless again.

The Handsaw and the Shed

The Handsaw and the Shed The Four Horsemen When Sethe sees schoolteacher's hat over the fence, the world stops. She knows they have come to take her children back to Sweet Home. She gathers her four children and runs to the woodshed. The Killing Using a handsaw, she cuts the throat of her crawling-already? baby girl, intending to kill all her children to save them from slavery. Stamp Paid wrestles the infant from her and succeeds in saving the older ones, but the baby bleeds to death in Sethe's arms. The Unforgivable Act Sethe's act is simultaneously an act of monstrous love and an unforgivable crime. It will haunt her, her children, and her community for decades.

The Headstone Bargain

The Headstone Bargain Ten Minutes for Seven Letters Sethe trades ten minutes of sex with the engraver for the word "Beloved" on her daughter's headstone. She wants the whole phrase "Dearly Beloved," but she can afford only the one word that matters. The Price of Memory The bargain takes place under the eyes of the engraver's son, and Sethe's knees are wide open as the grave. She thinks the word should be enough to answer the preachers and abolitionists and the town full of disgust. The Word That Returned The inscribed name becomes the ghost's name. Sethe's attempt to memorialize her child inadvertently gives the spirit a title and a claim, setting the stage for Beloved's return.

The Adoration of the Flesh

The Adoration of the Flesh The Longing in Beloved's Eyes Beloved's devotion is flattering and then consuming. Sethe begins to tell her all the stories she has locked away, feeding Beloved's hunger with the blood and milk of her past. She wants Beloved to understand why she killed her. The Shrinking Mother As Beloved grows plumper, Sethe grows thinner. She gives Beloved the best of everything, then the only of everything. She is trying to atone for the handsaw, and the atonement is eating her alive. The Submission Denver watches her mother become a child, licking her lips in a corner while Beloved rules the house. Sethe's love has become so thick it has no boundary between herself and the loved object.

Sethe as Her Own Best Thing

Sethe as Her Own Best Thing A Woman in a Bed Sethe is found by Paul D in Baby Suggs's bed, lying under a quilt, singing lullabies. She has told Denver she is tired and must rest. She does not believe she has any future left. The Reclamation Paul D takes her hand and says, "You your best thing, Sethe. You are." The statement is a radical act of disentangling her love from her children and from Beloved. She repeats it doubtingly: "Me? Me?" The Beginning of a Self The final scene of the novel leaves Sethe on the threshold of self-possession. She is not healed, but she is being called back from the dead, invited to see herself as a woman who deserves her own love.

at Sweet Home, while nursing her baby girl

the day schoolteacher arrives at 124

after the burial and Sethe's release from jail

months after Beloved appears at 124

after Beloved's disappearance, when Paul D returns