Paul D versus Beloved for Sethe's Life

Charts the escalating struggle between Paul D's stabilizing love and Beloved's possessive fixation over Sethe's body and soul.

increasingBearing stren­gth in each eventdecreasing

The Uneasy Guest

The Uneasy Guest Instinctive Distrust Paul D thinks something is funny about Beloved. She acts sick but looks strong; she claims to be exhausted but lifts a rocker with one hand. Denver lies to him when he asks about it, and a door closes between them. The Rivalry Begins Paul D feels the girl is a threat to the fragile life he is building with Sethe. He wants her out, but he cannot put her out of a house that is not his, especially when she is a homeless colored girl in Klan country. The First Battle At the dinner table, Paul D interrogates Beloved about her shoes and her past. She turns his questions into a scream, and Denver smooths it over. The duel is joined in silence.

The Shining of Beloved

The Shining of Beloved An Unnatural Light Beloved begins to shine, a gilded glow that Paul D recognizes as the light of a woman in arousal. He checks his own desire and suspects it is meant for someone else—but not for him. The Petlike Adoration Beloved's adoration is directed at Sethe, and Paul D is increasingly excluded from the female circle. He feels the house shifting around him, and his sense of maleness begins to dissolve. The Strategy of the Spirit Beloved does not attack; she erodes. Her presence weakens the bonds between Paul D and Sethe, and between Paul D and his own will.

The Cold House Seduction

The Cold House Seduction The Moving Forced Paul D realizes he is being moved from room to room, from the bed to the rocker to Baby Suggs's room to the storeroom to the cold house. He knows it is involuntary; he is being prevented. The Demand of the Flesh Beloved follows him to the cold house and demands that he touch her "on the inside part" and call her name. He resists by fixing his gaze on the silver lard can, but the rusted lid of his tobacco tin falls away. The Sound of Red Heart He finds himself saying "Red heart, red heart" over and over, waking Denver. The seduction breaks open the sealed vault of his emotions, leaving him exposed and ashamed.

The Exit after the Clipping

The Exit after the Clipping The Truth That Ends It Stamp Paid's newspaper clipping reveals Sethe's infanticide, and Paul D cannot reconcile his love for Sethe with the image of her with a handsaw. He confronts her, tells her her love is too thick, and says she has two feet, not four. The Forest Grows A forest of judgment springs up between them. Paul D's shame about his own past fuses with his horror at Sethe's, and the only exit is flight. Beloved's Victory Beloved has successfully driven a wedge between the lovers. Paul D leaves 124, and Beloved is left in sole possession of Sethe. The spirit has won the first round.

The Return after the Exorcism

The Return after the Exorcism The Vanquished Enemy When Paul D returns, Beloved is gone. The house is stone quiet, and Sethe is collapsed in Baby Suggs's bed. The struggle is over, but the cost is visible: Sethe has been nearly eaten alive. Rebuilding the Man Paul D chooses to stay and help Sethe back from the edge. He does not need to defeat Beloved again; he needs to reanimate the woman she left behind. A Different Victory Paul D's final act—rubbing Sethe's feet and telling her she is her own best thing—is a victory not over Beloved but over the despair that followed her. The same love that was once too thick becomes the foundation of a self.

the first week Beloved is in 124

weeks later, when Beloved begins to glow

after Paul D has been forced to sleep in the cold house

the day Stamp Paid shows Paul D the newspaper

after Beloved's disappearance, when 124 is quiet