Baby Suggs's Love for Halle and His Children

Follows the emotional bond between Baby Suggs and her last son Halle, and how that love is transferred to his children and finally broken.

increasingBearing stren­gth in each eventdecreasing

The Last Child She Kept

The Last Child She Kept The Unexpected Mercy Baby Suggs has lost all eight of her children, but they let her keep the last one, Halle. He is with her everywhere, watching her movements, knowing her sore hip. The Son Who Gives His Sundays Halle works for years to buy her freedom. He does not tell her it is a gift; he just does it. Baby Suggs understands that this child loves her in a way the others never could because he had time to know her. The Secret of the Name She tells Mr. Garner she is called Baby Suggs, not Jenny. The name is all she has left of the husband who taught her to make shoes. Halle is the only person who calls her what she wants to be called.

The Son's Wife and Grandchildren

The Son's Wife and Grandchildren The New Family When Sethe appears with three children and a newborn, Baby Suggs is afraid and grateful. These are her own grandchildren, the first and only she will know. She bathes Sethe, puts her to bed, and cares for the baby. The Name of Love Baby Suggs cannot help loving the little crawling-already? girl who dribbles spit into her mother's face. She watches the boys play and refuses to let Sethe wake them. The house is full of the family she thought she would never see. The Reward of Halle's Sacrifice Halle's five years of Sundays have brought her not only freedom but a family. Baby Suggs's heart, newly beating, expands to include them all.

The Grandmother's Joy and Grief

The Grandmother's Joy and Grief The Feast of Thanksgiving Baby Suggs throws the great feast to thank Stamp Paid and to celebrate her grandchildren. She dances, preaches, and laughs with the whole community. For one bright moment, her family is the center of a loving circle. The Smell of Disapproval But the feast turns the neighbors away. Baby Suggs smells the disapproval and the dark thing coming. She has done everything right, and yet the yard fills with the wrongness of the world. The Unbearable Loss When the shed happens, Baby Suggs loses not only a granddaughter but also her faith in her own gospel. The love she gave to Halle's children becomes the measure of her brokenness.

The Failed Defense

The Failed Defense The Shed and the Silence Baby Suggs runs to the shed and sees what Sethe has done. She cannot defend her grandchildren from their mother. The whitefolks have come into her yard, and she can do nothing to stop the blood. The Plea for Pardon She bathes the surviving boys and whispers, "I beg your pardon." The apology is not to the whites or to Sethe but to the children whose lives have been forever scarred. The Heart Broken The vision of the shed is the final proof that her son's sacrifice, her freedom, her preaching—all of it was lies. She goes to bed and never recovers.

The Memory Passed to Denver

The Memory Passed to Denver The Ghost of Halle's Mother Before she dies, Baby Suggs tells Denver everything about Halle: how he counted on paper, how he loved soft eggs, how he was too good for the world. The stories become Denver's private inheritance. The Woman in the Keeping Room Denver sleeps in Baby Suggs's room, safe from the ghost. She learns the rhythm of her grandmother's breathing and the shapes of her silence. Baby Suggs's love for Halle passes into her love for Denver. The Tree of Memory After Baby Suggs dies, Denver carries the memory of her grandmother like a living root. When she finally leaves the yard, she carries Baby Suggs's stories with her, and they give her the courage to ask for help.

Baby Suggs's life at Sweet Home

when Sethe and the children arrive at 124

during the twenty-eight days

the afternoon of the infanticide

Baby Suggs's last years and Denver's childhood