ice skates

The ice skates in Toni Morrison's Beloved are far more than a simple recreational item; they are a charged object that crystallizes a fleeting moment of joy, a symbol of the fragile bonds between Sethe, Denver, and Beloved, and a lingering artifact of the past that resurfaces in the novel's final scenes. Their appearance marks a turning point in the household's emotional trajectory, offering a brief respite from the haunting and the weight of memory, only to underscore the subsequent disintegration of the family unit.

Discovery and the Decision to Skate

The skates emerge from a heap of discarded shoes at 124 Bluestone Road, a detail that speaks to the household's poverty and the accumulation of cast-off items. Sethe, in a moment of defiance and self-assertion, decides to take Baby Suggs' advice to "lay it all down" and embrace life, even if only for an afternoon. She rummages through the pile, finding one man's skate blade, and declares they will take turns: "Two skates on one; one skate on one; and shoe slide for the other." This improvised plan reflects both the scarcity of resources and Sethe's determination to create joy from nothing. The act of searching for the skates is itself a rebellion against the despair that has gripped her since Paul D's departure, and it signals a temporary shift from passive suffering to active engagement with the world.

The Joyful Afternoon on the Ice

The skating scene is one of the few unambiguously happy moments in the novel. Sethe, Denver, and Beloved venture to a frozen creek, where they hold hands, brace each other, and tumble repeatedly, their laughter echoing through the woods. The narrative emphasizes that "nobody saw them falling," suggesting a private, almost sacred space where the three women can be free from the judgment of the community and the ghosts of the past. Their skirts fly like wings, and their skin turns pewter in the cold, dying light—a vivid image of transformation and release. The physical comedy of their falls, the way they "fought gravity for each other's hands," underscores their interdependence and the joy of shared vulnerability. This scene stands in stark contrast to the earlier tension and the later deterioration of their relationship, offering a glimpse of what could have been.

The Aftermath and the Shift in Dynamics

After the skating, the three return home, drink warm milk with cane syrup and vanilla, and sit wrapped in quilts before the stove. This domestic tableau is the last moment of harmony before the relationship between Sethe and Beloved begins to unravel. The skates themselves become a symbol of the fleeting nature of this happiness. When Sethe later sees the skates in a basket in the corner of her room, they serve as a painful reminder of what has been lost. The joy of that afternoon is followed by a rapid decline: Sethe loses her job, the household descends into poverty and obsession, and Beloved's demands grow increasingly voracious. The skates, once instruments of liberation, become relics of a happier time that can never be reclaimed.

The Skates as a Symbol of Loss and Memory

The skates reappear in the novel's final section, when Paul D returns to 124 and finds the house transformed. In Sethe's room, he notices "a pair of ice skates nestles in a basket in the corner," a detail that underscores the passage of time and the changes that have occurred. The skates are now part of the detritus of a life that has been broken and remade. They evoke the memory of the skating afternoon, but also the pain of Beloved's disappearance and Sethe's subsequent withdrawal from the world. For Paul D, the skates are a tangible link to the past, a reminder of the woman he once knew and the possibility of a future together. The object thus carries both the weight of memory and the hope of reconciliation, as Paul D ultimately tells Sethe, "You your best thing." The skates, like the memories they evoke, are both a source of sorrow and a testament to the resilience of the human spirit.

The Skates and the Theme of Freedom

The ice skates also resonate with the novel's broader themes of freedom and constraint. For Sethe, who has spent her life fleeing from slavery and its aftermath, the act of skating represents a rare moment of unencumbered movement—a physical expression of the freedom she has fought so hard to achieve. The ice, smooth and treacherous, mirrors the precariousness of her existence, yet the ability to glide across it, even briefly, is a triumph. The skates are a tool of liberation, but they also highlight the limitations of that freedom: the women can only skate on a frozen creek, not on the open waters of possibility. The object thus embodies the tension between the desire for freedom and the reality of its constraints, a tension that defines Sethe's life and the lives of all the characters in the novel.