Beloved by Toni Morrison
Summary and analysis:
The tale of beloved begins with the house called 124 bluestone road in which mother, daughter,
and a vengeful baby ghost reside. The mother, sethe is a former escaped slave from a planta!on
called sweet home, who while pregnant “ed to the home of her husband’s mother, baby Suggs,
who took her in and shielded her from her pursuers but unfortunately a terrible event takes
place in that house which baby Suggs to retreat from society and lay in bed un!l she passes
away leaving sethe with one child living, one child dead, and two runaways, haunted house, and
a community that shuns her. Almost 9 years later sethe and her daughter Denver isola!on from
society is broken when a man(Paul D) from sethe’s past in sweet home reappears and with his
arrival brings forth a series of events that few in this !ny community are prepared. Major events
such the revival of someone once thought dead, the realiza!on of a community that they
allowed the past to creep up and blind them to their future and each other, and the
confronta!on of the past that threatens to someone alive, and the growth of an individual that
was long !me in the making.
Analysis:
Theme: the past can be inescapable chains that can bind you to it but if confronted and
defeated then it can become stepping stones toward a new future.
the story of beloved is not told in chronological order it is told in nightmares, “ashbacks, and
