To BeLoved

A brief note before we begin - The lack of punctuation/capitalization is intentional. It is done to mimic the style of the quote at the start of the analysis.

“I am Beloved and she is mine. I see her take flowers away from leaves she puts them in a round basket the leaves are not for her she fills the basket she opens the grass I would help her but the clouds are in the way how can I say things that are pictures I am separate from her there is no place where I stop her face is my own and I want to be there in the place where her face is and look at it too a hot thing”
-Beloved by Toni Morrison, Page 200

Culture shock. It is hard to bear hard to understand hard to deal with hard to let go of the reintroduction of someone you thought you had lost forever into your family the pain of losing someone having to feel the pain of having killed them having to feel the pain of taking care of them catering to their every need making sure they’re happy because when they’re happy you’re happy to be clashed by the moral decision of wanting to take care of someone you love pitted against the decision of being able to work to be able to take care of that someone but having to be away from them you do not want to be away from them you want to be with them protect them cherish them love them treasure them hold them be sure that they’re safe from the white man who wants to take them all away

murder is justified to ensure safety the only safe place is the other side where no white man no black man no white woman no black woman no thing no body no person can lay a finger on the thing that needs to be safe Sethe killed Beloved so she would be safe so nobody would reach her so that she could die and be with Beloved forever they would be safe from black man white man white woman black woman every thing every body every person who wanted to harm them They would be safe but Beloved didn’t want that she wanted her mother to feel guilt to become one with her mother to control her to make her feel the pain the suffering the loneliness the emptiness the loneliness

because of the inner conflict Denver had to leave the house and venture into the town outside she got a job working at a white household where she told them what was happening the town began to gather together after hearing Denver’s story realizing that they should help her and Sethe to defend themselves from the spirit perhaps it was Denver leaving home and thanking the town perhaps it was how they all know Baby Suggs who was Denver’s grandmother perhaps it was just everyone coming together for the sake of a fellow black person who needed their help but Denver was forced to grow to help her mother be freed to save her and to save herself and to release the spirit of Beloved and to strengthen the bond that her and her mother share

Bare feet and chamomile sap
Took off my shoes; took off my hat
Bare feet and chamomile sap
Gimmie back my shoes; gimme back my hat.

Lay my head on a potato sack,
Devil sneak up behind my back.
Steam engine got a lonesome whine;
Love that woman till you go stone blind.

Stone blind; stone blind.
Sweet Home gal make you lose your mind.
-Beloved by Toni Morrison, Page 249