Beloved | Quotes

Denver remembers this quotation from her mother's story of her birth. It foreshadows what is to come: Beloved coming back to life and the chaos she will cause in their lives.

The life that Sethe and Denver are living is better than the one they lived at Sweet Home under schoolteacher. She has no other plans. She constantly fights the memories of that life in order to stay sane.

Paul D believes love is risky, especially for slaves. Children were a commodity to slave owners, and no regard was given to family love. Paul D feels it is better not to love at all because then there is nothing to lose.

Baby Suggs has collapsed and has given up on life. The slave master tried to reclaim Sethe and her children. Sethe tried to kill the children rather than send them back to slavery. After this Baby Suggs realizes that white folk are the reason for all the misery she has suffered.

Sethe recalls the other black people she had known in the Clearing and in 124 and how, like her, they had claimed themselves. This was a difficult process, as the only life she knew was that of a slave. It was difficult for her at first to be her own person. But, with the help of others, she has learned how to be free. She now realizes that she is in control of her own life; no one else gets to tell her what to do.

This is the thinking of the sheriff and his men who came to take Sethe and her children back to Sweet Home. It is a testament to their belief that the slaves were animals that had to be rescued from a life as savages.

Sethe realizes that she can't live outside 124. She has Beloved and Denver, and they are all she believes she needs. She is finally content.

Schoolteacher's words show the theme of the dehumanization of slavery. White slave owners believed that their slaves were savage animals in order to justify their own inhumane behavior.

This statement from Sethe explains her belief that killing Beloved herself was better than letting her die as a slave at the hands of slave owners. These words exemplify slaves' lack of control over their lives and those of their family members.

Paul D thinks of his heart as a tobacco tin, shut tight against the pain of memory. In this quotation his heart, in which all the memories of his past were securely stored, has blown apart. All the memories of Sweet Home come rushing back to him, making him vulnerable.

Garner had treated his slaves like humans. He called Paul D and the others men. When Garner died schoolteacher took over, and the slaves were treated cruelly. Some were sold, and some were killed. Others escaped but carried the memories of schoolteacher's brutality with them.

Life at 124 has deteriorated. Beloved takes up all of Sethe's time. She has become unpredictable, constantly needing to be soothed with sweets. With this thought Denver realizes the connection between her mother and Beloved. Sethe was doing everything she could to redeem herself for murdering her baby, while Beloved was slowly sucking the life out of her for doing so.

This quotation provides a direct contrast between the Bodwins, who helped the freed African Americans, and the slave owners, who still thought of them as animals.

Paul D is remembering what Sixo said of the Thirty-Mile Woman. Now Paul D feels the same way about Sethe. Paul D always admired Sixo as an example of manhood and wanted to emulate him. Now he is able to experience with Sethe what Sixo experienced with the Thirty-Mile Woman.

Paul D realizes that the past is over and he can no longer let it haunt him. He has come to terms with it and wants to work on having a future with Sethe.