Beloved Blog Post #4

As I read Beloved, I get more and more interested in what’s going on in the text. A particular part of the book that I found interesting was when Paul D, Sethe and Denver actually seemed like a “real family”. How Denver switched from pretty much hating Paul D, to actually tolerating him. That was pretty interesting. Part of the reason why I liked that scene was because I felt like a father figure is what Denver was missing in her life, and Paul D was giving her that, although she constantly rejected that. Since she never really knew her father, Halle, I don’t think she knew how to react to a man coming into her life and showing interest in her, whether it be as a friend or maybe even as a daughter. I think she also felt that because Paul D was officially “in the family” - in a sense because he grasped Sethe’s affection, her mother was somehow being snatched away from her and because of that, she didn’t know how to fathom losing another important person in her life. Her mother was all she had and she was all her mother had. From personal experience, I can relate to a bit of what Denver is feeling. I grew up having a stepfather because I really didn’t have any contact with my biological father; I knew who he was, I met him, I spent some time with him. At the same time, I didn’t know him the way a child would want to know their parent. Like Denver, there were people who knew my father and things about him that I didn’t know. It makes you wonder why you too couldn’t share in on the conversation about your father when it was presented right in front of you.

When Beloved made her appearance known to the character and the reader, for me it was so obvious that this Beloved was THE Beloved! It is clear in the text that the adult Beloved is the same Beloved that drove Sethe to commit infanticide. There are what I believe to be some clear examples as to how one can identify that the two Beloveds are one and the same. For example, when asked, the woman clearly stated that her name was Beloved. Also, she wore something around her neck, possibly to cover the slit that was created by Sethe when she slit her throat. She also showed baby/infant mannerisms. The way she was always tired and sleeping, the way she could barely stand up straight to walk, the way she craved something sweet, almost as if she craved breast milk. Even the whites of her eyes, which were whitish blue, screamed, ‘I AM THE SAME BELOVED THAT YOU CHOSE TO KILL’...but why? All of these “clues” stood out to me like a red flag. 

From what I’ve read so far, I’m really enthused about reading more of the text. I may not know what’s yet to come because everything is somewhat of a mystery, but I’m excited to find out.