Beloved Part 1, Chapter 1 - 5
The book begins with the description of a house marked with the number 124, located on the edge of Cincinnati. The year is 1873, and Sethe, a former slave has been living in the house for 18 years. Initially, she had lived there with her mother-in-law, Baby Suggs, and her children, Howard, Buglar, and Denver. Her boys, Howard and Buglar, left home eight years ago due to the disturbing presence of a ghost at 124. Baby Suggs had become lost in herself after the boys left, and though Sethe had recommended that they leave the house, Baby Suggs hadn’t agreed. She had countered that there was hardly a house in the country that wasn’t filled with the grief of a black ex-slave. Baby Suggs had died afterward, leaving Sethe alone with her daughter Denver. The two of them had tried to speak to the ghost, but they hadn’t been successful. Denver believed that Baby Suggs’s ghost was keeping the other ghost away from them, but Sethe believed that the ghost was just too young to understand what they were trying to communicate. She remembers burying her baby with a tombstone that only had the word 'Beloved' etched on it. That one word had been enough as a reply to all the neighbors that hated her after her baby’s death.
One day, Sethe returns home to find Paul D, one of the former slaves from Sweet home, sitting outside her porch. He sees that Sethe isn’t wearing her shoes, and so follows her example. Sethe asks after her husband, Halle, but Paul D has not seen him for a long time. Sethe invites him into the house, and Paul D immediately notes a malicious presence in the house. Sethe placates him and tells him that the presence is just sad, not malicious. Paul D recalls when Sethe was brought to Sweet Home, a plantation, as a slave girl of thirteen years. There had been half a dozen male slaves on the plantation at the time, and all of them had been eager to have her. The plantation owner, Mr. Garner, had prided himself on his slaves' behavior, and had fondly referred to them as ‘Sweet Home Men’. Sethe had been allowed to choose from among the slaves, and she had chosen Halle as her husband because he had rented himself on the weekends to buy his mother's freedom.
Sethe’s children had been sneaked away from the plantation and been followed by Sethe herself. All of this had happened after Mr. Garner had died and been replaced by the much crueler Schoolteacher.
Sethe works at a restaurant now and sews in her free time to make a living for herself and her daughter. Paul D meets Denver, but the young girl is jealous of all the attention that Sethe is giving to her new guest. She tells Paul D that they are being haunted by a ghost, and asks them why they keep talking about Sweet home so fondly if it was such a terrible place. Sethe reprimands Denver, and the girl has an outburst about how no one in town talks to them because of where they live. Paul D is sympathetic and he suggests that they move away from the house but Sethe refuses to entertain that notion. Denver is sent away to the other room, and Sethe tells Paul D about the tree that she had on her back. She explains how the Schoolteacher’s nephews had taken her breastmilk and then whipped her when she had reported them to the widowed wife of Mr. Garner. Sethe had escaped after that, and she had been found in a terrible state by a white runaway, who had cared for the heavily pregnant Sethe. It was she who had told her about the tree-shaped scar on her back. Sethe moves to make some food for Paul D, and he grabs her from behind. He kisses her naked back with the scars, but they are interrupted by the shaking of the house. Paul D retaliates by grabbing a dinner table and swinging it around the house as he tells the ghost to leave Sethe alone. The house quietens as Paul D takes Sethe upstairs, and Denver sadly recalls her siblings as she sits alone on the porch.
Paul D and Sethe have a brief sexual encounter and begin to recall their past. Paul D is no longer attracted to Sethe’s scar, but it reminds him of the time another slave from Sweet Home called Sixo, had set up a distant rendezvous with a girl under a tree. He had told the girl to meet him at a secluded spot but she had been unable to find it. Sixo had been forced to return to Sweet Home after finding her to make it back in time for work. Sethe thinks about her time working in the kitchen of Sweet Home, and she thinks about how slavery had forced families to be separated. She thinks of how Baby Suggs had given birth to eight children from six different men before Halle had purchased her freedom. This was the reason why Sethe had chosen him, but she had been hurt when Mrs. Garner had laughed at her when she had asked her about a wedding with Halle. Paul D recalls how ardently he had fantasized about Sethe back at the farm, but the act itself had left him quite disappointed.
Both of them think about the first time Sethe and Halle had made love. They had been together in a field of corn, and Paul D had seen the crops shaking. Sethe remembers how silky the cobs had felt in her fingers, and how free they had been. They had left a small clearing with broken crops, and Paul D had eaten one of the plants after they had left. It had tasted quite sweet.
Denver has a private space behind the house, which is covered on all sides with boxwood bushes. She has enjoyed going there since her childhood, but she recalls a time she had seen Sethe praying in her room from her Boxwood room. Denver was shocked to see a white dress behind her mother, holding her waist. She is reminded of her birth, a story that she has heard from her mother. Sethe escaped Sweet home to be with her children, but her pregnancy was too great a burden along with her injured back. She had collapsed in the forest and been found by a white indentured servant called Amy. The white woman had massaged her feet, and given her refuge in an abandoned house. Denver entered her mother’s room thinking about Amy and asked her what she had been praying about. Sethe told her that she had been thinking about time, and explains a concept called ‘rememory’. She explained how people could walk into each other’s recollections. Denver asks if that means that nothing ever dies, and Sethe replies that nothing ever does. Denver also asked about Sweet Home, and Sethe told her about Schoolteacher, the man who had taken over for Mr. Garner after his death. He would ask the slaves questions, and then write their responses in a notebook as he was planning to write a book about them.
Denver tells Sethe that she believes the ghost has plans that it had indicated through the dress.
Paul D moves into the house and alters the arrangement of the house by chasing away the baby’s ghost. Denver had grown fond of living in the haunted house, so she now resents Paul D. Sethe likes his presence, and she begins to wonder whether she can put her past behind and have a life with Paul D. She notices for the first time how deprived the house is of color, and she begins to understand why Baby Suggs had been so consumed with a desire to see colors in her final days. She remembers the pink of her baby’s tombstone most vividly.
Paul D begins to make some repairs around the house, and he sings while working. None of the songs feel like they fit in the house, and he thinks about how he has never stayed with a woman for longer than two months. Yet, Sethe has begun to make him feel things that he had once closed himself off to due to the many hardships he had been forced to bear. Paul D tells Sethe that he’ll look for work around 124, and she offers to have him stay at the house. He is a little reluctant since he feels that Denver isn’t keen on having him stay, but Sethe reassures him that Denver would be all right. Sethe worries about Denver might be affected by Sethe’s past.
Denver makes Paul D feel unwelcome, but Sethe assures him that he can stay. Paul D attempts to criticize Denver, but Sethe doesn’t want to hear any criticism against her daughter. This worries Paul D as he thinks that it is dangerous for slaves to love people as much as Sethe loves her daughter. Paul D agrees to continue living at 124, but he tells Sethe that both she and Denver need to make room for him in their life. He proposes that they all go to the carnival, which is open to the other races on a particular day.
Sethe is very excited about the outing, but Denver isn’t looking forward to it. On their way to the carnival, Sethe sees their shadows holding hands, and she treats this as a good omen. Denver has a pleasant time with her mother and Paul D at the carnival.
An unknown woman climbs out of the river near 124 and seats herself on a stump outside the house. She is described as having new skin and is wearing a nice dress. She is seen by the occupants of the house as they return from the carnival. Sethe is immediately overcome with a need to urinate when she sees the woman, and she rushes to the outhouse. She passes a great amount of water before she can get there, much like a pregnant woman before labor. Inside the house, the woman introduces herself as Beloved and soon passes out. Paul D thinks that she might be an ex-slave out in search of her family, just like several other people he had seen looking for the same. Denver becomes her primary caregiver and she enjoys changing Beloved’s sheets on her own as the woman sleeps for four straight days. Beloved begins to eat but she only ever eats sweet things and recalls nothing about her past. Sethe believes that Beloved’s sickness had caused her to forget about her life, but Paul D begins to become suspicious. He tells Sethe that Beloved is not as weak as she seems to think, as he and Denver had seen her lift a rocking chair with one hand. Denver lies and claims that she had seen no such thing.
Analysis
Slavery is a prominent theme of the novel that begins to be developed in the very first section of the book. Characters like Sethe and Paul D are constantly reminded of their lives as slaves and the terrible atrocities that they had been forced to bear. However, the damage of slavery is not just limited to characters like Sethe, and Paul D but also to characters like Denver who never witnessed slavery. She grows up hearing terrible accounts of her mother’s life at Sweet Home and fails to understand how she can talk about it almost fondly with Paul D. This discomfort that she experiences is also caused by the disruption of Paul D’s presence, which Denver identifies as an intrusion in her life with her mother and the ghost.
Paul D is certainly a disruption since he manages to chase away the ghost when it tries to prevent his union with Sethe. This change confuses Sethe, who has grown used to the ghost, and though she is happy at first she soon experiences resentment towards him for separating her from the ghost. Sethe puts aside those feelings as she tries to include him in her life, and create a more fulfilling life for both Denver and herself. Paul D feels strongly for Sethe, perhaps because he has felt something for her well before the cruel world of slavery hardened his heart. He expresses surprise at the emotions he feels for her, and later believes it is dangerous for Sethe to be so emotional about Denver. Paul D’s decision to associate with people using limited emotions further testifies to the lasting damage of slavery.
