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Amy Denver is perhaps the only white character who is truly a friend to Sethe, to the extent that Sethe names her daughter Denver in her honor. Sethe meets Amy in the woods when she is fleeing from Sweet Home, trying to get to Ohio. Amy finds Sethe collapsed, unable to walk further, and suffering from severe wounds on her feet and back. She immediately begins to address Sethe as a peer, helping her crawl to a nearby lean-to where Sethe can recover from her injuries.
Self-assured, practical, and good-natured, Amy is an almost angelic force in Sethe’s life – the two women are together for only a few days, and never meet again, but Amy’s presence is crucial to Sethe’s survival. She appears in the woods when Sethe needs her most, saving her from dying alone during the night. Sethe describes her voice as having a magically comforting quality, to the degree that it even seems to comfort Sethe’s baby in the womb. Additionally, Amy’s knowledge of herbal medicine allows her to heal Sethe’s infected whipping wounds, and Amy stays up with her through the night to ensure her survival.
Amy was born to a woman who was an indentured servant, and she became an indentured servant herself after her mother died. As such, Amy was the closest in status that a white person could get to a Black enslaved person, meaning there was little emotional or hierarchical barrier between her and Sethe. Amy does not look at Sethe from a place of superiority. She massages Sethe’s feet, exhibiting that she doesn’t feel degraded by providing an act of service to a Black woman, despite the fact that many white people of that time period would have felt differently. Additionally, Amy helps to deliver Sethe’s baby, Denver, and travels with Sethe over the Ohio River. Amy is also escaping her past, determined to find her way to Boston. Thus, while they eventually part ways, the two women are forever connected in their shared search for a better life.
