full title · Beloved
author · Toni Morrison
type of work · Novel
genre · Historical fiction; ghost story
language · English
time and place written · The 1980s in Albany, New York
date of first publication · 1987
publisher · Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
narrator · Beloved’s primary narrator is anonymous
and omniscient. However, in parts of the book the narration is taken
over by the characters themselves. Chapters 20 through 23,
for example, consist of three monologues and a chorus. At other
points in the book, the characters act as visiting narrators of
a sort, who relate and comment on events.
point of view · The anonymous narrator of Beloved speaks
in the third person and withholds judgment on the actions described.
When the characters serve as narrators, they generally use the first
person and openly express their personal opinions.
tone · The text’s tone changes from character to character
and reflects their varying, usually explicit attitudes toward the
events. The primary “narrator,” regards the characters and their
actions with a mixture of mournfulness, regret, and awe.
tense · Beloved fluctuates in tense between
the immediate and distant pasts. It also includes occasional, jarring
transitions to the present tense.
setting (time) · 1873, with frequent flashbacks
to the early 1850s
setting (place) · Cincinnati, Ohio; flashbacks to Sweet Home plantation
in Kentucky and prison in Alfred, Georgia
protagonist · Sethe is the primary protagonist, but Denver also drives
much of the plot’s action, especially in Part Three.
major conflict · Having survived a traumatic escape from slavery, Sethe
has killed her older daughter in a mad attempt to keep her from
being taken back to the South by her old master. A mysterious figure
now appears at Sethe’s home, calling herself by the name on the
dead daughter’s tombstone.
rising action · A ghost has haunted Sethe and Denver’s house for several
years. Paul D arrives and chases the ghost away. Beloved appears
at the house soon after and causes memories to surface in Sethe, Denver,
and Paul D.
climax · Because the novel follows two different stories, one
told through flashbacks and one that is taking place in the novel’s
present, there are two different climaxes. The climax of the flashback
plot occurs near the end of Part One in Chapter 16,
when the text finally reveals the circumstances of Sethe’s daughter’s
death: eighteen years ago, Sethe attempted to murder all her children when
she refused to hand them over to schoolteacher to endure a life
of slavery. Only her elder daughter died. The second climax occurs
at the end of the novel, during the “exorcism” of Beloved, who seems
to be the ghost of the daughter Sethe murdered. In an echo of the
first climax, Sethe mistakes Mr. Bodwin, her family’s benefactor,
for schoolteacher and tries to kill him with an ice pick.
falling action · Beloved leaves 124 forever,
Denver is preparing to go to college, and Paul D returns to Sethe,
who has been spending her days in Baby Suggs’s bed.
themes · Slavery’s destruction of identity; the importance of
community solidarity; the powers and limits of language
motifs · The supernatural; allusions to Christianity
symbols · The color red; trees; the tin tobacco box
foreshadowing · Morrison unfolds the story in a circular, elusive way,
making use of a device akin to, but more complex than, foreshadowing.
The narrative makes indirect or incomplete allusions to events that are
picked up and developed further at later points in the novel. For
example, the death of Sethe’s daughter is mentioned repeatedly from
the beginning of the novel, but only in Chapter 18 does
the complete story unfold.
