Summary: Chapter 7
He would keep the rest [of what he had
to tell Sethe] where it belonged: in that tobacco tin buried in
his chest where a red heart used to be.
(See Important Quotations Explained)
Beloved’s presence—especially what is described as her
“shining” sexuality—disturbs Paul D. He anxiously interrogates her
about her past until Sethe, sensing Beloved’s agitation, interrupts
him. Afterward, Sethe chastises Paul D for pressing Beloved so cruelly,
and during their argument Halle’s name comes up. Paul D then tells Sethe
the reason Halle didn’t meet her during the escape as planned. Halle
was in the loft of the barn when Sethe was violated by schoolteacher’s
nephews. Afterward, he found himself unable to leave. When Sethe
realizes that Halle saw everything that schoolteacher and his nephews
did to her, she is initially furious that he did not intervene.
But Paul D explains that Halle was shattered by the experience:
afterward, Paul D saw him sitting blankly by a butter churn; he
had smeared butter all over his face. At the time, Paul D was ignorant
of the events in the barn and thus wondered what had caused this
breakdown in Halle. However, Paul D could not physically form the
words to ask him because he had an iron bit in his mouth. Outside,
Sethe and Paul D discuss the shame of wearing the bit. Paul D says
that the worst part of the punishment was seeing the farm’s rooster,
named Mister, watch him and walk around more freely than himself.
It is thoughts like these that Paul D keeps locked within the rusted
“tobacco tin” of his heart.
Summary: Chapter 8
While Sethe and Paul D sit on the porch, Beloved and Denver
dance together inside the house. Denver asks Beloved how she got
her name, and Beloved replies that it is her name “in the dark.”
Denver asks what it is like in the dark place from which Beloved
came. Beloved says that when she was there she was small and curled
up. It was hot and crowded with lots of other people, and some of
them were dead. She describes a bridge and water. When Denver asks
her why she came back, Beloved mentions Sethe, saying she wanted
to see “her face.” Denver feels slighted that she was not the main
reason for Beloved’s return.
Denver asks Beloved not to tell Sethe who she really is.
Beloved becomes angry and tells Denver never to tell her what to
do. She reminds Denver that she doesn’t need her—Sethe is the one
she needs. The two girls sit in uncomfortable silence until Beloved
asks Denver to narrate the story of Denver’s birth. As Denver watches
the way Beloved eagerly drinks in every detail, she is able to envision
the story she narrates.
Denver tells Beloved about how Amy Denver found Sethe
and discerned the image of a chokecherry tree in Sethe’s bleeding
scars. After Amy cleaned the wounds, the two women spent the night
in a lean-to shelter. The next morning, Amy helped Sethe limp down
to the river, where they found a leaky boat with one oar. It was
upon stepping into the boat that Sethe’s water broke. It seemed
as though the newborn Denver might die, but Amy finally coaxed a
whimper out of her. Later that evening, Amy left Sethe waiting by
the riverbank for a chance to cross the river to Ohio.
Analysis: Chapters 7–8
Beloved incites the narration of history time and again.
Often, she directly questions Denver and Sethe about the past, but
Beloved also has an indirect influence, which the scene between
Sethe and Paul D illustrates. It is the couple’s argument over Beloved
that sparks Paul D’s revelation of Halle’s fate to Sethe.
Once Beloved has kindled the storytelling process, Sethe
and Paul D devote their own energies to it, despite the pain that
is involved. For as Amy says to Sethe in Chapter 3 about
Sethe’s throbbing feet, “Anything dead coming back to life
hurts.” On a certain level, both Sethe and Paul D realize that it
is worth the pain to bring their memories back to life, back into
the open. In releasing these memories, they themselves can come
back to life and live again without fear. Aware of the pain it will
cause, Sethe and Paul D nevertheless proceed to fill in the gaps
in each other’s knowledge of the past. For both characters, forming
a coherent identity involves weaving together the fragments of their
past into a coherent narrative.
