Suggestions
Use up and down arrows to review and enter to select.Please wait while we process your payment
If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. Sometimes it can end up there.
If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. Sometimes it can end up there.
Please wait while we process your payment
By signing up you agree to our terms and privacy policy.
Don’t have an account? Subscribe now
Create Your Account
Sign up for your FREE 7-day trial
Already have an account? Log in
Your Email
Choose Your Plan
Save over 50% with a SparkNotes PLUS Annual Plan!
Purchasing SparkNotes PLUS for a group?
Get Annual Plans at a discount when you buy 2 or more!
Price
$24.99 $18.74 /subscription + tax
Subtotal $37.48 + tax
Save 25% on 2-49 accounts
Save 30% on 50-99 accounts
Want 100 or more? Contact us for a customized plan.
Your Plan
Payment Details
Payment Summary
SparkNotes Plus
You'll be billed after your free trial ends.
7-Day Free Trial
Not Applicable
Renews June 3, 2023 May 27, 2023
Discounts (applied to next billing)
DUE NOW
US $0.00
SNPLUSROCKS20 | 20% Discount
This is not a valid promo code.
Discount Code (one code per order)
SparkNotes Plus subscription is $4.99/month or $24.99/year as selected above. The free trial period is the first 7 days of your subscription. TO CANCEL YOUR SUBSCRIPTION AND AVOID BEING CHARGED, YOU MUST CANCEL BEFORE THE END OF THE FREE TRIAL PERIOD. You may cancel your subscription on your Subscription and Billing page or contact Customer Support at custserv@bn.com. Your subscription will continue automatically once the free trial period is over. Free trial is available to new customers only.
Choose Your Plan
For the next 7 days, you'll have access to awesome PLUS stuff like AP English test prep, No Fear Shakespeare translations and audio, a note-taking tool, personalized dashboard, & much more!
You’ve successfully purchased a group discount. Your group members can use the joining link below to redeem their group membership. You'll also receive an email with the link.
Members will be prompted to log in or create an account to redeem their group membership.
Thanks for creating a SparkNotes account! Continue to start your free trial.
Please wait while we process your payment
Your PLUS subscription has expired
Please wait while we process your payment
Please wait while we process your payment
Sethe and her daughter, Denver, live in a house haunted by the ghost of Sethe’s firstborn daughter. Sethe’s mother-in-law, Baby Suggs, lived with them until her death. Paul D, who was Sethe’s fellow slave at Sweet Home, arrives at the house. When Paul D kisses Sethe’s scars, the house shakes as the ghost lashes out. Paul D chases it away and angers Denver.
Read a full Summary & Analysis of Part One: Chapter 1
After escaping Sweet Home, Sethe gave birth to Denver with the help of a white girl. Denver thinks she sees a baby ghost kneeling next to a praying Sethe. Sethe tells Paul D that after her escape, schoolteacher came to take her and her children back to Sweet Home, which ended with Sethe in jail with Denver. Paul D decides to stay with Sethe.
Read a full Summary & Analysis of Part One: Chapters 2 & 3
Paul D takes Denver and Sethe to a carnival. As they return home, they find a woman who calls herself Beloved, and she sleeps for days straight. Beloved attaches to Sethe, and one day while watching Sethe arrange Denver’s hair, Beloved asks about Sethe’s mother, and Sethe explains how her mother was hanged.
Read a full Summary & Analysis of Part One: Chapters 4–6
Sethe and Paul D talk about why Halle, the father of Sethe’s children, didn’t meet Sethe during the escape as planned. Paul D explains that Halle was shattered after seeing the way schoolteacher and his nephews abused Sethe. Beloved and Denver dance together, and Denver asks Beloved never to mention to Sethe who she really is.
Read a full Summary & Analysis of Part One: Chapters 7 & 8
Sethe takes Beloved and Denver to the Clearing, a communal space for healing in the Black community. Sethe calls for the soothing touch of the deceased Baby Suggs, until suddenly she realizes that she is being strangled. When Beloved caresses the bruises on Sethe’s neck, Sethe pushes Beloved away. The narrative switches to the story of Paul D’s prior imprisonment when he developed a trembling that only subsided while working in the chain gang. In the present, Beloved comes to Paul D and has sex with him after he at first resists.
Read a full Summary & Analysis of Part One: Chapters 9–11
Denver’s attachment to Beloved intensifies. Paul D begins to liken Beloved’s manipulation of him to schoolteacher’s abuse and decides to tell Sethe, but he surprises himself and Sethe by asking her to have a baby with him. Beloved begs Denver to drive Paul D away.
Read a full Summary & Analysis of Part One: Chapters 12–14
At Sweet Home, Baby Suggs allowed Halle to buy her freedom. When she arrived in Ohio, she was unable to learn anything about the whereabouts of her lost children. One day schoolteacher and other men arrived at the house to find Sethe holding her bleeding daughter, whose throat she had cut to save her from being enslaved. Stamp Paid grabbed Denver before Sethe could harm her.
Read a full Summary & Analysis of Part One: Chapters 15–18
After telling Paul D about Sethe’s crime, Stamp Paid feels guilty when he hears that Paul D has left the house. Sethe takes Beloved and Denver ice-skating, where she hears Beloved humming a song Sethe made up to sing to her children, allowing Sethe to finally recognize Beloved as her resurrected daughter.
Read a full Summary & Analysis of Part Two: Chapter 19
Sethe speaks in a stream-of-consciousness monologue wherein she expresses her desire to help Beloved understand why she killed her. Denver’s monologue follows, in which she says she must protect Beloved from Sethe. In Beloved’s fragmented monologue, she speaks of a time when she was crouched among dead bodies, and she describes thirst, hunger, death, and sickness. Finally, the three women’s voices come together, each expressing their hopes, fears, and love for one another.
Read a full Summary & Analysis of Part Two: Chapters 20–23
Paul D reflects on his past and blames his despair on his previous belief that he could build a life with Sethe. He wonders whether his life since his aborted escape from slavery was worth it. Stamp Paid visits Paul D and tells him that he was present when Sethe tried to kill her children, defending Sethe’s actions as necessary under the condition of slavery in which they lived.
Read a full Summary & Analysis of Part Two: Chapters 24 & 25
As Beloved’s hold on Sethe grows, Denver decides to find help and secures a job with the Bodwins. Ella rallies a group of Black women to exorcise Beloved from the house. They see Sethe standing next to a beautiful pregnant woman when they arrive, and after Sethe rushes toward Bodwin with an icepick, the women prevent Sethe from killing him.
Read a full Summary & Analysis of Part Three: Chapter 26
Beloved disappears in the chaos that follows Sethe’s attempted attack. Denver continues to work for Miss Bodwin, who gives her academic training in the hopes of sending Denver to college. Paul D finds Sethe and tries to encourage her to keep hope. The family and community tries to forget Beloved as if she were a bad dream.
Read a full Summary & Analysis of Part Three: Chapters 27–28
Please wait while we process your payment