124 Bluestone Road; the ghost of Sweet Home.

In his Pulitzer Prize winning novel Beloved, Tony Morrison explores post-Civil War United States’ emancipation of African American slaves through Sethe, the main character whose experiences at Sweet Home traumatizes and haunts her - her nightmare memories inspire Sethe to even murder her own daughter. Through the interaction between characters such as Sethe, Paul D, Beloved, and Denver, readers are made aware the disparity and similarity between the two main settings at play in Beloved; 124 and Sweet Home. 

Although 124 (124 Bluestone Road, Cincinnati) is home for Sethe and Denver, the house is haunted with the tantalizing memories of the slavery. The house is described “spiteful. Full of a baby’s venom,” as Sethe firmly believes that the it is haunted by the ghost of her daughter who was killed by Sethe herself in an attempt to free the child from the burden of slavery (Morrison 9). The mental aftermath of slavery still chains Sethe until Paul D, an African American man who was enslaved at Sweet Home alongside Sethe, arrives and free Sethe from the shaking floorboards and illusions. Well, at least until the ghost of the past returns to 124 in the human form as Beloved. 

After Beloved’s arrival house becomes “loud,” then “quiet” (Morrison 195, 275). As soon as she arrives, Beloved stirs up trouble for the family. Through conniving deceptions, Beloved succeeds in making everyone’s life hell. She grows louder and more demanding, like a parasite. Sethe has no choice but to answer to all of Beloved’s demands because she believes that Beloved is the daughter she had murdered, and her guilt eats her alive. However, after Beloved is driven out of the house by the village people, Sethe and Denver returns to normal; peaceful and quiet. That Beloved’s presence can create such a difference at 124 reminds us the fact that the characters are not only affected by the environment, but the environment is also affected by the characters.

Sweet Home plantation in Kentucky is where Sethe’s journey becomes true. Unlike plantations that appear in most novels set around the similar time period, Beloved’s Sweet Home is at one point rather benevolent. Although the slaves were never permitted to leave the facility, they were treated with dignity by the Garners. However, once the ownership of Sweet Home changes, the structure and dynamic within the plantation shifts drastically. Enraged by the new owner, Sethe escapes Sweet Home. However, as I mentioned before, Sethe attempts to murder all her children and succeeds in murdering one of them. The transition of Sweet Home from, well, sweet home, to not-so-sweet-home also concurs with the argument that characters do in fact have influence over their environment. 

Why does Morrison portray Beloved’s two main setting as he does? He does so in order to highlight the nightmarish reality of slavery and the mental distraught it brought to the slaves. Though different in appearance, 124 is in a way still Sweet Home; the Garners own her at Sweet Home, but the traumatic experience of killing her own daughter enslaves Sethe at 124.