Beloved - The Setting

 “Beloved” is a novel written by Toni Morrison set after the Civil War. It is about an ex-slave, who runs away from her owner, slitting her first daughter’s throat and is haunted by the spirit of the daughter in the novel. This book explores the relationship between and mother and daughter in an interesting way but I shall focus on the setting of the book in this essay.

The time period Beloved is set in shapes this book. It is set in 1873, with Sethe living together only with her daughter and only child by that time, Denver. 1873 is a significant time in American history because a few decades previous, the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was passed by Congress. At this point in time, there was a division in slavery. In some states, such as the one Sethe was residing in at 124, slavery was outlawed. Though in others, where “Sweet Home” was located, it still was acceptable to own slaves. So what this act did was that it gave slave owners the power to cross over into Free states and forcibly reclaim their property, the slaves, which ran away from them. Seethe had escaped her owner and was crossing over into Ohio. But her owner had come to reclaim her and her children. Not wanting her children to go through what she did, Sethe slit the throat of her daughter but escaped with her two sons. It is the spirit of this daughter that first haunts the house, and returns as the girl, Beloved, in the book.

124 was the house the Sethe lived in. In the beginning of the book, the very first lines were, “124 was spiteful. Full of a baby’s venom. The women in the house knew it and so did the children.” (9). From the very beginning, the setting, the house, is given a personality that interacts with the characters very much like a baby seeking attention. In the kitchen scene, the house begins to shake violently, as if it did not want Sethe, enjoying life. In the book, it is said that the ghost is a baby, when Paul D enters the house and asks if Baby Suggs had indeed passed peacefully. But the ghost is actually the baby, Beloved, that Sethe killed.

Because of the spirit that haunted the house, “a driver whipped his horse into the gallop local people felt necessary when they passed 124.” (11). This gave the feeling of isolation. There was no interaction between the residents of 124 and the outside world. It seemed as if they were all alone and left to deal with the demons in their hearts. Even Paul D. seemed very reluctant to enter the house (“Paul D…followed her through the door straight into a pool of red and undulating light that locked him where he stood.” (15)).

The setting in this part of Seethe’s life is quite a contrast to when she was at Sweet Home, where she was on a farm surrounded by corn stalks and five other men. Back at Sweet Home, Sethe felt love from her owners, and was respected by the men, even though the craved for her, but satisfied their desires with the calves. It is indeed such a huge contrast to 124, that one can feel from the setting alone the mood the characters feel.

The setting, in this book, is quite related to the characters, their moods, thoughts and actions. The setting does not decide for them, but heavily influences what a character would do. For example, as stated earlier, what kind of mother, a loving mother, would murder her own child? Sethe’s decision was heavily influenced by her own experiences and the setting in that the slave owner can come and reclaim her and her children. So Sethe decided death would be a much better way to live. When I am writing a story, I need to take into consideration the setting, and how it will influence my characters because even though they are the ones making the decisions, their personalities alone will not decide them. They will however, choose, based on how the setting interacts with them.