Beloved

Toni Morrison’s 1987 novel Beloved is a novel that manages to be fresh and interesting while still revisiting common literary themes: through the lens of slavery, the relationships of a mother and her children become psychological explorations that far outweigh any detrimental factors that might arise because of their commonality. The story focuses on Sethe, a runaway slave who commits a heinous act with her and her children’s best interests in mind.

The novel is based very loosely on a true story, to begin with—as with any true story, details are changed to give it more of a narrative cohesiveness and make it a more engaging story, but the idea of Beloved is inspired by a real slave, Margaret Garner. Presumably, however, Margaret Garner never had to deal with any ghosts.

Though Beloved’s plot is strong, one of the more interesting aspects of its execution is how Morrison has given the setting so much character. Though there are plenty of flashbacks scattered throughout the novel, it takes place, predominantly, at Sethe and Denver’s home: 124 Bluestone Road in Cincinnati, Ohio. Each of the three parts of the novel open up with a personification of 124—124 was spiteful (9). 124 was loud (195). 124 was quiet (275). 

By giving the reader these “arc words,” as it were, Morrison makes sure the house is the first thing we know, and she continuously refers back to 124 in this way: on page 113, she refers to “when 124 was alive,” implying, of course, that 124 had died since. And it has. Once Sethe had blood on her hands and the house was thought to be haunted, the house’s life was over—much, indeed, like Sethe herself. The two of them are inexorably linked; Sethe’s obsession with Beloved is, in some ways, reflected in the house, even before Beloved comes into play.

 

The house is Sethe’s, and Sethe belongs to the house: though she is not utterly bound in the way Denver has made herself, 124 is her possession and, as a slave who is not used to having anything, she takes pride in that—in the early novel, Denver sees Sweet Home as belonging to Sethe and the other former slaves (“only those who lived in Sweet Home could remember it” (21), and memories play a large part of identity and realization in the rest of the novel), but 124 is supposed to be Sethe’s very own, in a way that her children were not.

 

If the Beloved/Sethe dichotomy is represented in 124, though, then Paul D is the outside: though he is a figure from Sethe’s past at Sweet Home (another key setting; the place that catalyzed the events of the novel, the place that Sethe had to run away from), he is someone who brings the past (though it may not necessarily be a good thing) while simultaneously bringing newness to Sethe’s world, he leaves, and then at the end, he comes back and pulls Sethe (presumably) out of her depression.
 

Truly, then, the setting of Beloved is not only a character in and of itself, holding the active characters and influencing them with their pasts, presents, and futures, but the world around them is linked to them and paralleled through character growth and relationships and the way we see communities. Morrison’s strength in Beloved lies in her ability to create an entire, meaningful, almost tangible world from the small details and big places, and I believe there are many cues that I, personally, could use in my own writing to give setting the same sense of importance that Morrison has here.