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Questions and Answers
Where was Sethe born?
What was the name of Sethe's husband?
What was the name of the cruel man who helped Mrs. Garner run the farm?
What did Sethe do to her children to spare them from slavery?
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Who helped Sethe deliver her baby in a boat?
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What was the name of the house where Sethe and her family lived?
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What was Paul D's experience after trying to kill Brandywine?
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Why did Halle go mad?
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What was the name of Sethe's older daughter who died?
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What allowed Paul D and the other chain gang members to escape?
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Where does the story begin in 1873?
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Who lived with Sethe and Denver until her death eight years earlier?
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Why did Sethe's two sons, Howard and Buglar, run away?
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Who is the ghost that haunts the house at 124 Bluestone Road?
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Who stops by Sethe's house on the day the novel begins?
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Where did Sethe and Paul D work together approximately twenty years earlier?
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What is the effect of Paul D's presence on Sethe's memories?
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How does the story unfold?
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What is the purpose of the fragmented flashbacks in the novel?
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What is the result of reading the flashbacks multiple times?
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Who chases the resident ghost away from 124?
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What is the catalyst for Paul D's departure from 124?
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What is the community's ultimate goal in regards to Beloved?
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Who helps Denver leave 124 for the first time in twelve years?
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What does Mr. Bodwin mistake Sethe for when he arrives at 124?
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What is the state of Beloved at the end of the novel?
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Who finally returns to Sethe after Beloved's departure?
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What is Sethe's lament about Beloved?
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What is the final message of the novel?
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How does the town and the residents of 124 ultimately remember Beloved?
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Study Notes
Sethe's Background
- Sethe was born in the South to an African mother she never knew
- At 13, she was sold to the Garners, who owned Sweet Home, a plantation that practiced a relatively benevolent kind of slavery
- The other slaves, all men, lusted after her but never touched her
- They were Sixo, Paul D, Paul A, Paul F, and Halle
Sethe's Life at Sweet Home
- Sethe married Halle, who had bought his mother's freedom by hiring himself out on weekends
- Together, they had two sons, Howard and Buglar, and a baby daughter whose name is never mentioned
- Sethe was pregnant with a fourth child when she left Sweet Home
- After Mr. Garner's death, his widow, Mrs. Garner, asked her brother-in-law, known as schoolteacher, to help her run the farm
- Schoolteacher's oppressive presence made life on the plantation unbearable
Escape and Slavery
- Sethe and the other slaves decided to run, but schoolteacher and his nephews captured Paul D and Sixo
- Schoolteacher killed Sixo and brought Paul D back to Sweet Home
- Sethe sent her children ahead to her mother-in-law Baby Suggs's house in Cincinnati
- Schoolteacher's nephews seized Sethe in the barn, violating her and stealing her milk meant for her infant daughter
- Halle, watching from a loft, went mad afterwards
Sethe's Journey to Freedom
- Sethe reported schoolteacher's misdeeds to Mrs. Garner and was severely whipped, despite being pregnant
- Swollen and scarred, Sethe ran away, but collapsed from exhaustion in a forest
- A white girl, Amy Denver, found her and nursed her back to health
- Amy helped Sethe deliver her baby, Denver, in a boat
- Sethe received help from Stamp Paid, who rowed her across the Ohio River to Baby Suggs's house
- Baby Suggs cleaned Sethe up before allowing her to see her three older children
The Infanticide
- Rather than surrender her children to a life of slavery, Sethe tried to kill them in the woodshed
- Only the third child, her older daughter, died, with her throat cut with a handsaw
- Sethe later arranged for the baby's headstone to be carved with the word "Beloved"
Post-Slavery Life
- Sethe was taken to jail, but a group of white abolitionists, led by the Bodwins, fought for her release
- Sethe returned to 124, where Baby Suggs had sunk into a deep depression
- The community shunned the house, and the family lived in isolation
Paul D's Journey
- Paul D endured torturous experiences in a chain gang in Georgia
- He was sent to Georgia after trying to kill Brandywine, a slave owner to whom he was sold by schoolteacher
- Paul D's traumatic experiences caused him to lock away his memories, emotions, and ability to love in the "tin tobacco box" of his heart
- He escaped during a rainstorm and traveled north, following the blossoming spring flowers
The Novel's Beginning
- The novel begins in 1873 in Cincinnati, Ohio, where Sethe has been living with her 18-year-old daughter Denver
- Sethe's mother-in-law, Baby Suggs, lived with them until her death eight years earlier
- Sethe believes her two sons, Howard and Buglar, ran away due to the malevolent presence of an abusive ghost that haunts their house at 124 Bluestone Road
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Description
Test your understanding of the first chapter of Toni Morrison's novel Beloved, which tells the story of Sethe, a former slave, and her family in Cincinnati, Ohio. Learn about the characters, their relationships, and the mysterious events that unfold. Explore the themes of slavery, freedom, and haunting in this powerful novel.
