Beloved Chapter 9 PDF

Preview

Summary

Chapter 9 Summary of Beloved...

Description

Chapter 9: Thursday, October 25, 2018

7:33 PM

• Baby Suggs: "She did not tell them to clean up their lives or to go and sin no more. She did not tell them they were the blessed of the earth, its inheriting meek or its glorybound pure. She told them that the only grace they could have was the grace they could imagine. That if they could not see it, they would not have it." • Sethe was found at the end of the river she had crossed and a man named Stamp found her and helped her ○ He ties a white rope to the post if there's a baby crossing too ○ Elle found Sethe and helped Sethe get to Baby Sugg's • Sethe met up with her sons and they asked Sethe where their dad was ○ Sethe didn’t cry to save the sorrows of her son and lied and said soon ○ Suggs knew he was dead • "All taught her how it felt to wake up at dawn and decide what to do with the day. That’s how she got through the waiting for Halle. Bit by bit, at 124 and in the Clearing, along with the others, she had claimed herself. Freeing yourself was one thing; claiming ownership of that freed self was another… there will never be a day, she thought, when Halle will knock on the door. Not knowing it was hard; knowing it was harder." • She yearned for Halle to touch her neck again ○ She was remembering Grandma Baby's weakness while massaging her neck but Denver woke up mother after being strangled ○ Denver pointed out that she had bruises everywhere on her neck • Beloved gave Sethe a massage ○ Denver kissed her mother's chin

• •

•

•

○ They seemed to be jealous and in competition within each other ○ She told them to both stop because she realized something: § "—Sethe remembered the touch of those fingers that she knew better than her own. They had bathed her in sections, wrapped her womb, combed her hair, oiled her nipples, stitched her clothes, cleaned her feet, greased her back and dropped just about anything they were doing to massage Sethe’s nape when, especially in the early days…And the thumbs that pressed her nape were the same. " § "the suspicion that the girl’s touch was also exactly like the baby’s ghost dissipated." "it occurred to her that the two were alike as sisters. Their obedience and absolute reliability shot through with surprise." Beloved can't live longer than an hour with Sethe not being home ○ Jealous of Paul D who now got all the attneiton § "Him who beloved said something to her that made her run out into the woods and talk to herself on a rock. Him who kept her hidden at night behind doors. And him who had hold of her now whispering behind the stairs after Beloved had rescued her neck and was ready now to put her hand in that woman’s own." Denver accused Beloved of choking Sethe ○ "“I saw your face. You made her choke.” “I didn’t do it.” “You told me you loved her.” “I fixed it, didn’t I? Didn’t I fix her neck?” “After. After you choked her neck.” “I kissed her neck. I didn’t choke it. The circle of iron choked it.” “I saw you.” Denver grabbed Beloved’s arm. “Look out, girl,” said Beloved and, snatching her arm away, ran ahead as fast as she could along the stream that sang on the other side of the woods." Denver remembers being going to school learning to spell and count ○ Whites didn't want blacks to learn

○ Lady Jones: teacher ○ She didn't go back to "school" because of a question Nelson Lord (a smart boy) asked about her mother § Everything added up to Denver now: □ "…Baby Suggs died, she did not wonder why Howard and Buglar ran away. She did not agree with Sethe that they left because of the ghost. If so, what took them so long? They had lived with it as long as she had. But if Nelson Lord was right—no wonder they were sulky, staying away from home as much as they could." • There was a noise (when Baby Suggs was alive and they all heard) ○ Denver claimed that it was the already crawling baby trying to climb the stairs ○ Baby ghost ○ "Shortly afterward Sethe and Denver tried to call up and reason with the baby ghost, but got nowhere. It took a man, Paul D, to shout it off, beat it off and take its place for himself. And carnival or no carnival, Denver preferred the venomous baby to him any day. During the first days after Paul D moved in, Denver stayed in her emerald closet as long as she could, lonely as a mountain and almost as big, thinking everybody had somebody but her; thinking even a ghost’s company was denied her." • She wondered if Beloved did actually try to mruder her mother ○ She remembered Nelson Lord's question: "“Didn’t your mother get locked away for murder? Wasn’t you in there with her when she went?”" (pg. 104) ○ She sought out Beloved...