APLit(M): Beloved quotes
"There's a cross up there... seens to me like you ought to show it some respect." (273)
Horseback Man Paul D The irony is the "high on the horse" guy is inquiring about a prostitute and condemns Paul D for drinking next to a church
" He would keep the rest where it belonged: in that tobacco tin... He would not pry it loose... for if she got a whiff of the contents it would shame him" pg. 86
Narrator Reader Paul D is bringing back memories from the past to Sethe, but the tin can is referring to his heart or his vulnerable side. He does not go further in his more traumatic stories
"She knew Paul D was adding something to her life- something she wanted to count on but was scared to. Now he had added more: new pictures and old rememories that broke her heart." pg. 112
Narrator Reader She wants to care for someone again. In doing so, she will bring back old memories of when she cared for Beloved and killed her for she knew Beloved's life would be worse if she didn't.
"A turtle inched along the edge... risking everything outside the bowl just to touch his face." pg. 124
Narrator Reader This is Beloved's first observation of sex. This can be inferred as what leads to Beloved's and Paul D's scenes.
"Your love is too thick." (193)
Paul D Sethe Paul D cant understand and thinks Sethe's derranged
" I told you to put her human characteristics on the left; her animal ones on the right." (228)
Schoolteacher Nephew Sethe has confusion as knowing someon could genuinely see her as an animal clogs her mind.
"We'll take turns. Two skates on one; one skate on one; and shoe slide for the other." (205)
Sethe to Beloved and Denver. Sethe has found her old ice skates and the girls all want to play on the ice. There are only three skates so Sethe determines how to divide them.
"Nobody knows that song but me and my children." (207)
Sethe to Beloved. Sethe hummed a tune to a song she made when she used to sing to her children. Beloved recognizes it and the final puzzle piece slides into place. Sethe finally realizes what Beloved is.
"Improving your property, sir" (224)
Sixo Schoolteacher After the bird shooting, this made everything the slaves touched at sweet home seem like stealing; guns were taken
"Don't up and die on me in the night, you hear? I don't want to see your ugly black face hankering over me. If you do die, just go on off somewhere where I can't see you, hear?" (97)
Speaker: Amy Denver b. Recipient: Sethe c. Amy had found Sethe running from Sweet Home. She decides to help her, and as they go to sleep, Amy tells her this. Amy does not want to see Sethe dead, which is a rare sight during the time period.
Pg. 39 "You 'bout the scariest-looking something I ever seen."
Speaker: Amy. Recipient: Sethe. When Amy first sees Sethe after she escapes from Sweet Home, she has been running for so long she looks close to death.
Pg. 40-41 "...velvet is like the world was just born. Clean and new and so smooth."
Speaker: Amy. Recipient: Sethe. When they first meet, Amy explains to Sethe what velvet is like, as Sethe has never seen or felt it herself.
"Why you all call me Jenny?"
Speaker: Baby Suggs Recepient: Mr Garner Purpose: Baby Suggs never knew her name but Jenny was on her papers but since Suggs was her husband's last name and he called her Baby, that's what she wanted to be called.
"Don't box with me. There's more of us they drowned than there is all of them ever lived from the start of time. Lay down your sword. This ain't a battle; it's a rout."
Speaker: Baby Suggs Recipient: Sethe Significance: In a flashback, Baby Suggs is talking about white people with Sethe, and that there is no use fighting them. There was no defense from them; they could search for them freely, change from one mind to the other, and they think that it was NORMAL or JUST for them to do so.
"'These hands belong to me. These my hands... My heart's beating,' she said. And it was true." (166)
Speaker: Baby Suggs b. Recipient: Mr. Garner c. Halle had just bought Baby Suggs off of Mr. Garner and she is now free. Baby Suggs, unlike Halle, had not known the beauty and wonder of freedom, and now that she is free, she recognizes things that she did not before (such as her 'heart's beating'). This simple realization truly shows just how dehumanizing slavery is; they do not even see themselves as living human beings, of having beating hearts; they simply see themselves as tools, even slaves under the Garners in Sweet Home.
'"Don't box with me. There's more of us they drowned than there is all of them ever lived from the start of time. Lay down your sword. This ain't a battle; it's a rout.'" (287)
Speaker: Baby Suggs b. Recipient: Sethe c. Baby Suggs argues that they are inherently evil and are "bad luck," while Sethe believes that not all of them are evil and gives examples (such as Ella). Denver reflects on this conversation in her rememory
Pg. 4 "Bring a little lavender in, if you got any. Pink, if you don't."
Speaker: Baby Suggs. Recipient: Sethe. At the end of her life, Baby Suggs has experienced all the pain that life has to offer. She is unable to find any motivation in life and spends the end of it lying in bed pondering color
Pg. 27 "A man ain't nothing but a man. But a son? Well now, that's somebody."
Speaker: Baby Suggs. Recipient: Sethe. Baby Suggs says this about her son Halle because he sold himself out to work on weekends in return for her freedom.
"You have to touch me. On the inside part. And you have to call me my name."
Speaker: Beloved Recepient: Paul D Purpose: Paul D doesn't want to sleep with Beloved but he can't say no, this ends in his tin heart opening "red heart"
"She is the laugh; I am the laughter" (255)
Speaker: Beloved Recipient: Denver Significance: Beloved and Denver are talking to each other about water and Sethe, and Beloved states that she wants Sethe's face, and that she can have her face to laugh, but she can be herself to produce the laughter.
"You have to touch me. On the inside part. And you have to call me my name." (137)
Speaker: Beloved b. Recipient: Paul D. c. Paul D. has been slowly feeling more and more distant from the inhabitants of 124 and is gradually moving out. When Paul D. had moved into the cold house outside, Beloved comes in and asks Paul D to do this. He initially refuses, but eventually gives in. Beloved does this to cause a fracture in his and Sethe's relationship, but it overall does not cause anything to happen.
"That way, Follow the tree flowers, only the tree flowers. As they go, you go. You will be where you want to be when they are gone."
Speaker: Cherokee Man Recipient: Paul D Purpose: The prisoners who escaped Alfred, Georgia stayed with 'Buffalo Men" after the escape, here Paul D is told how to get North
"ooooh, didn't that hurt you?"
Speaker: Denver Recepient: Beloved Purpose: Beloved thinks Paul D is ruining the family, her tooth is pulled out and since the family is falling aprt, so is she
"If it hurts, why don't you cry?" (158)
Speaker: Denver b. Recipient: Beloved c. One of Beloved's teeth had just fallen out. Denver asks her if this hurt, she says yes, and then Denver asks this. Beloved then begins to cry, worried that the dreams of herself falling apart have just begun to come true. The idea that Beloved thinks of herself as multiple pieces and fragments and that they could fall apart at any moment strengthens the thought that Beloved represents all of slavery and the people who partook in it.
4. Pg. 16 "How come everybody run off from Sweet Home can't stop talking about it? Look like if it was so sweet you would have stayed."
Speaker: Denver. Recipients: Sethe and Paul D. Denver is starting to get jealous with Paul D. after he enters the house and gets annoyed that all they talk about is Sweet Home, which she can't relate to.
"well, if i was you I'd stick to Jenny Whitlow. Mrs Baby Suggs ain't no name for a freed Negro."
Speaker: Mr Garner Recepient: Baby Suggs Purpose: Baby Suggs likes her name because it's closer to her identity but Mr Garner disagrees
Pg. 12 "Now at Sweet Home, my n****** is men every one of em. Bought em thataway, raised em thataway. Men every one."
Speaker: Mr. Garner. Recipients: the other farmers near Sweet Home. Mr. Garner believed that his slaves were men, even though he still owned them. The other farmers he told this to disagreed.
Pg. 31 "You are one sweet child."
Speaker: Mrs. Garner. Recipient: Sethe. Sethe asks Mrs. Garner if there will be a wedding for her and Halle. Mrs. Garner finds amusing, hence her response.
"Don't tell me I slept in this chair the whole night."
Speaker: Paul D Recepient: Sethe Pupose: Paul D is slowly getting pushed out of the house, Beloved moves him until he leaves completely but this is where it starts.
"You got two feet, Sethe, not four," and right then a forest sprang up between them; trackless and quiet."
Speaker: Paul D Recepient: Sethe Purpose: Paul D thinks Sethe should have figured soemthing else out to keep the children from Schoolteacher, he calls her an animal.
"You got two feet, Sethe, not four." pg. 194
Speaker: Paul D Recipient: Sethe Importance/Situation: Paul D compares Sethe to an animal because of her actions.
"Your love it too thick." pg. 193
Speaker: Paul D Recipient: Sethe Importance/Situation: Paul D disagrees with Sethe's actions and lets her know this.
"Why she call on him? Why she need the schoolteacher?" (259)
Speaker: Paul D. Recipient: Halle Significance: When Mr. Garner was having a stroke, which he said was a shot in his ear put there by a jealous neighbor.
"Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?" (277)
Speaker: Paul D. Recipient: Stamp Paid Significance: Response to Stamp Paid's answer of "All he can" when he asks him how much a black man is supposed to take. Paul D has been through hell all his life, and when he finally asks how much he's supposed to take of it, he's given an answer that seems like it would last forever.
"He was woke. Woke and laughing." (269)
Speaker: Paul D. Recipient: Thirty-Mile Woman Significance: Paul D. was describing how Sixo died, and apparently, he died with pride and laughter as he was burned alive while the Thirty-Mile woman took off and ran so she didn't join him.
"I just don't understand what the hold is. It's clear why she holds on to you, but I just can't see why you holding on to her." (80)
Speaker: Paul D. b. Recipient: Sethe c. Beloved had been found outside of 124 after they returned from the circus. She had now been living with them for a while, and Paul D. wishes to have her move out. At this point, nobody knows that Beloved is the Beloved, and Sethe simply justifies her actions by saying that she knows what unfair treatment is and forcing her out would be that.
"More it hurt more better it is. Can't nothing heal without pain, you know." pg. 92
Amy Sethe Amy is insinuating that with pain, comes an inverse relationship with the severity or the healing ability of a wound. Amy also is touching on the topic of confrontation: where one must accept past traumas to begin the healing process.
"You got to love it... love your heart. For this is the prize." pg. 104
Baby Suggs Congregated Crowd outdoors One must be the source of care and affection for one's body and acceptance of one must come from oneself; the oppressors will only condemn
"Everything depends on knowing how much... Good is knowing when to stop." pg. 102
Baby Suggs Narrator quotes Baby Suggs The narrator quotes Baby Suggs on the topic of Baby Suggs' interactions: she wasted no time and necessity was apparent and at the forefront of conversation
"...broke my heartstrings too. There is no bad luck in the world but whitefolks." pg. 105
Baby Suggs Self She is reiterating the fact that the oppressors are ever present and the effect on Baby was nowhere reduced from detrimental
" Lay em down, Sethe. Sword and shield... Down by the riverside... Don't study war no more. Lay all that mess down." pg. 101
Baby Suggs Sethe The sword and shield would be the tools of defense against misery, regret, and hurt. Baby Suggs is saying do not suppress but accept the suffering and trauma that Sethe had experienced.
"I'm saying they came in my yard."(211)
Baby Suggs Stamp Paid Baby Suggs is saying white folk may have not won bu they still have unchecked power
"I kissed her neck. I didn't choke it. The circle of iron choked it." pg. 119
Beloved Denver When Sethe was presumably "choked", Beloved clarified that the pain and suffering did not come from her, but overshadowed the affection with the current-events effects from racism and systematic institutions still in play, acting as an iron "chain" holding the people down
"I'm on dry land and I'm going to stay there. You are the one wet." (221)
Ella Stamp Paid Ella explains Paul D's leaving by insinuating the community excommunicated him. Stamp Paid is on the defense for Paul D.
"The question now is, who's going to buy you out? Or me? Or her?" (232)
Halle Sethe Halle wanted to guarentee freedom for the entirety of his family, but cannot due to male slave shortages
'"...me and you, we got more yesterday than anybody. We need some kind of tomorrow.'" (322)
Speaker: Paul D. b. Recipient: Sethe c. Paul D. visits 124 to check up on Sethe after Beloved's disappearance and their conversation lingers on the events that had just taken place. Paul D. recognizes that they have uncountable, unbearable past events together and that they are unable to move on from them, so he recommends to Sethe that they both look toward the future instead. This shows both of their characters' developments throughout the story and how the past, even now, still has a firm grasp upon their psyches.
Pg. 22 "You want to fight, come on! ******** it! She got enough with you. She got enough!"
Speaker: Paul D. Recipient: Beloved's ghost. After entering 124, Paul D. forces the ghost of Beloved out of the house.
Pg. 20 "They used cowhide on you? They beat you and you was pregnant?"
Speaker: Paul D. Recipient: Sethe. Sethe explains to Paul D. how the boys at Sweet Home "took her milk" and how when she told Mrs. Garner about it, they beat her for it. Paul D. is shocked by this.
Pg. 10 "Good God. What kind of evil you got in here?"
Speaker: Paul D. Recipient: Sethe. When Paul D. shows up at Sethe and Denver's house, he walks in and senses the presence of Beloved's ghost and the horrors that came with it.
"It occurred to him that what she wanted for her children was exactly what was missing in 124: safety." pg. 193
Speaker: Paul D/narrator Recipient: Himself/audience Importance/Situation: Paul D realizes that he didn't run the ghost baby off but that the baby was avoiding Sethe for a good reason. He is horrified by her actions and does not see it as keeping her children safe.
"That ain't her mouth." pg. 181
Speaker: Paul D/narrator Recipient: Himself/audience Importance/Situation: Paul D refuses to believe the news clipping is of Sethe.
"This one will never be suitable." (266)
Speaker: Schoolteacher Recipient: Sweet Home Men Significance: In a flashback, we are described the setting of how the men were tied up and chosen to die, and as he tied up each one, Schoolteacher was deciding whether he wanted each one alive or dead. The quote is talking about Sixo, as he says he will never be suitable and would rather kill him.
"you come upstairs. where you belong... and stay there."
Speaker: Sethe Recepient: Paul D Purpose: Sethe still doesn't know about Paul D and Beloved, but she wants Paul D with her
"Man you make me feel like a girl. Coming by to pick me up after work. Nobody ever did that before. You better watchout, I might start looking forward to it."
Speaker: Sethe Recepient: Paul D Purpose: This is soon after Beloved forces Paul D to have sex, he wants to help her but instead asks her for a baby
"I made that song up. I made it up and sang it to my children. Nobody knows that song but me and my children." Pg. 207
Speaker: Sethe Recipient: Beloved Importance/Situation: This is when Sethe recognizes who Beloved is. She accepts that this girl is the ghost of the daughter she murdered.
"Do you forgive me? Will you stay? You are safe here now>" pg 254
Speaker: Sethe Recipient: Beloved Significance: An interesting conversation between Sethe and Beloved talking about the past and where Beloved came from. Knowing that Beloved is her long-lost child, Sethe asks her is she forgives her, to which she doesn't respond and changes the subject, showing it to be a touchy subject.
"High Johnny, wide Johnny, don't you leave my side, Johnny." (282)
Speaker: Sethe Recipient: Beloved Significance: Told by Denver, Sethe used to sing this song to her, but now only sings it to Beloved, and the lyrics kind of help us understand Sethe's stance on herself and Beloved: that she never wants to leave her again.
"I took and put my babies where they'd be safe." pg. 193
Speaker: Sethe Recipient: Paul D Importance/Situation: Sethe believed that killing her babies was keeping them safe from sweet home. She said she was doing this out of love.
'"I made the ink... He couldn't have done it if I hadn't made the ink."' (320)
Speaker: Sethe b. Recipient: Paul D. c. Paul D. visits 124 to check up on Sethe after Beloved's disappearance and this is her first statement to Paul D. This is a reference back to when schoolteacher was 'teaching' his nephews/students about how Sethe has human and animal characteristics. Sethe believes that if she had not made the ink, schoolteacher could not have taught them, but it may also be assumed that she is blaming herself for her past, which is common among people with depression.
"I took and put my babies where they'd be safe." (193)
Speaker: Sethe b. Recipient: Paul D. c. Sethe had been talking to Paul D. about the series of events that had taken place that ended in the death of Beloved, a major plot point within the novel. She justifies herself by saying that death would be better than going back to Sweet Home, but Paul D. cannot come to terms with it. This is an incredibly difficult moral dilemma that has no truly right or wrong answer, and this is a question that Morrison leaves up to the reader.
"So long," she murmured from the far side of the trees.
Speaker: Sethe recepient: Paul D Purpose: Paul D just fould out Sethe killed baby Beloved, he left.
"We don't hold with slavery, even the Garner's kind." pg. 171
Speaker: Sister Bodwin Recipient: Baby Suggs Importance/Situation: Shows that even though the Garners thought they were better than other slavers they still had slavery, so they were hypocrites.
"Let me tell you how I got my name. They called me Joshua. (274)
Speaker: Stamp Paid Recipient: Paul D. Significance: Explaining the story to Paul D, Stamp Paid is the name he chooses for himself after he gives his wife up to their master's son. His rationale goes like this: Born Joshua, he renamed himself when he handed over his wife to his master's son.
"You pick any house, any house where colored live. In all of Cincinnati. Pick any one and you welcome to stay there. I'm apologizing because they didn't offer or tell you. But you welcome anywhere you want to be." (271)
Speaker: Stamp Paid Recipient: Paul D. Significance: Stamp Paid feels the urge to apologize to Paul D. that no one offered to tell him that he was welcome to stay anywhere, as he thought if no one told him he might've felt unwelcome and unwanted, which is clearly NOT what Stamp Paid or the people want.
'"But from the way they describe it, don't seem like it was the girl I saw in there. The girl I saw was narrow. This one was big. She say they was holding hands and Sethe looked like a little girl beside it." ''(312)
Speaker: Stamp Paid b. Recipient: Paul D. c. This increase in Beloved's size and even power over Sethe seems to represent the haunting control that the past, specifically, slavery, has over everyone in 124. Beloved disappears because everyone nearby confronts her and removes the isolation and loom of slavery that 124 has from the world.
"He was going to tell him that, because he thought it was important: why he and Baby Suggs both missed it." pg. 184
Speaker: Stamp Paid/narrator Recipient: himself/audience Importance/Situation: Baby Suggs and Stamp Paid missed the four horsemen because they kept looking down the river. He thought this was an important fact to note.
"Nobody saw them falling." pg. 205
Speaker: narrator Recipient: audience Importance/Situation: The fact that nobody saw them fall is a positive thing because no one was there to judge them and take away from such a moment between family
"Inside two boys bled in the sawdust and dirt at the feet of a woman holding a blood- soaked child to her chest with one hand and an infant by the heels in the other." pg. 175
Speaker: narrator Recipient: audience Importance/Situation: When the four horsemen entered the barn, this was the scene that they saw after Sethe had killed Beloved.
"You can't take the Word. It's given to you to speak." (209)
Stamp Paid to Baby Suggs. After Sethe's crime is committed and residents of 124 are ostrasized, Baby Suggs has lost her passion for her usual Clearing preachings. Stamp is trying to reignite that feeling but Suggs is stubborn.
" You want it back, then go head and take it off that baby. Put the baby naked in the grass and put your coat back on. And if you can do it, then go on 'way somewhere and don't come back." pg. 107
Stampaid/The Old Man The Boy The old man is teaching the boy a lesson about giving to those who need it more. He is stating if you can refuse to sacrifice to those who need it more, follow through, but expect what life/better circumstance to be suspended.
