In Which Beloved is Concerned

Heroism and Beloved.

There are some who say Sethe was heroic. There are some who say she was not. Ella: she didn't take Sethe as heroic. If anything, she took her as demonic. As far as she's concerned, she "ain't got no friends take a handsaw to their own children" (221).

Baby Suggs held on for love, but I don't think she understood. Or she may have understood, but in a different sense. If anyone there could understand where Sethe was coming from, it was Baby Suggs--but she was at Sweet Home when it was still relatively sweet--before the Schoolteacher came, before life went to hell in a hand basket. Baby Suggs wasn't there as Sethe was milked. Baby Suggs wasn't there. Baby Suggs couldn't really understand killing the already crawling? baby to keep her from the Schoolteacher. Baby Suggs was separated from all her children except Halle, she never truly had the connection Sethe had developed with her children. Paul D. was right, you must love small, other wise life becomes unbearable.

But Sethe. Sethe must have been, in at least some manner, heroic. She killed what she loved most to keep them from worse.

Denver though--she was the most heroic to me. She was constantly slighted--almost given the "short end of the stick" as it were. When Paul D. came, Sethe turned from Denver to Paul D. When Beloved came, Beloved cared not for Denver, but for Sethe. Eventually, Sethe seemed to care not for Denver (or even Paul D.), but for Beloved. Only Beloved. Despite this, maybe in spite of this, Denver continued to care for Sethe and Beloved. She stepped out into the community to ask for help. She searched for work. So they might eat. So they might live.