Prompt: Reading Response to Section II of Beloved

Section I of Beloved is told entirely through third-person narration, even though the perspective shifts. In Section II, first-person narration occurs; how does the first-person narration change or add to your understanding of the character narrating (Sethe, Denver, Beloved)? You might either look closely at one character, drawing in textual evidence, or you might compare the style of narration of the three.

A couple of definitions that might help:

- Character: “…Authors have two major methods of presenting characters: showing and telling. Showing allows the author to present a character talking and acting, and lets the reader infer what kind of person the character is. In telling, the author intervenes to describe and sometimes evaluate the character for the reader. Characters can be convincing whether they are presented by showing or by telling, as long as their actions are motivated. Motivated action by the characters occurs when the reader or audience is offered reasons for how the characters behave, what they say, and the decisions they make. Plausible action is action by a character in a story that seems reasonable, given the motivations presented.”

- Stream of consciousness: “The stream-of-consciousness technique takes a reader inside a character's mind to reveal perceptions, thoughts, and feelings on a conscious or unconscious level. This technique suggests the flow of thought as well as its content; hence, complete sentences may give way to fragments as the character's mind makes rapid associations free of conventional logic or transitions.”

                                                            (definitions from Bedford St. Martins’ ‘Lit Gloss’)

Your post is due by 11:59 pm on Monday, April 11. Reach through several of your peers’ posts and be prepared to comment briefly on them at the beginning of class.

Beloved Questions 181-195

In this section, we finally discover the full story of what has happened to Sethe's first daughter. How does this change the way you view Sethe, and her family dynamic, if at all? Do you think it gives you a better understanding of why the family has diminished to what it is now?

And also, what do you make of Sethe's reasoning behind trying to kill her children to keep them safe? Do you understand why she thought that way?

Beloved Questions 174-80 (comments due Thursday, 4/6 by 11:59 pm)

Note: paragraph should be at least 5 sentences long and should include at least one piece of textual evidence – quote, example, metaphor, etc...


Chapter 16 begins with an allusion to the four horsemen of the Apocalypse, “When the four horsemen came…” (174). How does this reference help you to interpret the significance of the events recounted in the chapter?


Up until this chapter, the narrator has only provided the point of view of people who live in 123 (Sethe, Paul D, Denver, etc). The point of view changes drastically for the first half of this chapter, however. How would you describe this point of view? How does it differ from Baby Suggs’ point of view later in the chapter?

Beloved Questions (pgs. 147-158)

1) Paul D proposed to Sethe that he wanted her pregnant (with his baby) on page 151; this proposal was not particularly planned by Paul D and later on the page it states, “and suddenly it was a solution: a way to hold on to her, document his manhood and break out of the girl’s spell on him---all in one.” Though Sethe has “all the children she needed” and even laughed about the idea, in what ways does this situation show the “spell” that Beloved has casted and why it affects Paul D in such a strange way? Why is this passage relevant?

2)In which ways does Sethe’s character change when she starts to allow Paul D to start sleeping inside? How does this show Sethe’s character strengthen and overcome the “evil power” of the ghost and how does the interactions between Sethe, Paul D, and Beloved change after this event?

Beloved Discussion Questions (pgs. 159-173)

1) Baby Suggs is described as, "loving everybody like it was her job and hers alone." What elements of her background might have contributed to this, and how?

2)Baby seems to have this mystical ability to smell the disapproval in the air and even a prophetic power of being able to actually see something dark coming. How do you interpret this supernatural theme of ghosts and now Baby's powers? In what ways might they be related? Different?