Plot Summary (DP IB English A: Language and Literature: HL): Revision Note

An exploration of Beloved by Toni Morrison requires you to consider how its themes, characters, and relationships evolve across the narrative. It is through this progression that the novel communicates its central ideas and meanings. To engage with this effectively, you will need a thorough understanding of the plot.

Below you will find:

• An overview of the novel

• A plot summary broken down into chapters of the text

Overview of Beloved

Beloved is the fifth novel from American author Toni Morrison, and was published in 1987. It became a bestseller and was praised widely by critics, going on to win the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. 

The story is told through a narrative constructed from memories, nightmares and flashbacks of Sethe, a former slave who has escaped the brutality of slavery in Kentucky. Morrison’s novel examines and confronts the long-lasting effects of slavery on Black Americans, scarred by the inhumane and brutal treatment they have endured. Now in post-Civil War Cincinnati, the story revisits Sethe’s past as a slave, and the trauma she has carried with her. 

Memories take us to Sethe as a young woman, arriving at a plantation called Sweet Home run by the unusually kind Mr Garner and his wife. She finds a partner, Halle Suggs, and has three children by the age of 18, but their lives are turned upside down when Garner passes away. Control of the plantation is handed to Mrs Garner’s brother-in-law, the schoolteacher, who is a vindictive, cruel and violent man.

Sethe is never truly freed from the tyranny imposed upon her, even after she escapes Sweet Home and the schoolteacher, and tries to rebuild her life in Cincinnati. 

When schoolteacher finds her once more, Sethe attempts to kill her children to spare them the horror of slavery under him. She succeeds in slitting the throat of her infant daughter, known as Beloved. After she is freed from prison, Beloved’s ghost haunts Sethe, and she is eventually visited by a mysterious woman, going by the name of Beloved, whom she believes to be the reincarnation of her dead daughter. 

As Beloved’s presence grows increasingly consuming, it is ultimately the intervention of the Black community that exorcises Sethe’s demons and allows her to begin the process of psychological recovery, helping her to find her self-worth and the value of a life lived free. 

Beloved: Chapter-by-chapter plot summary

Part One, Chapter 1

• The novel starts in 1873, and we are introduced to a “spiteful” house that Sethe and her daughter Denver live in together:

  • They once lived with Sethe’s two sons, Howard and Buglar, and her mother-in-law, Baby Suggs

  • The two boys have run away, and Baby Suggs has since died

• The two-story house in Cincinnati, Ohio is haunted by the ghost of Sethe’s daughter, who goes by the name “Beloved”:

  • Sethe recalls the day she was buried, and how she could only afford to get the one word engraved on her headstone

  • She had wanted it to read “Dearly Beloved”

• Sethe and Denver try to call forth the ghost to have a conversation about their situation, but this fails

• Sethe goes outside, and is surprised to find Paul D on her porch:

  • Paul D was an ex-slave at the plantation, Sweet Home, where Sethe, her husband and their children were all enslaved

  • Sethe asks him about her husband, whom she thinks must be dead, but he has no news of him

• When Paul comes inside, he feels an evil presence, and Sethe explains that it’s her dead daughter

• He remembers their time together at Sweet Home, and how things changed after the Garners gave control to a cruel man known as “schoolteacher”:

  • He remembers Sethe arriving at the plantation, and how all the men wanted her, but respected her to choose her own man

  • He feels “Sweet Home men” were good men, and Mr Garner had pride in them, even as others told him slaves could not make good men

  • Sethe chose Halle, who worked extra time so he could buy his mother’s (Baby Suggs’) freedom 

• Sethe recalls an attempt to escape Sweet Home, when she was pregnant with Denver:

  • Her children went with a woman in a wagon, but the schoolteacher’s nephews caught her

  • Sethe was then attacked and sexually assaulted by the schoolteacher’s nephews

• Sethe reveals she ran away again that night and then gave birth to her second daughter:

  • She then tells him that her oldest girl died from having her throat cut

  • As Paul and Sethe seem to be getting close, the ghost reacts in anger and makes the whole house shake

  • Paul D then banishes the ghost

Part One, Chapters 2–6

• Sethe and Paul have sex, but both are left thinking about the impact slavery has had on their lives

• Denver recalls seeing her mother praying at her window, and a white dress kneeling next to her, its arm around Sethe’s waist:

  • She recalls the story of her own birth, her mother telling her how a white woman named Amy found her on the ground and helped her

• Paul D decides he will stay with Sethe and Denver, even though Denver does not approve:

  • Sethe thinks Denver is a “blessed child”, and that is why Amy found her when she needed care to escape schoolteacher and deliver Denver safely

  • Both Sethe and Paul D realise they suddenly see a future, whereas before they had shut off any hopes for the future

• Sethe tells her that schoolteacher had tracked her down in Cincinnati before, and that she spent time in jail after this

• Paul D takes Sethe and Denver to a carnival:

  • Denver is initially unhappy, but starts to feel more comfortable with Paul D, staying with them after they enjoy the carnival together

• When they arrive home, they are met outside the house by a young woman napping on their porch, soaked head-to-toe:

  • She says her name is Beloved, with no last name

  • When she sees the woman, Sethe suddenly has an overwhelming urge to urinate

  • Before she gets to the outhouse, water comes from her as if her water had broken in pregnancy

• Beloved will not eat anything, only drinking water:

  • She sleeps for four days while Denver cares for her

  • Paul D and Sethe believes the woman may have cholera, but Denver disagrees and refuses any help in looking after her

• Beloved has no memory of who she is or where she came from:

  • She starts eating, but only sweet things

• Paul D does not trust her, thinking she is not so sick:

  • He and Denver see her picking up a rocking chair with one hand, but Denver later lies about seeing this

• Beloved seems devoted, maybe obsessed with Sethe:

  • One evening, she asks where Sethe’s diamonds are, and Sethe realises she means earrings she was once given by Mrs Garner

  • Sethe tells her about the earrings, and the pair enjoy the story about the past

• Sethe tells Denver and Beloved about her mother, and about how she was hanged

• Sethe then remembers something she had forgotten:

  • A woman called Nan had taken her away from the hanging bodies as she tried to identify her mother

• Denver does not enjoy the story and is put off by how much Beloved seems to like it:

  • She then wonders how Beloved knew about the earrings

Part One, Chapters 7–11

• Paul D remains suspicious of Beloved:

  • At dinner, he asks her many questions, and Beloved is evasive, suddenly speaking in baby talk

  • She has no family, gives no real reason she walked to their house, and admits she stole the dress and shoes she was wearing

  • He is uneasy with the fact she arrived just as he, Sethe and Denver were getting along

• Sethe and Paul D end up arguing about Beloved after dinner, and then speak about Halle, Sethe’s ex-husband:

  • Paul reveals Halle saw her being assaulted by schoolteacher’s nephews

  • He claims that this incident “broke” Halle, and the last time he saw him, Halle’s face was smeared with butter, unable to speak

  • Sethe is hurt by this as it changes the memory of her husband

• Denver is ecstatic to share a room with Beloved, and asks her where she’s from:

  • Beloved says she was with heaps of people, but doesn’t know their names

  • She came to the house from a large bridge, having seen Sethe’s earrings in the river

• Beloved asks to hear the story of Denver’s birth, and the narration jumps into that story:

  • The story reveals how the white woman, Amy Denver, soothed Sethe’s wounds on her feet and back, and then helps her give birth in a canoe on the river

• Sethe is fixated on Halle being driven to madness on seeing her assaulted:

  • She goes to the Clearing with Denver and Beloved, a place Baby Suggs used to hold gatherings

  • Baby Suggs was a prominent religious figure in the area, helping Black people learn to love themselves, but she eventually lost her faith

• Sethe remembers how a man named Stamp Paid took her across the river after she’d given birth to Denver, and she was eventually taken to Baby Suggs

• At the Clearing, suddenly Sethe feels two hands wrap around her neck and choke her:

  • Danver saves her, and then Beloved massages her

  • Denver steps in to stop it, but Sethe remembers the touch as the same as the ghost of her daughter

• When they get home Sethe realises she wants Paul D in her life, and Beloved becomes jealous of their closeness:

  • She runs to a stream nearby where Denver is

  • Denver accuses her of choking Sethe, and Beloved runs off

• Paul D remembers his time imprisoned, at a point where he was chained to 45 other men:

  • After 86 days, the men all escaped at once, and were then freed from their restraints by a group of Native Americans at a Cherokee Camp

• Paul D soon finds himself eager to distance himself from Sethe, even though he is falling in love with her:

  • He moves out of her bed, and eventually sleeps outside, even though they continue to have sex and build their relationship

  • He believes Beloved is somehow stopping him from sleeping in Sethe’s bed with her

• One night, Beloved comes to Paul in the cold house behind the main house, where he sleeps:

  • She forces herself on him, and slowly he gives in

Part One, Chapters 12–18

• Denver starts to become almost obsessed with Beloved, delighted when she has her attention:

  • She thinks Beloved is the white dress that she saw praying with Sethe, and the ghost of Sethe’s eldest daughter

  • Denver also hides the fact that Beloved and Paul D are now lovers

• One day in the winter, Denver and Beloved go to grab cider from the cold house, and Denver panics when the doors shut and she loses sight of Beloved, thinking she has left:

  • Beloved reappears, happy with Denver’s panic, but she suddenly curls up in a ball and starts rocking

  • She seems to have seen a face in the darkness, but Denver sees nothing

• Paul D decides he must tell Sethe about his relations with Beloved, but when he goes to tell her, instead suggests they should have a baby:

  • Sethe thinks it ridiculous and later resolves not to have another child again

• Beloved tells Denver to make Paul D leave:

  • She then pulls a tooth out, and worries her body is falling apart

  • As Denver wonders why the pain doesn’t make her cry, Beloved starts to weep and Denver then holds her

• A flashback reveals Baby Suggs’ happiness at Sethe and her children arriving at her house is tempered by anxiety for her son, Halle:

  • It is revealed that some of Baby Suggs’ neighbours were jealous of her life, with her two-storey home and her formal emancipation from slavery

  • She recalls how Halle worked for her freedom, and we discover that her real name is Jenny Whitlow

  • She realises the only way to find her lost family is to keep going by the name Baby Suggs

• Once freed, she meets the Bodwins, who offer her a home to live in as payment for working for them

• Later, with Sethe and her children in the house, schoolteacher arrives with his nephew, a slave catcher, and a sheriff to take Sethe and her children back to Sweet Home:

  • As they go to the shed to find Sethe, she is standing with her children, holding a dead and bloodied child, with Denver next to her and her two boys injured

  • Stamp Paid quickly grabs Denver away from her before Sethe can kill her, too

  • Schoolteacher decides there is nothing for him to take and leaves with his nephew and the slave catcher, while the sheriff takes Sethe and Denver to jail

• Now back in the present day, Stamp Paid explains to Paul D that Sethe killed her infant daughter:

  • Paul doesn’t believe it, but confronts Sethe and realises it is true, and leaves the house, with Sethe assuming she’ll never see him again

Part Two, Chapters 19–25

• Stamp Paid feels responsible for Paul D leaving, but fears coming to the house to see Sethe

• He recalls the last time he went to 124 was Baby Suggs’ funeral, and how Sethe offended other mourners by staying silent and not joining the hymns

• Sethe takes Beloved and Denver skating:

  • When they come back, they sit in front of the fire

  • Beloved hums a song that shocks Sethe, recognising it as one she sang to her children and no one else would know

  • Sethe is convinced Beloved is her daughter brought back to life

• Finally, Stamp Paid does get the courage to knock on the door, but nobody answers:

  • He sees Beloved through a window and is concerned by her

  • He thinks the noises he hears from the house are that of dead and ex-slaves

• Three chapters in succession follow the monologuing thoughts of Sethe, then Denver, and finally Beloved:

  • Sethe wants to ensure Beloved understands why she killed her

  • Denver believes she has a special bond with her sister Beloved:

    • She wants to keep Beloved safe from Sethe, considering Beloved “hers”

  • Beloved, meanwhile, insists that Sethe is “hers”:

    • She remembers loose thoughts of a voyage on a slave boat

    • She refers to a “she” she is separated from, and recognised Sethe as that “she” when she saw her face

    • Now they can be together, finally

  • The chapters finish with: 

    • Beloved saying she has come from “the other side” for Sethe 

    • Denver thinking of her love for Beloved and how “daddy is coming for us”

    • Sethe thinking Beloved is safe now

    • Beloved repeating “you are mine” to herself

• Paul D remembers his time at Sweet Home, and how a planned escape with Sixo and Sixo’s “Thirty-Mile Woman” ends with them being caught:

  • Thirty-Mile Woman escapes, pregnant with Sixo’s child, but Sixo is burned alive by schoolteacher, laughing as he dies, knowing his child has escaped

• Stamp Paid visits Paul D at the church:

  • He explains how Sethe killed her child out of love, trying to spare them the pain of a life of slavery

  • He asks about Beloved, and Paul D explains she came from nowhere and nobody knows anything about her, and she disturbs him

  • Stamp Paid wonders whether she might be a girl who was locked up by a white man nearby

  • He was found dead last summer, and the girl missing

  • Paul D wonders how much more he can take and why he should suffer it

Part Three, Chapters 26–28

• Sethe begins to weaken, but as she starves, it seems Beloved’s belly expands and grows:

  • Sethe notices a scar under Beloved’s chin, the spot where she cut her own daughter with the handsaw that killed her

• Beloved starts to take control, with Sethe desperate to build their relationship and Denver still enthralled by her, even as both women seem to be starving:

  • Sethe loses her job as she spends all her time entertaining Beloved

  • Denver notices now how Beloved is seemingly becoming Sethe, taking on all her mannerisms, but also taking power of the household

  • When Sethe stands up to her, Beloved becomes angry and wild, in a way that scares them both and that Denver describes as animalistic:

    • After this, they seem to cut Denver out of their relationship, leading to Denver going looking for work

    • She finds Lady Jones, her former teacher,  and the woman tells her that the community will bring them food if they need help, but Denver doesn’t want charity

    • Lady Jones is shocked at how emaciated Denver is

• Two days after seeing Lady Jones, Denver finds food left for the family at 124:

  • Denver begins going to see Lady Jones more often:

• The home at 124 becomes tense and unhappy, with Sethe weak and Beloved now angry at how her mother abandoned her when she cut her throat

• Sethe talks again about their family reuniting on the “other side” with her dead mother

• Denver is encouraged to find work with the Bodwins to feed her family, and eventually she tells their maid about Sethe’s growing weakness and her loose grip on sanity under the power of Beloved

• A group of 30 local women come by the house, praying and singing, thinking to rescue Sethe from the devilry in the house

  • Sethe is soothed by the help, reminding her of Baby Suggs, and goes out to the porch with Beloved to watch

  • The women are shocked by Beloved, seeing her as a “devil-child”

  • Beloved looks now like a pregnant woman

• Mr Bodwin is there, having come to pick up Denver for work

• Sethe mistakes him for schoolteacher, and then springs forward to attack him, to protect Beloved:

  • She is restrained by the women

• Beloved feels Denver and Sethe have deserted her

• Beloved disappears after this, lost as things got chaotic with Sethe trying to attack Mr Bodwin

• After the drama of the attempt to save Sethe, and her attacking Mr Bodwin, Paul D and Stamp Paid discuss what is going on with the house:

  • Mr Bodwin has decided he wants to sell it, thinking it cursed in some way

• The men discuss how Denver was the first to tackle Sethe as she went for Mr Bodwin:

  • Denver is staying with them for now

  • They also mention how Mr Bodwin was the one who stopped Sethe being put to death back when she killed her daughter

• Paul D has seen Denver, who is happy with the Bodwins and learning a lot:

  • However, Denver says Sethe is not doing well

  • She fears she has lost her mother

  • He asks if Beloved was her sister, and Denver says she thinks so, but also that she was something more

  • A young boy claims to have seen a naked woman fleeing through the woods after the incident at the house

• Paul D is still shaken by the idea of Beloved, but goes to 124:

  • He senses that Beloved is truly gone

  • He finds Sethe in the house, but she seems to have gone insane

  • He pledges to care for her, as Sethe says her daughter has left her again

• The story ends describing a now lonely 124 since Beloved disappeared

• The town gradually forgets about her, feeling they need to do so to move on:

  • In the end, even those who spoke to her forget her, and traces of Beloved are lost and forgotten

  • “This is not a story to pass on” is repeated as we see how the people in the town push down another bad memory, like many have tried to do with their past lives in slavery

Sources

Morrison, T. (2007), Beloved, Vintage