Beloved by Toni Morrison

Beloved (1987) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Toni Morrison. A survey of writers and literary critics conducted by The New York Times found Beloved the best work of American fiction of the past 25 years; it garnered 15 of 125 votes.This book follows the story of Sethe who has endured horrible things and survived, but she misses Sweet Home. But, a teenager arrives calling herself Beloved and Sethe's life explodes.

Sethe was born a slave and escaped to Ohio, but eighteen years later she is still not free. She has endured horrible things and survived, but she misses Sweet Home. Sethe and her daughter Denver are   trying to rebuild their lives after having escaped from slavery. 124 Bluestone, the house they inhabit, is haunted which turns out to be the ghost of Sethe's murdered daughter, visits there with an alarming regularity. Because of this, Sethe's youngest daughter, Denver, has no friends and is extremely shy. Howard and Buglar, Sethe's sons, run away from home by the time they are thirteen because of the ghost's persistent torment. Shortly afterwards, Baby Suggs, the mother of Sethe's husband Halle, dies in her bed.

Paul D, one of the slaves from Sweet Home, arrives at 124. He tries to bring a sense of reality into the house. He also tries to make the family move forward in time and leave the past behind. In doing so, he forces out the ghost of Beloved. At first, he seems to be successful, because he leads the family to a carnival, out of the house for the first time in years. However, on their way back, they encounter a young woman sitting in front of the house. She has distinct features of a baby and calls herself Beloved. Denver recognizes right away that she must be a reincarnation of her sister Beloved. Paul D, suspicious of her, warns Sethe, but charmed by the young woman, Sethe ignores him. Paul D finds himself being gradually forced out of Sethe's home by a supernatural presence. When he is finally made to sleep in a shed outside, he is cornered by Beloved, who has put a spell on him for this purpose. She burrows into his mind and his heart, forcing him to have sex with her, while flooding his consciousness with horrific memories from his past. Paul D, overwhelmed with guilt after the incident, attempts to tell Sethe, but cannot and instead tells her he wants her pregnant. Sethe is humored and elated by his wishes, and Paul D finds the power to resist Beloved and her influence over him. However, when he tells his friends at work about his plans to start a new family, they react negatively and fearfully. Stamp Paid then reveals to Paul D the reason for the community's rejection of Sethe. When Paul D asks Sethe about it, she tells him what happened all those years ago. After escaping from Sweet Home and making it to her mother-in-law's home where her children are waiting, Sethe is found by her master, schoolteacher, who attempts to reclaim Sethe and her children. In a heightened panic, Sethe grabs her children, runs into the tool shed and tries to kill them all, succeeding only with her oldest daughter,Beloved. Sethe explains to Paul D her reasoning for doing it, stating that she was protecting her children. However, the revelation is too much for Paul D, who later leaves the house for good.

Sethe comes to believe that the girl, Beloved, is her daughter. Sethe murdered by slitting her throat with a handsaw when the child was only two years old. Upon this realization, Sethe begins to spend carelessly and spoil Beloved out of guilt. Beloved recognizes her mother's guilt and becomes angry and more demanding, throwing hellish tantrums when she doesn't get her way. Beloved's presence consumes Sethe's life to the point where she becomes depleted and even sacrifices her own need for eating, while Beloved grows bigger and bigger. In the climax of the novel Denver, the youngest daughter, reaches out and searches for help from the black community. People arrive at 124 to exorcize Beloved. However, while Sethe is confused and has a "rememory" of schoolteacher coming again, Beloved disappears.

At the outset, the reader is led to assume Beloved is a supernatural, incarnate form of Sethe's murdered daughter. Later, Stamp Paid reveals the story of "a girl locked up by a white man over by Deer Creek. Found him dead last summer and the girl gone. Maybe that's her". Both are supportable by the text. The possibility that Beloved is the murdered child is supported by the fact that she sings a song known only to Sethe and her children; elsewhere, she speaks of Sethe's earrings without having seen them.