Parasite

As soon as I began reading part 3 of Beloved, it was clear to me that things were very off from the way Denver talked about hunger, Sethe's frailty, and Beloved's growing weight. I started out feeling angry at Sethe and Beloved for excluding Denver, until I read further and saw how creepy the pair's relationship had become. I'm glad Denver was able to escape it, even if she might not have wanted to initially. 

Sethe and Beloved's relationship seemed fairly codependent at first, and although Sethe apparently gets something out of it, Beloved really is the only one benefiting from the situation. Sethe repeatedly tries to justify her actions to Beloved, only to be rejected and remain unforgiven. At some point, Denver speculates that Beloved's reaction is exactly what Sethe wants, or thinks she deserves, which explains that half of the codependent relationship. 

But when you look at Beloved's side of their relationship, it begins to seem more like a relationship between a parasite and its host. Beloved does nothing but demand things from Sethe: her attention, food, love, and time. She can do nothing but give and give and give to Beloved for fear of her reborn daughter leaving her again, and she's given nothing but her child's unpleasant presence in return. What's creepier is how much like an actual parasite Beloved is- she sucks the life out of Sethe by taking her food, and as her mother grows thinner and weaker, Beloved grows stronger and fatter. She most likely would have killed Sethe with all of her demands if the whole debacle in front of 124 hadn't gone down and mysteriously caused her to disappear.