124 is haunted. Sethe and Denver describe the house as having feelings and reactions much like those of a person. It is treated as an autonomous being that its inhabitants can do little to control. For the whole time Sethe has lived there, this haunting has been constant and omnipotent. But, with the arrival of the mysterious character who calls herself Beloved, 124’s antics seem to subside. Beloved’s presence and attitudes are almost as strange as those of 124’s -- but they do not exist in parallel, just as how one person cannot be in two places at once.
124 traps Sethe, by isolating and ostracizing her from the community, and constantly reminding her of the harsh memories of her past, without giving her a way to move past them. The novel opens with Morrison asserting, “124 was spiteful. Full of a baby’s venom. The women in the house knew it and so did the children. For years each put up with the spite in his own way, but by 1873 Sethe and her daughter Denver was its only victims” (3). 124 is a constant reminder of the hardships Sethe faced at Sweet Home and during her escape, which are briefly alluded to in flashbacks. When Paul D sees the scars on Sethe’s back for the first time in the kitchen and Sethe remembers the pain of her stolen milk, 124 reinforces the memory as it began shaking jolting both the people and the furniture to the ground (21-22).
With Beloved’s arrival though, Denver finds new purpose in being her caregiver, and Sethe finds new solace in recounting once painful memories to answer Beloved’s questions. Morrison wrote, “Sethe was flattered by Beloved’s open, quiet devotion...the company of this sweet, if peculiar guest pleased her in the way a zealot pleases his teacher” (68). Moreover, 124 remains silent when Beloved enters. When Paul D first came, it shook and shook as he brought memories of Sethe’s past to the surface, but Beloved silences the apparently vengeful house.
I think Beloved’s entry into both 124 and Sethe’s life, or maybe more appropriately her re-entry, is a marked turning point in the novel. Sethe’s person was confined to the irrational will of 124 and her mind to the memories that stirred when 124 did. But, with Beloved’s entrance, 124 is calmed, and Sethe is able to be a more autonomous character. She now recalls her “rememory” at her own mercy, which I think in the long run will be the key to freeing her from the hold her past and 124 have on her.
I really liked your blog post. The idea that Beloved holds the key to Sethe's future was one that I hadn't really considered before. Unlocking her past? Likely. The key to her future? I'm interested to see how this idea plays out through the rest of the novel.
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