Beloved 3-9

Discussion Questions

1. There are two prominent white women in Sethe’s ‘rememory’: Mrs. Garner and Amy Denver. Compare
and contrast what they offer Sethe and their roles in Sethe’s life. A T-chart or venn works for this.

2. What’s so great about the day at the carnival? How is it an unusual day for Sethe, Paul D, and Denver as
a group and individually?

3. Pile up all details about Beloved: physical descriptions, behaviors, interactions with others in the
household. How does Sethe react when she arrives? How about Denver?

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4. Pile up the details of Denver’s birth from chapters 3 and 8. Is there biblical imagery? What other kind
of imagery is there? Does it remind you of the story of Moses or any of the mothers we studied? Who
does this story belong to? How does this story get delivered? In other words, trace the mode of
communication between the story-tellers and story-consumers. What is the effect and purpose of
this story-telling?

5. What has Paul D been doing since he left Sweet Home?

6. What are the dynamics between each member of the house?

a. Paul D and Beloved

b. Paul D and Denver

c. Paul D and Sethe

d. Denver and Beloved

e. Denver and Sethe

f. Beloved and Seth

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7. What can you add for the following? Have you seen any more examples? How are they significant? You can
do just 3 of the 4, if you prefer.
Tree motif

Animal motif

Language and/or storytelling motif

Color motif

8. Clarify what happened at Sweet Home as best as you can. We have some information about Halle, Paul D,
Sethe, and Schoolteacher. You can make a bulleted list for each.

Halle Paul D Sethe Schoolteacher

9. According to Paul D, something “broke” Halle. What was it? What seems to have broken Paul D? (hint:
starts with an M and ends in R and is covered in feathers)? What is interesting about the word choice “broke”?

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10. Many readers become fans of Amy Denver. In other words, she is an endearing and sympathetic character.
What details create this effect?

11. What is Baby Suggs’ role in the community? What is her overall message when she preaches? How does
she make this message? (Demonstrate comprehension and analysis).

12. Who is Stamp Paid and how does he help Sethe?

13. “Sethe had...twenty-eight days--the travel of one whole moon--of unslaved life.” What do we know about
these days?

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 Reread Focus: Rehumanization
Overarching Rhetorical and Literary Effect Question:
In these passages, Morrison’s rhetorical and literary choices result in creating characters who appear indelibly
human, alive, relatable, and empathetic. How?

Instructions:
First, annotate each question. Identify what you need to comprehend and what you need to analyze.
(NOTE: These questions mirror the language of AP English exam prompts.)

Second, annotate the passage with the goal of finding evidence to answer the prompt.

Passage #1
How does Morrison use literary elements and techniques to portray the complex relationship between Sethe
and Amy Denver?
Don’t: List language devices or just repeat the question
Bad example: The author’s use of imagery shows a close relationship between Amy and sethe and creates a complex relationship
DO: Answer the comprehension part of the question with accuracy and specificity. In other words, demonstrate
a clear and specific interpretation and give yourself analysis focus.

Passage #2
In the first chapter of the novel we get an image of Baby Suggs as a woman who was too tired to live and too tired to
die. How does Morrison use literary elements and techniques to create a stark contrast for Baby Sugg’s character?
Don’t: The use of language creates a stark contrast between the two versions of Baby Suggs.
Don’t: answer the prompt in a roundabout way. Do answer the exact question.
Do: provide an answer for what techniques are responsile for demonstrating the contrast.

Passage #3
How does Morrison use literary elements and techniques to demonstrate the distinct capabilities of Baby Suggs,
Stamp Paid, and Sethe? (Do each separately)
Don’t make a list of capabilities that will be too difficult to fully prove in the time allotted. Instead, choose a
foundational, deep level characteristic that is accurate, specific, and supported by text evidence.

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 Beloved
Comprehension, Analysis, Writing Practice

Here are portions of chapter 15 with an analysis prompt for each. Treat each one as if it were an analysis essay
prompt; however, you should focus your practice with thesis/claim writing and making one sub-claim for support of the
thesis statement.
Follow these steps
1: Annotate the question. What part is comprehension? What part is analysis? What should go into your thesis statement
and what should be left out?
2: Brainstorm an answer to the comprehension portion of the prompt. Read through the passage again if needed.
3: Re-read and annotate the passage looking for answers to the language analysis portion of the prompt.
4: Write a thesis statement that offers an analytical move that answers the comprehension portion of the prompt. It
should be specific and accurate and appropriate in size/scope for an in-class essay.
5: Craft one complete paragraph as evidence for the thesis using the prompts below.

Passage # 1 Start...Stop
“It was Stamp who started it...didn’t even have to drop a line” (159-61).

Prompt: How does language and technique illustrate the mood of Baby Sugg’s feast?

Write your thesis statement here. Again, this is a clear, accurate, specific, focused answer to the prompt.

Summary/Set-up/Statement. This means include all useful context. Who is saying, doing, thinking what? To whom?
About what? Where? When? Why? How?:

Evidence. Lead int o a quote and cite it correctly. You may try a combination of close paraphrase and partial quote.

Analysis. Unpack your evidence and specifically and precisely. Discuss how the details in this quote answer the prompt.
Use the analysis sentence stems.

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Passage # 2 Start...Stop
“From Denver’s two thrilled eyes...Whispered to each other about fat rats, doom and uncalled-for pride” (161-62).

Prompt: How does language capture the attitude of the community members toward Baby Suggs and her family?
Follow all steps outlined in passage one.
DO IT HERE:

Passage # 3 Start...Stop
“Her hip hurt every single day...And when she set foot on free ground she could not believe that Halle knew what she
didn’t’ that Halle, who had never drawn a free breath, knew that there was nothing like it in the world. It scared here”
(164-6).

Prompt: How does language portray Baby Sugg’s attitude toward her freedom before she is free?
Follow all steps outlined in passage one.
DO IT HERE:

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Passage # 4 Start...Stop
And when she set foot on free ground she could not believe that Halle knew what she didn’t’ that Halle, who had never
drawn a free breath, knew that there was nothing like it in the world. It scared her…..She covered her mouth to keep from
laughing too hard” (166-7).

Prompt: How does language portray Baby Sugg’s attitude toward her freedom after she is free?
Follow all steps outlined in passage one.
DO IT HERE:

More room in your brain? More time in your day? Give some consideration to the following questions:
1) What is the effect of the discussion about Baby’s given name Jenny Whitlow versus her de facto or chosen name
of Baby Suggs?

2) How does the chapter provide ominous foreshadowing?

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 Beloved Analysis Guide: Chapters 17 and 18
Read the introductory information for each chapter, and then complete the skill practices.
Some Themes to consider: Motifs
*How a speaker delivers a message is as Animals
important as the message itself Trees
*It is difficult to use language in a precise way to
get others to understand
*The past is never truly behind us

Chapter 17
In this chapter, Stamp Paid decides to tell Paul D that Sethe killed her daughter. However, he fails to tell
Paul D all of the things he thinks he should have told him due to Paul D’s reaction. Much of the
information in the chapter is revealed through Stamp Paid’s expressed intentions of what he should have
or would have said to Paul D had Paul D reacted to the information differently.

Part I: Comprehension and paraphrase practice

1) What are three things that Stamp Paid would have, but did not tell Paul D. Use descriptive paraphrases
Stamp was going to tell Paul D about how (Baby Suggs was “restless” that “morning”).
.

Stamp was going to tell Paul D about how (“Nobody warned them” that four strange white
men were coming)....

He was going to tell him about how (Sethe “flew, snatching” up her children....

2) Paraphrase how Paul D reacts to the news.

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Part II: Rhetorical effects practice
Consider the rhetorical triangle. How might the inclusion of the information and description that
Stamp Paid omitted change Paul D’s perception of the Sethe and what she did?

Part III: Language analysis practice

Take a second look at Stamp Paid’s description of Sethe’s actions. The short passage starts with
“So Stamp Paid did not tell him how she flew” and ends with “because there wasn’t any wood.” Then
write a short paragraph (basically, write one complete claim with evidence including a topic sentence)
to answer this question: What does Stamp’s memory say about Sethe’s actions?

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 Chapter 18
Part I -- Close Read and Analysis Practice
This activity reverses the usual analysis task. In this case, you are given a claim, and the sub-claims. You
need to find the proof.

Question: How does the use of language demonstrate Sethe’s attitude about her actions and about Paul
D’s reaction?

Answer: Sethe feels her actions were righteous. For example, the description of her body language at the
end of chapter 16 indicates that she is not ashamed. Furthermore, in chapter 18, Sethe attempts to make
Paul D understand that her actions resulted from her never-ending duty to protect them, yet
simultaneously, she is not concerned about making him accept her actions because she feels justified
that she did the right thing.

Essentially, the preceding sentence is a thesis. The bolded phrases need proof. As you read, find
evidence to support each element. Explain how the evidence that you chose proves the aspect of the
thesis. So this will be partial quotes/paraphrases followed by bulleted analysis of the text evidence.

... her actions resulted from her never-ending duty to protect [her children]

...she is not concerned about making him accept her actions

...she feels justified that she did the right thing.

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Part II: Theme Practice
Revisit the themes and motifs listed at the start of this guide. Pick one of them for elaboration (they may
be related). How do one or both of these chapters support the theme? (Note: Theme is a synonym for
argument)
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 Beloved Chapter 19 Guide

1. Why can’t Stamp Paid knock on the door of 124?

2.What was Stamp’s role in Sethe’s killing of Beloved? How does this establish his ethos? How does it affect
his connection to the residents of 124?

3. Why did “everybody in town long for Sethe to come on difficult times” (202)?

4. “Nobody saw them fall” repeated 3 times. What is the effect of this repetition?

5. Sethe recognizes Beloved. Explain how this happens. Analyze the passage for tone and imagery. Relate it
to the novel as whole.

6. Analyze Stamp Paid’s realization about Baby Suggs and relate it to the novel as whole:

“Now, too late, he understood her. The that pumped out love, the mouth that spoke the word, didn’t
count. They came in her yard anyway and she could not approve or condemn Sethe’s rough choice. One or the
other might have saved her, but beaten up by the claims of both, she went to bed. The white folks had tired her
out at last.” (212)

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Beloved
Analysis essay Prompts for Chapter 24 (Sixo)

TEACHER NOTE: These are all variations of an analysis essay prompt for the same scene in chapter
24 where School Teacher and his posse foil the escape plan. All work well. The first one is the
most difficult because it is least specific. The last one is most complex and my favorite (If you
accept Schoolteacher’s racist world view, then Stamp Paid is crazy. If you challenge it, then he is
defiant/brave/heroic). You could cut them out and paste them on a photocopied version of the
passage.

In the passage below, Paul D, the Thiry-Mile Woman, and Sixo are attempting an escape from
Sweet Home when schoolteacher and his posse interrupt their plans. Read the passage and then answer
the question below in a complete analysis essay.
Prompt: How does language in this passage illuminate Sixo’s character?

In the passage below, Paul D, the Thiry-Mile Woman, and Sixo are attempting an escape from
Sweet Home when schoolteacher and his posse interrupt their plans. Read the passage and then answer
the question below in a complete analysis essay.
Prompt: How does language in this passage illustrate the nature of Sixo’s defiance?

In the passage below, Paul D, the Thiry-Mile Woman, and Sixo are attempting an escape from
Sweet Home when schoolteacher and his posse interrupt their plans. Read the passage and then answer
the question below in a complete analysis essay.
Prompt: How does point of view create a contradicting impression of Sixo’s character?
PART I: GENERAL QUESTIONS
1. Beloved offers a complex depiction of white people living in, contributing to, fighting against a system of
institutionalized racism. These characters include Schoolteacher, Sheriff, the Bodwins, Amy Denver, the Garners.
Which of these three categories would you put them in? Discuss some of these complexities.

2. In her forward to the novel, Toni Morrison explains her purpose in this novel. She writes:
In trying to make the slave experience intimate, I hoped the sense of things being both under control and
out of control would be persuasive throughout; that the order and quietude of everyday life would be
violently disrupted by the chaos of the needy dead; that the herculean effort to forget would be threatened
by the memory desperate to stay alive. To render enslavement as a personal experience, language must get
out of the way” (xix).
First, paraphrase her purpose. Then, evaluate to what degree does she achieve her purpose and what are examples of
this attempt.

3. Compare your reaction to the story of the real-life Margaret Garner to your reaction to Sethe. How did your opinion
of Margaret Garner change? What rhetorical tactics in the novel most affected your opinion of either Margaret
Garner or Sethe?

4. This is an AP Language class. Let’s talk about language in Beloved. How does language denote power and lack of
power? Consider Sixo, Baby Suggs, names, labeling, etc.

PART II: THE ENDING

5. What does Denver expect to happen when she goes off in to the world, and what really happens? Why did she have
those expectations?

6. What happens when Denver lets Lady Jones know that she needs help? Compare and contrast this scene (the town
helps scene) to the “loaves and fishes” party that Baby Suggs throws.

7. Recall the definition and purpose of Magical Realism. How is Magical Realism present in this scene, the scene with
the women and the exorcism of Beloved. How does the strategy of Magical Realism “create argument”?
8. What is Paul D’s advice to Sethe and what does it mean? Do you think this scene is leading to a positive ending
through a positive message? Explain.

9. “This is not a story to pass on.” Discuss. Irony? Sincerity?

Part III: Relevance to Society

10. How does Beloved reflect the dysfunction of the African Diaspora? What are particular problems raised
(especially in Book III) and what are some solutions proposed?

11. A basis of the the American Identity and the so-called American Dream (think: Horatio Alger) is survival of the
fittest; however, some of the most iconic examples of American literature actually espouse the idea of survival
through community. How does Beloved exemplify this?

12. Beloved may be the reincarnation of a baby killed by her mother just as much as she is reincarnation of the legacy
and history of the institution of slavery that haunts the community of ex-slaves, the entire era of Reconstruction, or
even perhaps sticks with a country who cannot recover completely from such a sin even after hundreds of years---
This is a book about a particular community at a particular time in the past, but perhaps it is commentary on on-
going issues of race. How so?

13. At its core, Beloved is about ownership. What is the most important thing a person can own? Be more specific and
less obvious than oneself.