Beloved Padlet Activity by Darius Cleaver

Passage

dcleaver3_1 — 2024-12-10 18:34:58 UTC

"A fully dressed woman walked out of the water. She barely gained the dry bank of the stream before she sat down and leaned against a mulberry tree. All day and night she sat there, her head resting on the trunk in a position abandoned enough to crack the brim in her straw hat. Sopping wet and breathing shallow she spent those hours trying to negotiate the weight of her eyelids. The day breeze blew her dress dry; the night wind wrinkled it. Nobody saw her emerge or came accidentally by. If they had, chances are they would have hesitated before approaching her. Not because she was wet, or dozing or had what sounded like asthma, but because amid all that she was smiling." (Morrison, 60)

Context/Explanation

dcleaver3_1 — 2024-12-10 18:42:10 UTC

In this passage, we meet Beloved as a young adult for the first time. She is described very uniquely and mysteriously, unlike any other character found in the novel. She is also described to be a little scary as Morrison writes "If they had [seen her emerge] chances are they would have hesitated before approaching her. Not because she was wet... but because... she was smiling," (60). This quote shows that nobody really had the guts to approach her because of her strangeness and the fear that people would have from seeing that.

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dcleaver3_1 — 2024-12-10 18:49:14 UTC

Passage

dcleaver3_1 — 2024-12-12 16:29:04 UTC

""You did it, I saw you," said Denver.

"What?"

"I saw your face. You made her choke."

"I didn't do it."

"You told me you loved her."

"I fixed it, didn't I? Didn't I fix her neck?"

"After. After you choked her neck."

"I kissed her neck. I didn't choke it. The circle of iron choked it."

"I saw you." Denver grabbed Beloved's arm.

"Look out, girl,"" (Morrison, 119)

Context/Explanation

dcleaver3_1 — 2024-12-12 16:29:24 UTC

In this passage, Denver confronts Beloved for choking Sethe and as readers, we can see that Beloved acts very childish by denying the actions she committed and blaming it on the "circle of iron". This passage primarily shows the way that Beloved interacts with others is almost as if she is a young child, likely because she is the ghost of one.

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dcleaver3_1 — 2024-12-12 16:34:52 UTC

Passage

dcleaver3_1 — 2024-12-12 16:47:11 UTC

""I want you to touch me on the inside part."

"Go on back in that house and get to bed."

"You have to touch me. On the inside part. And you have to call me my name."" (Morrison, 137)

Context/Explanation

dcleaver3_1 — 2024-12-12 16:50:19 UTC

During this part of the novel, Morrison writes about how Beloved slept with Paul D. Prior to this part, Beloved "dropped her skirts... and looked at him with empty eyes," (137). It seems that Beloved's actions tend to be spooky and freaky throughout the novel.

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dcleaver3_1 — 2024-12-12 16:53:41 UTC

Passage

dcleaver3_1 — 2024-12-21 15:59:48 UTC

"I am Beloved and she is mine. I see her take flowers away from leaves she puts them in a round basket the leaves are not for her she fills the basket she opens the grass I would help her but the clouds are in the way how can I say things that are pictures I am not separate from her there is no place where I stop her face is my own and I want to be there in the place where her face is and to be looking at it too a hot thing" (Morrison, 248)

Context/Explanation

dcleaver3_1 — 2024-12-21 16:01:20 UTC

This passage comes from Beloved's individual chapter later on in the novel. We see in this chapter how Beloved thinks about her family and also other experiences she has. We also see that Beloved thinks and writes like a child, since she technically is one, because she uses zero forms of punctuation in the entire passage.

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dcleaver3_1 — 2024-12-21 16:02:35 UTC

Passage

dcleaver3_1 — 2024-12-21 16:07:06 UTC

"Beloved smiles, "I don't want that place/ This the place I am." She sits down on the pallet and. laughing, lies back looking at the cracklights above.

Surreptitiously, Denver pinches a piece of Beloved's skirt between her fingers and holds on. A good thing she does because suddenly Beloved sits up.

"What is it?" asks Denver.

"Look," she points to the sunlit crack.

"What? I don't see nothing." Denver follows the pointing finger.

Beloved drops her hand. "I'm like this."

Denver watches as Beloved bends over, curls up and rocks. Her eyes go to no place; her moaning is so small Denver can hardly hear it.

"You all right? Beloved?"

Beloved focuses her eyes. "Over there. Her face."

Denver looks where Beloved's eyes go; there is nothing but darkness there.

"Whose face? Who is it?"

"Me. It's me."

She is smiling again" (Morrison, 146)

Context/Explanation

dcleaver3_1 — 2024-12-21 16:10:15 UTC

This passage appears early on in the novel, shortly after we meet Beloved. We learn how Beloved talks from this passage and that her form of speech is rather childish, because she has lived the same amount of years as a young child. We also learn that Beloved acts very mysterious in her speech and that she doesn't say everything that she means directly. She uses short phrases in her speech, such as "Look" and "I'm like this" which Morrison includes to emphasize how similar Beloved's speech is to a young child's.

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dcleaver3_1 — 2024-12-21 16:11:38 UTC