Baby Suggs Beloved

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Recommended: Plot summary of Toni Morrison's Beloved

Toni Morrison’s novel Beloved tells the story of an ex-slave woman named Sethe and her search for redemption after committing infanticide. However, Sethe isn’t the only one seeking redemption. Sethe’s violent act greatly affected the community in which she lived, especially Baby Suggs, Sethe’s mother-in-law. Though she is already dead during the present time of the novel, Baby Suggs plays a key role in the story, influencing not only Sethe, but the entire community. Although Baby Suggs is a key character in this novel, only a few scholars have truly analyzed her importance. Emily Griesinger and Colleen Cullinan saw Baby Suggs as a redeemer from a spiritual and maternal perspective, respectively. However, Jean Daniels saw Baby Suggs as a radical, …show more content…

Always. Never be another like her… Everybody miss her. That was a good woman’” (Morrison 299). Baby Suggs made such an impression on her community that even those who didn’t go to the Clearing to hear her speak loved her because “Baby Suggs not only spoke redemption to those who would hear, but she also enabled it to come to life among them” (Cullinan 94). By practicing what she preached both inside and outside of the Clearing, Baby Suggs gained the respect and admiration of all who knew her. She was more than just their preacher and redeemer. She was their mother, and deep down, they all knew it. It is these memories of Baby Suggs as a mother that spurred the women of the community to band together to exorcise Beloved. Though Baby Suggs wasn’t there in person, her spirit was with those women. This was felt by all, but especially by Sethe, who was most in need of help. “For Sethe it was as though the Clearing had come to her with all its heat and simmering leaves… It broke over Sethe and she trembled like the baptized in its wash” (Morrison 308). By forgiving Sethe for her violent past and banding together to exorcise Beloved, the women brought back the spirit of Baby Suggs and the healing of the Clearing. In that moment, they did more than honor her memory. For a moment, it was like Baby Suggs was alive and preaching with her big heart once

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