The Importance Of The Ghost In Beloved By Toni Morrison

Beloved A Novel by Toni Morrison is historical fiction; ghost story which takes place in 1873, at the house of 124 Bluestone Road, Cincinnati, Ohio. Where Sethe a runaway slave from Sweet Home plantation and her eighteen-year-old daughter Denver have been living alone. As the introduction progresses, Sethe describes the malevolent presence of the Ghost that has been haunting 124 for years. On the day the novel begins, a ghost in the flesh from Sethes past winds up on her door step, Paul D another salve from Sweet Home plantation. His presences will throw Sethe into the first of many flashbacks to come. The presence of Paul D upsets the ghost which is known to be Sethes daughter. Paul Ds attempt to banish the ghost, will only lead to consequences

Yet, the plot is thickened by the frequent flashbacks to the early 1850’s to Sweet Home Plantation in Kentucky. The setting shapes the book, being that it is set in 1873 about seven years after the end of the civil war, racial tension were still high in the states. The Fugitive Salve Act of 1850 had been passed decades before but still had precedence over many states. “It required that all escaped slaves were, upon capture, to be returned to their masters and that officials and citizens of free states had to cooperate in this law.” (Fugitive Slave Act of 1850." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia) This law was essentially the driving force behind the entire plot. Sethe had escaped Sweet Home Plantation in Kentucky to 124 Bluestone Road in Cincinnati where slavery was outlawed. However, her owner The School Teacher comes to reclaim her and her children. Not wanting her children to live a life of slavery, and the torture she went through her entire life, Sethe slit the throat of her daughter, but escaped with her sons Buglar and Howard. It is the spirit of the daughter that she killed that haunts the house, and returns as the woman, Beloved, in the book to wreak

With the arrival of Beloved Denver finds a maternal side to herself. Nursing her back to health, wanting to be close to beloved, and wanting to protect her. She is the first to put the pieces together that beloved is Sethes daughter reincarnated, which she does not share. However, with the increasing malevolence of beloved, and her mother’s retreat to please her daughter, Denver is thrown back into the world outside 124. She gains the courage to help her mother before Beloved grows murderous. Finding the ability to trust once again, she finds help from the community and saves her mother. Her struggles throughout the novel only adds to the outcome of her character. By the end of the novel you see that she has developed into a civil, sincere, intelligent human being.
While Denver’s journey is a development into good character, Beloved is completely the opposite. At the beginning of the novel, it is believed that she is just a regular woman who has been locked up; or perhaps is sick with cholera. She can barely talk, wishes to be waited on and has baby-soft skin that looks like she hasn’t worked a day in her life. All of these qualities are the first signs to the other characters that beloved is in fact the reincarnated daughter of