-
Sethe Born
Born to Ma'am, the only name given to the mother she never knew. -
Halle Born
Born to Baby Suggs -
The Garners
Baby Suggs and Halle were purchased by the Garners and taken to Kentucky to work at Sweet Home. -
Baby Suggs Freedom Bought
Halle buys his mothers freedom, working 7 days a week to make enough money. Suggs leaves to Cincinnati. -
Sethe Arrives
As a replacement for Baby Suggs, Sethe is brought to Sweet Home -
Sethe and Halle get married
The Garners allow them to get married in the cornfield, believing that black people didn't deserve a real wedding. -
Howard
Sethe gives birth to her and Halle's first child. -
Buglar
Sethe gives birth to her and Halle's second son -
Schoolteacher
Mrs. Garner hires the violent and vehemently racist "Schoolteacher" to run Sweet Home, replacing the deceased Mr. Garner. His presence makes life at Sweet Home even more unbearable. -
Beloved
Sethe gives birth to her and Halle's first daughter. We never learn the babies real name, however, her headstone was engraved with the word "Beloved." -
Sethe's Milk
Sethe, pregnant with her fourth child, is attacked in the barn by the Schoolteachers nephews, who steal the milk from her body while Halle watches in horror. Sethe is beaten when she tells Mrs. Garner about the attack. -
Escaping Sweet Home
The slaves decide to run, however, Schoolteacher predicts their escape and captures Paul D and Sixo. Schoolteacher kills Sixo and brings Paul D back to Sweet Home. Sethe, having already sent her children to Baby Suggs’s house, is intent on escaping. -
The Woodshed
When Schoolteacher comes for Sethe and her children, Sethe flees to the woodshed and attempts to murder her children, trying to spare them from a life of slavery. She only succeeds in killing Beloved. She and Denver are taken to prison, but a group of white abolitionists fight for their release. -
Denver
Scarred from the beating, Sethe runs away and collapses from exhaustion in the forest. Amy Denver finds her, nurses her back to health, and eventually helps to deliver Sethe's fourth child. Sethe names her second daughter Denver after Amy. -
28 Days of Peace
After reaching Cincinnati, Sethe goes to 124 Bluestone to see her children and Suggs and has 28 wonderful days. -
Paul D Captured
After attempting to kill Brandywine, his slave owner after The Garners/Schoolteacher, Paul D is sent to become a member of a chain gang in Georgia, later escaping during a rainstorm. -
Paul D comes to 124
This event marks the transition from the retelling of events into the present time. Before moving in, Paul D chases away 124's ghost, causing Denver to resent him. Sethe and Paul D find a strange young woman who calls herself Beloved sleeping near 124, most of the characters believe that this is the spirit of Sethe's murdered daughter. -
Obsession and Manipulation
Denver becomes obsessed with Beloved, and Beloved becomes obsessed with Sethe. Paul D and Beloved hate each other, with Beloved seducing Paul D and moving him around like a ragdoll. -
Paul D Leaves Sethe
After finding out that Sethe killed her child, Paul D leaves and begins sleeping in the church basement. This allows the relationship between Sethe and Beloved to become increasingly intense and abusive, with Sethe becoming obsessed with satisfying Beloved. -
The Intervention
Denver leaves 124 to seek help from Lady Jones, and eventually, the community organizes in order to get rid of Beloved. They find Sethe and Beloved on the porch, Beloved being naked and pregnant. -
Mr Bodwin and Beloved's Disappearance.
After Mistaking Mr. Bodwin for Schoolteacher, Sethe runs at him with an ice pick, attempting to stab him. Beloved disappears in the scuffle, never to return. -
An Unpleasant Dream
Sethe retreats to Suggs' bed to die, with Paul D comforting her as she mourns Beloved. The novel ends in describing that the town residents have forgotten Beloved, regarding the event as an Unpleasant Dream
