-
Sethe first arrives at Sweet Home
As mentioned on page 13, Sethe was taken to Sweet Home at the age of thirteen; this would have made the year around 1848, since she married Halle the year afterwards and mentions on page 28 that she was married to Halle for six years. Sethe took the place of Baby Suggs, who had her freedom bought by Halle. -
Halle and Sethe get married
Sethe and Halle marry, most likely around 1849; Sethe was 19 years old when she made efforts to escape Sweet Home, as mentioned on page 91, and on page 71, it is mentioned that she "wasn't but fourteen years old" when she made the dress for her and Halle's marriage, and also that she was married for six years (page 28). Going from there, it's likely that they got married around 1849. She is given diamond earrings for her wedding by Mrs. Garner (page 71); by 1873 these earrings are "Long gone". -
Sethe is assaulted by schoolteacher's nephews
Sethe is sexually assaulted by the schoolteacher's nephews, who take her milk (page 19). Halle sees the assault happen from the barn's loft, and is left mentally broken by it (page 83-84). She is whipped afterwards, and she runs away from Sweet Home while pregnant (page 44). -
Sethe runs away from Sweet Home
At 19, Sethe runs away from Sweet Home to get to her children, who are with their grandmother, Baby Suggs (page 91). -
Denver is born
On page 9, the quote "Eighteen fifty-five. The day my baby was born." tells us the year that Denver was born. Near death, Sethe is helped in surviving and delivering the baby by a white woman named Amy Denver, who is in search of food and making her way to Boston for velvet fabric (page 39-41). Sethe's encounter with Amy Denver is what creates the comparison of her scars to a "chokecherry tree" (page 93). -
Baby Suggs believes that Halle has died
On page 9, Sethe states how Baby Suggs believes that Halle died "Eighteen fifty-five. The day my baby was born.". -
Paul D is chained up for 83 days in a row at an Alfred, Georgia prison camp
Paul D first mentions the prison camp on page 21, in the passage "The pulse of the red light hadn't come back and Paul D had not trembled since 1856 and then for eighty-three days in a row." (page 21). On page 49, it is mentioned that the prison camp was located in Alfred, Georgia. -
Sethe's grandmother Baby Suggs died
From the year given at the start of "Beloved" on page 1, 1873, and the passage on page 8 stating that Baby Suggs has been dead for "Eight years now. Almost nine.", it is likely that Sethe's grandmother died around the year 1864. -
Paul D is in Rochester
Paul D recalls on page 62 when he was in Rochester four years ago; the Civil War had been over for four or five years at that point, but no one seemed aware of it (page 63). -
Paul D arrives at I24
On page 7, Paul D first appears at I24 on Bluestone Road, as shown in the passage "As if to punish her further for her terrible memory, sitting on the porch not forty feet away was Paul D, the last of the Sweet Home men.". -
Thursday: Sethe, Paul D, and Denver go to the carnival
Sethe, Paul D, and Denver go to the circus on Thursday, the day that African Americans are allowed to go on (page 55-56). Beloved first appears sitting on a stump near I24 as the group is coming back from the carnival near Cincinnati (page 60, 64). Sethe inexplicably has to pass large amounts of water, and is reminded of when she gave birth to Denver (page 61). -
Beloved notices the orange patches on the quilt
A week after the carnival (in other words, on the next Thursday), Beloved notices the orange scraps on the quilt, and is so taken with them that she begins to stay awake longer (page 65). -
Sethe and Denver are the only individuals left at I24
As stated on page 1, by 1873, Sethe and Denver are the only ones left at I24; Baby Suggs has died and Sethe's sons, Howard and Buglar, ran away at thirteen years old. -
Beloved asks about Sethe's mother
About four weeks after Beloved arrived, she asks Sethe the question "Your woman she never fix up your hair?" (page 72); Sethe tells Beloved about her mother, her death from being hung (page 73), and the fact that out of all of her children, she only kept Sethe alive, the one child she had with an African American man, and gave her her father's name (page 74). Denver has a realization about the odd knowledge behind Beloved's questions, such as "Where are your diamonds?" (page 75).