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Sethe is Born
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Dehumanization/Milk Taken and Schoolteacher
Event: “After I left you, those boys came in there and took my milk. That’s what they came in there for. Held me down and took it.” (Pg. 19) Reaction: “The little whitebabies got it first and I got what was left. Or none. There was no nursing milk to call my own. I know what it is to be without the milk that belongs to you; to have to fight and holler for it, and to have so little left.” (Pg. 236) -
Escape from Sweet Home
Event: "There was this nineteen-year-old slavegirl-a year older than herself-walking through the dark woods to get to her children...behind her dogs, perhaps; guns probably; and certainly mossy teeth." (Pg. 91) Reaction: " 'What Halle ever do to you?'...'He wasn't there. He wasn't where he said he would be.' " (Pg. 81) Reaction: -
Denver's Birth
Event: “Amy fairly clawed at the head. When a foot rose from the river bed and kicked the bottom of the boat and Sethe’s behind, she knew it was done…Nothing happened for so long they both believed they had lost it. Sethe arched and suddenly the afterbirth shot out. Then the baby whimpered and Sethe looked.” (pg. 99) Reaction: "Sethe felt herself falling into a sleep she knew would be deep...'That's pretty. Denver. Real pretty.' " (Pg. 100) -
28 "Happy" Days
Event: “Sethe had had twenty-eight days- the travel of one whole moon- of unslaved life….Days of healing, ease and real-talk. Days of company” (Pg. 111) Reaction: “Bit by bit, at 124 and in the Clearing, along with the others, she had claimed herself.” (Pg. 111) -
The Murder of Beloved
Event: "...A nigger woman holding a blood-soaked child to her chest with one hand and an infant by the heels in the other." (Pg. 175) Reaction: “It ain’t my job to know what’s worse. It’s my job to know what is and to keep them away from what I know is terrible. I did that.” (Pg. 194)"If I hadn’t killed her she would have died and that is something I could not bear to happen to her.” (Pg. 236) -
The Four Horsemen Come to 124
Event: "When the four horsemen came--schoolteacher, one nephew, one slave catcher and a sheriff--the house on Bluestone Road was so quiet they thought they were too late." (Pg. 174) Reaction: " 'Did it work?' 'It worked...They ain't at Sweet Home. Schoolteacher ain't got em'. " (Pg. 194) -
Paul D Arrives at 124
Event: "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." (Pg. 7) Reaction: “The fact that Paul D had come out of “that other one” into her bed was better too; and the notion of a future with him, or for that matter without him, was beginning to stroke her mind.” (Pg. 51) -
Beloved Arrives
Event: “A fully dressed woman walked out of the water.” (Pg. 60) Reaction: “The minute I saw you sitting on the stump, it broke. ..I would have known who you were right away because the cup after cup of water you drank proved and connected to the fact that you dribbled clear spit on my face the day I got to 124.” (Pg. 239) -
The Clearing
Event: “Sethe decided to go to the Clearing, back where Baby Suggs had danced in sunlight.” (Pg. 101) Reaction: “More than commemorating Halle, that is what she had come to the Clearing to figure out, and now it was figured.” (Pg. 116) -
Paul D Leaves 124
Event: “You got two feet, Sethe, not four,” he said, and right then a forest sprang up between them, trackless and quiet.” (Pg. 194) Reaction: “Sweet, she thought. He must think I can’t bear to hear him say it. That after all I have told him and after telling me how many feet I have, ‘goodbye’ would break me to pieces. Ain’t that sweet. ‘So long,’ she murmured from the far side of the trees.” (Pg. 195) -
Realization of Beloved's Identity
Event: “When the click came Sethe didn’t know what it was. Afterward it was clear as daylight that the click came at the very beginning- a beat, almost, before it started; before she heard three notes; before the melody was even clear. Leaning forward a little, Beloved was humming softly.” (Pg. 206) Reaction: “Beloved, she my daughter. She mine.” (Pg. 236) -
Paul D Returns to 124
Event: "His coming is the reverse route of his going." (Pg. 310) Reaction: "She smiles, lets it fade and turns her eyes back to the window." (Pg. 320) -
Attempted Murder of Mr. Bodwin
Event: “Guiding the mare, slowing down, his black hat wide-brimmed enough to hide his face but not his purpose. He is coming into her yard and he is coming for her best thing.” (Pg. 308)Reaction: “Little hummingbirds stick needle beaks right through her headcloth into her hair and beat their wings. And if she things anything, it is no. No no. Nonono. She flies. The ice pick is not in her hand; it is her hand.” (Pg. 308)