"This
is not a story to pass on " (275).
Things to Consider:
- "Rememory"
- Why Beloved Returns
- Fates of Halle, Howard, Buglar
- Female vs. Male Slavery
- Relationships between Parents & Children
** Homework Questions ** (See Part Two
See Part Three)
Part One:
4:
- Why does Baby Suggs want colors as she lay dying? (see
also 38,
179, 201)
5:
- How does Sethe procure the engraving for her daughter's
headstone?
10:
- Explain: "'If you a man yourself, you'll want your
niggers
to
be men too'" (10).
35:
- Explain: "'Anything dead coming back to life hurts'"
(35).
36:
45:
- Why does Paul D consider it risky for Sethe to love Denver
so
much?
58:
- Why does Sethe not like telling stories? What changes
her
mind?
68:
- What does Halle see? How does he react? Why?
95:
- Explain: "Freeing yourself was one thing; claiming
ownership of
that freed self was another" (95).
155:
- Explain: "There was no way in hell a black face could
appear in
a newspaper if the story was about something anybody wanted to hear"
(155).
Other Discussion Questions:
3:
- Why do Howard and Buglar leave 124 Bluestone Road?
4:
- Why doe Sethe and Denver summon the ghost after Baby Suggs'
death?
5:
- Explain: "That's all you let yourself remember" (5).
7:
13:
- Explain: "Only those who knew him . . . could claim
his
absence
for themselves" (13).
17:
- Why does Sethe get beaten?
19:
- How does Paul D get rid of the ghost?
- How does Denver react to the ghost's disappearance?
21:
- According to Paul D, does Sethe's back really have a tree in
it?
Explain.
27:
- What might the description of the corn symbolize here?
46-49:
- How is the carnival scene significant?
53:
- Why is Beloved so thirsty?
62:
- Why does Denver hate hearing her mother's stories that don't
include
her?
71:
- Why do roosters bother Paul D?
75:
- How does Denver realize who Beloved is?
76:
- Why does Beloved need Sethe?
86:
- What is the Clearing? Why does Sethe decide to go there?
87:
- Why is Baby Suggs called Baby Suggs, holy?
88:
- What is Baby Suggs's message to the people in the clearing?
96:
- Who chokes Sethe? Why? (see 98, 102)
103:
- Why does Denver lose her hearing for two years?
104:
- What final lesson does Baby Suggs offer?
107-8:
- What is "breakfast" for the slaves on the chain gang with
Paul D?
110:
- How do these slaves escape?
117:
- Why does Paul D sleep with Beloved?
121:
- Why must Denver be a "strategist now"?
125:
- Where does manhood lie for the Sweet Home men?
137:
- Why do people resent Baby Suggs for having a feast? (see 138)
149:
- Why does Sethe try to kill her children? (see 163, 200)
150:
- Why don't Schoolteacher and his nephews take Sethe with them?
- Why have the whites in Sethe's eyes disappeared?
155:
- Why is Morrison describing pig farming in such detail?
Is
it relevant?
156:
- Why doesn't Paul D believe what Stamp Paid says about Sethe?
164:
- Explain: "Your love is too thick" (164). What
does
Paul
D mean by this?
165:
Part Two:
** Homework Questions **
171:
- Why does everybody want Sethe to come on hard times?
184:
- Explain: "There is no world outside my door" (184).
- Where does Stamp Paid get his name?
193:
- Explain Schoolteacher's lesson.
199:
- Explain: "The screaming baboon lived under their own
white
skin;
the red gums were their own" (199).
200:
- Explain: "If I hadn't killed her she would have died
and
that
is something I could not bear to happen to her" (200).
202:
- According to Sethe, why doesn't she recognize Beloved when
she
first
returns?
205:
- Why doesn't Denver ever leave the house alone?
208:
- Why, according to Denver, does Beloved return?
210:
- Explain the following: "a hot thing," "iron
circle,"
and
"men without skin" (210).
Other Discussion Questions:
172:
- Whose voices does Stamp hear?
174:
- Why do the three women go ice skating?
175:
- What "click" does Sethe hear? Explain.
183:
- Why doesn't Sethe hear the voices?
189:
- Why does Sethe "steal" from the restaurant?
231:
- Does Stamp know Judy? Explain.
Part Three:
** Homework Questions **
240:
- Why do Sethe and Beloved cut Denver out of their "games"?
243:
- Why does Denver need to protect Sethe from Beloved (and not
vice
versa)?
250:
- Explain: "The bigger Beloved got, the smaller Sethe
became" (250).
252:
- Explain: "It was as though Sethe didn't really want
forgiveness
given" (252).
256:
- According to Ella, what is "'the lowest yet'" (256)?
261:
- How are the thirty women outside the house like the crowds
of
the Clearing?
262:
- Why does Sethe try to kill Mr. Bodwin?
273:
- Explain: "'You your best thing, Sethe"" (273).
275:
- Explain: "This is not a story to pass on " (275).
More Complex Discussion Questions:
- Is it significant that, before Paul D arrives, the only
members
of the
family to be chased away from the house by the ghost are male, leaving
all females behind (including the ghost)? Explain.
- Why does Beloved return? Why does she leave? Has
her
purpose
been fulfilled?
- Is Sethe justified in trying to kill her kids to save them
from
slavery?
Explain.
- What happens to Halle, Buglar, and Howard? Not in the
book--what
do
you think happens to them after they "leave" the novel? Where do
they end up?
- What will happen to Paul D and Sethe?