"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?