Beloved Analysis

Sarah Birkett

P.3

AP Lang

4-2-13

            In Beloved, Morrison employs the metaphor of swords and shields to demonstrate Sethe’s hard fought war against the sadness of her past. Sethe has recently learned that her husband has watched her be raped and now the painful memories of the rape and her time at Sweet Home are returning to her. All of this hurt inside her is making her want Baby Sugg’s back and her, “fingers moldering her nape, reshaping it,” (101).  The image of Baby Suggs massaging Sethe’s neck and “reshaping” it reinforces the role of Baby Suggs as a caregiver and a healer. Baby Suggs tells Sethe to, “[l]ay em down, Sethe. Sword and shield. Down” which is her way of telling her daughter-in-law to relax and relieve her mind of the pain. By using the terms “Sword and shield,” Baby Suggs makes it apparent that Sethe is in engaged in a war against her inner sadness and painful memories of the past (101). Sethe is now remembering how Baby Suggs could get her to put down her, “heavy knives of defense against misery, regret, gall, and hurt,” (101). The “heavy knives” display the weaponry that Sethe has to try and protect herself against the sadness she feels. Sethe’s “misery, regret, gall, and hurt,” are then talked about and Morrison fully displays how Sethe is hurting because of her painful past.