Beloved Analysis

As Sethe reflects on her new life in 124, and the effect Paul D has on it, she recounts what she calls a “rememory,” or in other words a “haunting.”  At this point in the novel the haunted nature of 124 has caused a significant amount of grief for both Sethe and her children, and Sethe states that Paul D “had beat the spirit away the very day he entered her house”(113).  Sethe appreciates the weight that Paul D carries to lift the burden of the ghost off her shoulders, but “in [the ghost’s] place [Paul D] brought another kind of haunting: Halle’s face smeared with butter and the clabber too; his own mouth jammed full of iron, and Lord knows what else he could tell her if he wanted to”(113).  Although Paul D appears to have removed the ghost from 124, he has brought a new haunt into the house, which is the recurring image of “Halle’s faced smeared with butter.”  The repetition of this image refers to the time at Sweet Home when Halle watched Sethe get raped, while he sat helplessly and was unable to provide any aid whatsoever.  This scene shows the helpless nature in which Halle watched, and the image of “Halle’s face smeared with butter” symbolizes degradation and the laborious work of slavery.  Not only is Halle forced to watch helplessly, but also “his own mouth [was] jammed full of iron.”  The “iron” jammed into Halle’s mouth shows the demeaning nature of slavery and also his inability to speak out to Sethe.  Sethe is haunted by the idea that Halle never told her that he saw her get raped, and the mystery of “what else he could tell her if he wanted to” haunts her memory.