Synopsis and analysis of Chapters 1-7 of Toni Morrison's classic book "Beloved"
Beat: "32 Bars" by Antidote Beats
LYRICS:
(page number references from red cover book, 2004 edition)
Deep in slavery, Sethe found bravery
Resolute, she ran, never thought about wavering (10).
Raised daughter Denver, got themselves a house,
The ghost inside of it shook and pushed her sons out (3).
Paul D arrives, formerly enslaved (7)
Shared the torture with Sethe in them Kentucky days (10).
He drives out the ghost and Sethe feels connection (21),
A sign of a new life, one that has direction.
Denver’s got suspicion, somethin’ like intuition (52),
The pain of Sethe’s memories now coming to fruition.
New person on the scene means the bulk of mama’s dreams
Are devoted to another and her daughter wants to scream.
Sweet Home is what the characters are starting to remember,
Scenes of horror burn in the back of heads like embers.
Sethe wonders if hell too has pretty trees (7),
Recalls the men hanging as she rubs Paul’s knees (86).
CHORUS
It’s treachery, it’s violence, it’s baked into the history,
This book seeks to clarify and then decloud the mystery,
Sethe wrestles tension in the heart, can you feel it?
Memory and trauma like an onion, let her peel it.
Humans being human where there’s dehumanization (86),
They stole Sethe’s milk (20) ‘cause it’s a free nation.
Free to put a bit into the mouth of Paul D (82, 84)
Free to harm, free to kill, free to act as they please.
Every step Sethe makes, Morrison steps back
Like a time-traveling storyteller, memories attack
Like a smack we get hit with nonlinear events,
We’re trudging through the trauma of the time that Sethe spent…
at the Sweet Home, nothin’ sweet, nothin home about it (16),
A plantation of pain (7), no decent human would’ve allowed it.
Paul D and Sethe, 18 years after (8),
Recallin the night when Halle hid in the rafters (81).
See Halle was Sethe’s man, a husband and a son
He disappeared when Sethe and her kids started to run (38),
He bought his mother freedom, Baby Suggs received the love (13),
But he broke when he saw Sethe and two boys from above (82).
CHORUS
It’s treachery, it’s violence, it’s baked into the history,
This book seeks to clarify and then decloud the mystery,
Sethe wrestles tension in the heart, can you feel it?
Memory and trauma like an onion, let her peel it.
It’s heavy, ain’t it? The crackle of the whip (20),
But now a rush of feeling comes from Paul D’s lips (21),
Perhaps a life, she thinks, a life that leads to healing (46, 57),
The retelling of memories that each day is revealing (43).
But just when stable ground appears for Denver, Seth and Paul,
Just when a path forward speaks of dignity for all (59),
Amidst a sense of normalcy, one others might covet (58),
The water starts to stir, and out walks Beloved (60).
Young and shiny, glowing, but talking like she’s sick (67),
Sethe sees the woman and the atmosphere is thick (61).
They take Beloved in and Denver tends to every need (79),
But all Paul D can think about is “one more mouth to feed.” (79)
She looks so strong and healthy, her shoes are brand new (79)
She seems to lack the heaviness like others have been through (78).
Meanwhile we keep receiving memories of the enslaved,
Bits in mouth, stolen milk, but a people standin brave.
CHORUS
It’s treachery, it’s violence, it’s baked into the history,
This book seeks to clarify and then decloud the mystery,
Sethe wrestles tension in the heart, can you feel it?
Memory and trauma like an onion, let her peel it.