Beloved

Following the abolition of slavery, the trauma of enslavement still follows Sethe and Paul D as their relationship forces them both to remember the horrors of their pasts. This trauma persists in various hauntings—from the ghost possessing house 124 to the sudden appearance of Beloved. Each haunting reminds the formerly enslaved characters of the residual trauma they grapple with even long after slavery’s abolition. Both Sethe and Paul D struggle with their coping mechanisms at the start of the novel, moving between repression and silence.

For Sethe, her isolation from the townspeople has enabled her to avoid confronting the horrors of her past, particularly her violent actions toward her children. However, the temperamental ghost of 124 physically articulates the anger and pain that Sethe has repressed by shaking the house and tossing its furniture. The haint, the spirit of Sethe’s dead daughter, imbues the house with “baby’s venom” (3), and it is also a constant reminder of Sethe’s fear of being enslaved once again.

Paul D has coped with his enslavement and subsequent imprisonment by moving from place to place. House 124 is one of the first places he has settled in a while.