Beloved

In Toni Morrison's "Beloved" the character of Beloved is complicated and unpredictable thus far in the novel. There are many signs that she is the reincarnation or the manifested ghost of the spiteful baby ghost that haunted the house but that Paul D was able to yell away. The most obvious sign is probably that she says her name is Beloved, but Sethe does not suspect anything distrustful about her, just that she is a lost young black girl in need of a home and food. Denver is absolutely enthralled by Beloved, and devotedly takes care of her while she was sick her first few days of staying at 124. Sethe is pleased that Denver enjoys Beloved presence so much because she knows how lonely Denver was.  Beloved has a strange and strong attachment to Sethe. Beloved's presence is not welcome by Paul D. He senses something isn't right about her and they both begin to want to drive the other away and compete for Sethe's attention. Conversations Beloved has with Denver reveal vague information that can be read as perhaps being a baby in a womb. When Denver asks what is was like in the place Beloved was before, she says, "'Dark,' said Beloved. 'I'm small in that place. I'm like this here.' She raised her head off the bed, lay down on her side and curled up"(Morrison 75). She also says that it was, "Hot. Nothing to breathe down there and no room to move in" (Morrison 75).  Yet it is still a mystery as to who exactly she is or why she has come to 124.