Ghost and fear by Duong Trinh

After reading Toni Morrison's Beloved, I return to question the significance of the ghost to the entire story.


Frequently associated with the cause of fear, a ghost is supposed to startle and bring horror to the characters. However, fear is never mentioned in their reactions to the existence of the ghost named Beloved. Only familiarity is prevalent as if they have been waiting for Beloved for so long and if Beloved is part of them all.


To explain the characters' comfortable reactions to such a supernatural phenomenon, Toni Morrison even describes Beloved's personalities that depend on the feelings of different characters. For example, Denver senses her as lonely, while Sethe senses rebuked. Paul D is a bit exceptional in that he is not frightened of Beloved at first. Her appearance gives him a chance to show manhood to be protective of his love, Sethe. However, she scares him when his irresistibility to her sexual invite arises and challenges his sense of manhood. Besides that, when knowing from Denver that her daughter possesses Sethe, the women in the neighborhood are completely fearless to come praying for the family. Don't they know about the haunted house, or do they need a confirmation to take pity on the family, of which they used to be envious?


In other words, along with familiarity, the ghost reflects various obsessions each of the characters has separately. Denver, in absolute loneliness, desires a sibling because her mother only misses the dead daughter, while her two brothers already leave the house and never come back. Sethe, blaming herself for killing Beloved out of necessity, deems the ghost as mad and rebuking. In Paul D's feeling, Beloved is sad because he is too immersed in his memories in the Garners' farm, as indicated in his recollection of the past. The women gathering outside 124 Bluestone Road are so excited to save Sethe since Baby Suggs' freedom from enslavement hurts them. Acting like heroes towards those in that house helps lift their self-esteem.


Therefore, reincarnating Beloved, Toni Morrison exposes the characters' problems, renders them tangible, and lets them scream out loud. Though not feared at first by their owners, the problems are subconsciously so fearful that Denver must seek help from others when her desired sister is toxic and dangerous. Sethe has undergone self-harming, and Paul D runs away from his ideal manly protection of Sethe. In the form of a human being, Beloved allows the characters to face their obsessions and consider if they are worth seeking. The book is thus a journey that challenges Denver, Sethe, and Paul D's beliefs in what they deem as good for themselves. What is more fearful than a ghost is to see their obsessive desires popping up like bubbles.


Nevertheless, it is fortunate and blissful at the end of the story that Denver is able to get out of the house to find friends for job opportunities and independence. Sethe also finds herself again with the courage to redo the past, namely to kill the one resembling the schoolteacher, the source of her pain, and let Beloved vanish. Meanwhile, Paul D decides to return to Sethe with care and encouragement. He, previously a slave, is no longer ashamed of himself before such a noble person like Sethe. He eventually sees her as a normal person in bold actions while seeing himself powerful enough to take care of her and not run away anymore. 

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