Beloved Characters

Sure, the whole book is named after Beloved. But hey, just because you have something named after you doesn't mean you're the (only) star. Is Grey's Anatomy only about Meredith Grey? Our point exac...

Where to begin? Beloved is the sun, the moon, the stars… in other words, she's everything in this book. Without Beloved, the story would lack a core and a structure—without her, we have no plot...

If you think Beloved has the right to some serious griping, wait until you read about Denver. Sure, Denver's ahead of Beloved on a couple of counts: Sethe never killed Denver and no one questions t...

Paul D is damaged goods with a heart of gold. Think dark, tall, handsome, and sensitive. Jackpot.But he wasn't always this way. In fact, it's not until he gets to 124 and Sethe that he starts to tu...

The "Unchurched Preacher"Baby Suggs is that person you go to with all of your deep, scary problems—the kind of problems you can't tell your parents or even your best friend. She's the all-loving...

What's With the Name?If ever there were a character defined by his name, Stamp Paid's the guy. In fact, he straight out tells us the story behind his name. That means you can stop racking your brai...

Sometimes evil looks a lot like a vanilla wafer. And that's schoolteacher—a boring, benign-looking academic-type, glasses and all. Scratch the surface, though, and you've got a prototype for Dr....

All that we know about Halle comes in bits and pieces. He's a devoted son, able to buy Baby Suggs's freedom by farming himself out as a laborer. He seems like a good husband since Sethe never compl...

Sixo's the ultimate rebel. If he were around today, he'd probably be an activist, maybe even a community organizer. Let's take a look:• He's the one to plan the escape from Sweet Home (19.197). â...

Is there such a thing as a good slaveowner? That's what you have to ask yourself when you come across the Garners. After all, they aren't flat-out horrendous like schoolteacher. In fact, when you f...

The Do-GoodersThis brother and sister duo is a lot like the Garners; they're the "safe," "good" white folks in Beloved. They do have one up on the Garners, though; the Bodwins actually walk the wal...

If there's a center to the community of black women in the book, it's Ella. She's the one to gather the women together—even the reluctant ones—to exorcise Beloved and save Sethe. All this even...

Lady Jones might seem a cliché at first—like the Michelle Pfeiffer character from Dangerous Minds who becomes a beacon of light to some poor, black kid. But Morrison puts the kibosh on that pret...

Janey's the practical, tell-it-like-it-is servant for the Bodwins. She's fiercely protective of the Bodwins—but don't think it's because she's all warm and fuzzy. This girl knows what side her br...

The NameAmy Denver may seem like a totally random minor character, but as you can probably guess, nothing in Beloved is random. First, that last name. Why "Denver"? Maybe Morrison is making a refer...

These two are kind of like Bill and Ted or Tweedledee and Tweedledum—without the funny. Paul A and Paul F are half-brothers of Paul D. It's hard to tell these two apart because we barely hear abo...