April 19th, 1996 A critical analysis of the main characters and plot from the novel "Beloved" (BY TONI MORRISON). Beloved is a novel set in Ohio during 1873, several years after the Civil War. The book centers on characters who struggle fruitlessly to keep their painful recollections of the past at bay. The whole story revolves around issues of race, gender, family relationships and the supernatural, covering two generations and three decades up to the 19th century. …showed first 75 words of 410 total…

…showed last 75 words of 410 total…there in the world". The author moves around the characters allowing each participant in the story a turn--Baby Suggs, Paul D, Stamp Paid, Denver, Sethe and Beloved--to convey their perceptions of events to the reader. Baby Suggs' horror at her grandchild's murder is passionately displayed: "Baby Suggs had got the boys inside and was bathing their heads, rubbing their hands, lifting their lids, whispering, 'Beg your pardon, I beg your pardon,' the whole time".