In Beloved, the parts that happen in the books' 'present' happen around 124 Bluestone road.
So that got me thinking, how important is the house within the book?
Baby Suggs rents 124, then Sethe. Beloved is killed at 124. The boys run away from 124. Denver barely leaves 124.
So lets begin from the beginning. Baby Suggs, a recently freed slave, rents 124 for cheap as long as she helps out elsewhere from time to time. This must've been huge for her- she had property, when before she was the property and couldn't own anything. She starts leading those congregations in the woods, parties at 124, and other things within the community. 124 becomes like the central hub of the community. Then Sethe and her children arrive, there's a big party, and suddenly 124 isn't the hub of the community anymore. Suddenly, everyone hates 124. A period of what one could call "isolation" begins.
Schoolteacher and his boys arrive and Sethe tries to kill her children and gets sent to prison
- Suggs retreats into 124 and locks herself into her room
- When Sethe returns from prison, she's an outcast of the community, she spends her days at 124.
- Beloved haunts 124. No one else even know she's there.
- Denver barely leaves 124.
When Paul D arrives he kinda encourages Sethe and Denver to get out of that isolation, to get out from the confinement of 124, and it briefly works until (wowow) Beloved (or maybe its not Beloved, who knows) arrives and forces Sethe and Denver back into their isolated states within 124. Paul D fights a losing battle with Beloved until he gets mad at Sethe and leaves. At that point, Sethe and Denver become even more isolated from the community than they were before. Finally, Denver realizes something is wrong, and that if she stays in 124 they're all gonna die. Its when she leaves 124 that things get better, like if it was 124 that was holding back her potential.
Another interesting thing is that I can't recall them ever calling 124 "home". The only "home" they mention is Sweet Home, the place with so many bad memories (yet good memories too?) attached to it. Its kinda like the thing Mr. Mitchell said in class about Sethe saying "yeah its not 'home' but its the last place we were all together" type thing. Its strange to me that, after like 18 years, they still can't seem to call 124 'home'. It just has no good memories attached to it. The first 28 days are ok, but after that it goes downhill until you have a haunted baby house.
Thats about it, I just found it interesting how a the grand majority of the book revolved around 124 and sweet home
Also, do y'all think there's a reason to why Morrison named it "124 bluestone"?
I might be thinking into it a bit too much but I think it might be refering to Sethe's children: the 2 sons and Denver.
I had a similar thought this time around, about why the number "124" specifically. Sethe lives there, after the 28th day, with her 1st, 2nd, and 4th children (with the 3rd as a literal ghost, a "blank" in this accounting 1-2-3-4. I have no idea if this is what Morrison had in mind, but to the extent that the house as a personified "character" is defined by the absence of number 3, the street address seems potentially significant.
ReplyDelete1) Didn't realize that, Mr. Mitchell, but damn that makes so much sense now.
ReplyDelete2) With the beginning of each section, it says "124 was ___", with the first being "spiteful", then "loud", then "quiet". I don't know if there's a correlation with those three words, but who knows?
So your question about why Morrison called it "124 Bluestone" really intrigued me. The 1st, 2nd, and 4th children idea makes total sense and this could definitely be what Morrison is referencing, the missing 3rd child. But I did some research and found out that the novel, Beloved, was published in 1987. This could be thinking wayyy too deep into it, but if you do 1987 minus 124, you will get 1863. The year 1863 is important because this was the time of the Civil War — the war over slavery. More specifically, this was the year that Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, which stated that any person who is enslaved will become free by law. This relates back to the experiences of slavery. We and the characters of Beloved are haunted by slavery.
ReplyDeleteThis definitely is an interesting question. I never really thought about this idea before and I agree with the interpretation of the missing third kid (hence 124). I think that the bad memories associated it are more to do with the place itself rather than the name of it in particular, however if 124 represents the "missing" 3rd child than the name is just another way in which this house represents the sadness of the family living in it. Also, this might be a stretch, but the theme of nothing ever dies applies here because the house number will never change, always holding the secret of the 3rd child in its title.
ReplyDeleteAt the very beginning of the book, we hear that the community which used to go there every day now avoids 124 Bluestone. Their reasoning is very explicitly given as the fact that the house itself is haunted. While obviously they also don't want to see Sethe and her family, the haunting of the house itself is enough to keep them away. In addition, before the appearance of Beloved, most references to the spirit of the baby girl reference her as a sort of part of the house, that it's the house that acts against the dog or against the brothers.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, I think that 124 is this blockade for Sethe and Denver (I'm referring to the 124 after the large party). The house, in some way, is holding Sethe and Denver back and won't let them move forward in their lives. Sethe is still stuck to her past after she got out of prison. It didn't get any better especially after Beloved became a resident. Sethe was even more attached to 124 then. As you mentioned, it was only when Denver left 124 did things seemed to get better. In a way, Denver was ready to leave behind the past and move on with her life, which is something Sethe couldn't do.
ReplyDeleteI feel as though 124 is a character within itself. At the beginning of the novel especially it certainly feels as though it has a mind of its own. I feel like it is certainly a part of Sethe and influences her and the rest of its residents. Paul D in particular has a contentious relationship with the house.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't considered the numbers 1 2 4, but your right it's such a crucial setting. I found it fascinating the change of 124 from a welcoming happy environment so quickly to a cursed building. It's really the center of the novel and likely the future of denver, sethe and paul
ReplyDeleteThat's a very interesting point about how 124, the place that Baby Suggs and then Sethe actually own, is never actually called home. Sweet Home seems to carry a lot of nostalgic value to Sethe, even if these good memories are mixed with terrible ones. Sethe doesn't have the same thoughts about 124. Even though she was supposed to be free there, she only really was free for 28 days, and the rest of her time has been terrible.
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