Title: Beloved
Author: Toni Morrison
Genre(s):
Pages: 324 (not including the foreword).
Book: Beloved
Beloved by Toni Morrison is a powerful story of love, motherhood, and survival. Morrison also writes from the male gaze when it comes to trauma, suffering, and love.
Set in post–Civil War Ohio, Beloved follows Sethe, a formerly enslaved woman who lives with her daughter, Denver, in a haunted house. The ghost? It’s believed to be the spirit of Sethe’s baby girl, whose tombstone reads only “Beloved.” Years earlier, Sethe made a devastating choice to protect her children from slavery, a choice that still haunts her, literally and emotionally.
When a mysterious young woman named Beloved shows up, Sethe becomes convinced she’s the reincarnation of her lost daughter. As Beloved settles into their home, the past begins to unravel. Sethe is forced to confront memories of trauma, love, and the cost of freedom.
Key themes:
Memory & trauma: The past isn’t just remembered — it lives on, shaping the present.
Motherhood: Sethe’s love for her children is fierce, but it raises complex questions about protection and sacrifice.
Haunting & healing: The supernatural elements reflect emotional wounds that need reckoning.
Why it matters: Morrison doesn’t just tell a story — she asks us to feel history. Beloved is about what it means to survive, to remember, and to reclaim your humanity after unthinkable pain.
Bloom
I believe I finished Beloved in five days because there was an urgency to not only understand why Seth did what she did, but also this urgency to save her not only from herself, but from the enslavers and her Beloved. By the time I turned the last page, I felt like I was standing outside of 124, looking in and still hoping that Seth found her peace and felt love.
My heart went out not only to Seth but also to Paul D. Morrison’s portrayal of Paul D. as a balance of masculinity and vulnerability, which allows me to extend space for him and deepen my concern for his character, particularly when he overhears “The teacher” discussing his “worth.” I can feel Paul D shrinking himself and limiting what he thought was freedom.
One of my favorite quotes of Morrison’s is “what is something that is loved can not be lost. Most of the characters loved, lost, and questioned not only love but also the freedom it brought.
Throughout reading the pages, I have learned that love is an act of freedom.
Book and Bloom was inspired by my reading of “The Bluest Eye” By Toni Morrison
