She is Denver

Denver spends her childhood trapped in the montage of her mother's memory.  So many scattered events create a destructive chaos that pushes Denver into the shadows of her sister's death.  Sethe's memory is a mystery to Denver.  Denver thrives off of the bits and pieces of fragmented stories that interconnect in Denver's mind and create a gap between her and her mother.  Just as 124, is missing the number 3, Denver is missing the sister in her life who bridges this emotional disconnect.  The ghost of Denver's dead sister, Beloved, returns as a woman to clear the misunderstandings of the foggy memories shielded from Denver.  Denver obsesses over the concept that, "Beloved is hers,"(104) and begins to understand that Beloved has the ability to unsheathe the portrait of her mother's memory.  The only real memories Denver knows are her mother's memories.  Beloved provides Denver with memories of her own, freeing her from the chains that bind her to a broken past.  The strangulating affect of Beloved's desire for physical love victimizes Sethe.  An odd occurence in the woods causes Denver to question Beloved's true intentions: "She let herself wonder what if Beloved really decided to choke her mother.  Would she let it happen?"(104)  This confusion exposes a personal memory Denver remembers at the curiosity of this event.  The question that little boy, Nelson Lord, asked during Denver's days at Lady Jones' house: "'Didn't your mother get locked away for murder?  Wasn't you in there with her when she went?'"(104)  This question haunts Denver because the answer lies deep within the emotional boundary separating Denver and Sethe.  Beloved begins to feed off of Sethe like a parasite, and drains Sethe of emotional and physical strength.  It is interesting how Denver does not give into Beloved's trap, and escapes Beloved's grasp with intentions of finding her own way.  Beloved is pivotal in Denver's understanding of her own indentity because she provides a reason for Denver to leave 124 and find a job, a way out of the grasp of destructive memories.  It's as though Nelson Lord symbolizes the boundary of confusion built up in Denver's mind, because as she begins to really find her way she experiences the presence of Nelson Lord: "Somebody had to be saved, but unless Denver got work, there would be no one to save, no one to come home to, and no Denver either.  It was a new thought, having a self to look out for and preserve.  And it might not have occurred to her if she hadn't met Nelson Lord leaving his grandmother's house as Denver entered to pay a thank you for half a pie.  All he did was smile and say, 'Take care of yourself, Denver,' but she heard it as though it were what language was made for.  The last time he spoke to her his words blocked up her ears.  Now they opened her mind"(252).  The words of Nelson Lord have such an impact on Denver throughout her life.  In her childhood these words confuse her and paint dark shade concealing the light of memory.  Now these words outline a path for the future, a path of hope.  It is so uplifting to hear Denver say that she has a, 'Self to look out for and preserve,"(252) because it illuminates Denver's revelation that she has an identity and she has the ability to live.  At the beginning of Beloved, by Toni Morrison, Denver holds the plaque for 'least likely to succeed,' but Denver's relationship with Beloved and her emotional distance from her mother allow Denver to find her own identity.  Denver stands tall at the close of Beloved.  She is proud to be Denver. She is aware of who Denver was, and she is ready to embrace who Denver will become.

Works Cited

Morrison, Toni. Beloved: A Novel. New York: Plume, 1988. Print.