Beloved

Use these activities to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity. 

ACTIVITY: “Three Voices, One Story”

Though there are many voices throughout this story, chapters 20-23 show the reader Sethe, Denver, and Beloved, each trying to articulate their meaning to each other. Looking back at these chapters, answer the following questions:

• What word choices or phrases recur throughout these chapters?
• What word choices or phrases are distinct to an individual character?
• How do these chapters show what each character needs from one another?
• How are these three people driven by a need for one another? Are all their needs mutual?

Once you’ve answered those questions, pick one of the characters and write a short, 8-10 sentence monologue in their voice that speaks to or about another character in the novel.

Teaching Suggestion: This activity is designed to get students thinking about the many ways Morrison uses voice in the novel and may be particularly helpful for students who find Beloved’s character confusing or difficult to understand. By seeing the parallels between Denver, Beloved, and Sethe and their interdependent relationship (and looking closely at the intimacy of mother-daughter relationships), students may gain a deeper understanding of a key dynamic in the text.