Losing a loved one could be the worst thing to happen in one’s life; however, if that loved one were to back from dead, then life might be even worse. In Morrison’s novel, Beloved, a woman named Sethe killed her daughter, named Beloved, and attempted to kill her three other children in order to free them from a life of slavery. For eighteen years, Sethe and her living daughter, Denver, have been living on their own, isolated from the rest of the people within their community, in the house of 124. However, Sethe’s life begins to change after two events: when an old friend, Paul D, shows up at 124, and when Beloved, her dead daughter, becomes resurrected and comes back into Sethe’s life, causing even more struggles for Sethe. Through the use …show more content…
Since Sethe refuses to show that she misses Paul D, when Beloved asked about ice skating, Sethe took the initiative to take both Denver and Beloved to the pond to go ice skate. While Sethe, Denver, and Beloved are all having a good time with one another skating on the ice pond, they were constantly trying not to fall. However, when Sethe did fall, all three of the girls burst out into laughter and could not stop for a long period of time, which then caused Sethe to break into tears while laughing. Denver and Beloved had not realized Sethe was crying, yet when they did, the girls knew right away that Sethe was crying for Paul D leaving and not because of her constant laughter. Since Sethe had yet to show any emotions that had to do with his absence, Denver and Beloved comforted Sethe: “Making their way over hard snow, they stumbled and had to hold on tight, but nobody saw them falling” (Morrison 206). As the girls were skating back to 124, they had to hold on to each other because they were not used to skating and could fall, if they were on their own. As the repetition of the girls falling continued, Morrison begins to create irony within the repetition. The townspeople kept a close eye on the girls, even after shunning Sethe and her family, because neither Sethe nor Denver had a mental breakdown due to Beloved’s return, or seem have gone into some sort of depression due to Paul D’s absence, similar to how Baby Suggs gave up on life shortly after the people of Bluestone Road had shunned her. The townspeople believed that Sethe and the girls would breakdown one day because of their constant struggles and hardships, especially since the three of them live in isolation from the rest of the people on Bluestone Road. The irony is then exemplifying how everyone on Bluestone Road expected Sethe, especially, to breakdown due to her hard life even after