Books help to teach lessons and share the world around the reader. Sometimes they are able to do that by creating a fantasy environment full of small morals and trivial characters. Beloved is a book that explores the reality of slavery and the horrible effects that it incurs. The story of Sethe and Beloved is a terrible tale of how much a mother loves her daughter. The rest of the novel shows how Beloved comes back to show Sethe what it is like to be robbed of your life. Beloved helps Sethe to overcome her past by making her face those memories that haunt her and forcing Sethe to defend herself.
             The emotional and spiritual loss that Sethe suffers from her ordeal with Beloved has been the entire focus of her existence for the last 18 years. Of course, she has been able to live her life with Denver and Baby Suggs, but the weight of her decision affects her every day. When Beloved first appears to Sethe after the carnival, she is like a dream that Sethe enjoys having around her. It is when Beloved stays for a while that it becomes evident that, "Beloved was making her pay for it"(Morrison 263). Beloved seems to be making Sethe pay for cutting her in the barn. She haunts Sethe and will not let her rest or be alone. Beloveds hounding of Sethe eventually forces her to lapse from mental stability. The townspeople see this negative effect upon Sethe and when they come to confront Sethe and release her demons, "she trembled like the baptized in its wash"(275). This confrontation ends Beloved's stay at 124 Bluestone, but Sethe is not able to recover even after her apparent rebirth. Only the comforting embrace of Paul D and his supporting words of, "You your best thing, Sethe" help her to finally recover from her scarred past (288). This combined effort of Paul D and the townsfolk helped to heal Sethe spiritually but another person would be needed to help Sethe to come back physically.
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