One of the most common reader responses to Beloved is Readers attempt to deal with that speechlessness by trying to determine whether Sethe's attempt to kill her children was morally justified or not. These almost always seem like stilted, insufficient answers to a beautiful, poetic, and profoundly disturbing novel. It is as though the novel haunts the reader until he or she incorporates it into some structure of moral judgment. Perhaps trying to overcome the speechlessness with an awkward attempt at moral reasoning is not the most productive way to respond to Beloved. Instead, we might discover that the effect of speechlessness relates to the broader thematic content of the novel. The circumstances of Beloved's death are horrific. Life in slavery is equally horrific. For the former slaves that populate the novel, the past is unspeakable. Every day, Sethe beats back memories of her enslavement at Sweet Home. For a long while, Paul D can only verbalize his experiences through song. One of the most common forms of punishment for slaves was gagging with an iron bit. Sethe's own mother was forced to wear the bit so often that she has a permanent smile frozen on her face. Robbing the slave of the power of speech is a powerful way to make him or her feel like a beast. Paul D feels even less than the rooster that struts around him as he sits, mute and chained. Baby Suggs recognizes the importance of speech. She often tells her parishioners to love their mouths. Throughout Beloved, speechlessness defines the former slave's reaction to her and her past. For Sethe, the past is an unhealed wound that haunts her like the ghost of her dead daughter. Her daughter, Denver, lives resentfully in the social isolation of 124. Her knowledge of the past consists of the story of her birth and some facts about her dead father. The unarticulated past stands like a barrier between her and Sethe. Sethe's knowledge o...
