The characters in Morrison's book have interesting personalities. It is clear that the events they have gone through in their lives have shaped their development. I have included textual evidence, followed by my perception of the characterization:
Sethe:
"Once, long ago, she was soft, trusting. She trusted Mrs. Garner and her husband too. She knotted the earrings into her underskirt to take along, not so much to wear but to hold. Earrings that made her believe she could discriminate among them. That for every schoolteacher, there would be an Amy; that for every pupil there was a Garner, or Bodwin, or even a sheriff, whose touch at her elbow was gentle and who looked away when she nursed. But she had come to believe every one of Baby Suggs' last words and buried all recollection of them and luck. Paul D dug it up, gave her back her body, kissed her divided back, stirred her rememory and brought her more news: of clabber, of iron, of roosters' smiling, but when he heard knews, he counted her feet and didn't even say goodbye" (page 222).
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Sethe is the main character of the story. I choose the above passage for her characterization, because it quickly sums up everything that has happened to Sethe since we first began to get to know her. It shows that her character is no longer able to trust, because she was taken advantage of and hurt earlier in her life. It also reveals the symbol of the earrings she was given by Mrs. Garner. There is some part of Sethe that believes there are good and bad white people and she must differentiate between the two groups. In the paragraph, it is also revealed how easy it was for Sethe to forget lessons of the past when Paul D walked in. He came into her house and, rather than believing he would be turned away by her past, she thought that he would bless her with his love for a long time. The passage also talks about Sethe's secret that drove Paul D away, which shows that she has a conflicted existence. Her life is affected heavily by a tough choice she made years ago and it scares others away from her. Sethe's character, as stated in a previous post, is hard to classify. I think she is a protagonist, but she made one questionably wrong decision so others refuse to love her. Her actions don't automatically make her a bad person.
Denver:
"Shortly afterward Sethe and Denver tried to call up and reason with the baby ghost, but got no where. It took a man, Paul D, to shout it off, beat it off and take its place for himself. And carnival or no carnival, Denver preferred the venomous baby to him any day. During the first days after Paul D moved in, Denver stayed in her emerald closet as long as she could, lonely as a mountain and almost as big, thinking everybody had somebody but her; thinking even a ghost's company was denied her. So when she saw the black dress with two unlaced shoes beneath it she trembled with secret thanks. Whatever her power and however she used it, Beloved was hers. Denver was alarmed by the harm she thought Beloved planned for Sethe, but felt helpless to thwart it, so unrestricted was her need to love another. The display she witnessed at the Clearing shamed her because the choice between Sethe and Beloved was without conflict" (page 123).
This passage exposes the loneliness to Denver's character. When she was a child, her two brothers were scared off by the ghost of their baby sister. Her grandmother Baby Suggs passed away just a while after that. All her life, she has wanted company and the only company ever given to her was of a ghost. This passage shows that she needs a feeling of companionship and will sacrifice other things, such as her willingness to help Sethe, in order to maintain it. It also shows her uneasy feelings towards her mother. As evident later in the book, Denver is angry with her mother for attempting to kill her children. She is also fearful, only staying with Sethe to ensure her mother does not suddenly let her emotions overcome her once more.
Baby Suggs:
"It started that way: laughing children, dancing men, crying women and then it got mixed up. Women stopped crying and danced; men sat down and cried; children danced, women laughed, children cried until, exhausted and riven, all and each lay about the Clearing damp and gasping for breath. In the silence that followed, Baby Suggs, holy, offered up to them her great big heart.
She did not tell them to clean up their lives or to go and sin no more. She did not tell them they were blessed of the earth, its inheriting meek or its glorybound pure.
She told them that the only grace they could have was the grace they could imagine. That if they could not see it, they would not have it" (page 103).
This passage captures the power of Baby Suggs. She is almost like a preacher of the gospel. She makes people dance, laugh, and cry. Baby Suggs is also characterized by having a big heart. She is a warm person who others adore. As a former slave, she has lots of ideas about freedom. The freedom she believes in is not just freedom from slavery; it is freedom from everything else in the world that could possibly tie a person down. In this passage, Baby Suggs is developed because her ability to speak to large groups is shown. Another one of her infamous quotes is also revealed. Baby Suggs is an insightful person, who has a reason behind everything and shares her ideas with Sethe. She's a wise old woman who is finally able to enjoy freedom after many years of not being able to attain it.
Paul D:
"Not even trying, he had become the kind of man who could walk into a house and make the women cry. Because with him, in his presence, they could. There was something blessed in his manner. Women saw him and wanted to weep--to tell him that their chest hurt and their knees did too. Strong women and wise saw him and told him things they only told each other: that way past the Change of Life, desire in them had suddenly become enormous, greedy, more savage than when they were fifteen, and that it embarrassed them and made them sad: that they secretly longed to die--to be quit of it--that sleep was more precious to them than any waking day. Young girls sidled up to him to confess or describe how well-dressed the visitations were that had followed them straight from their dreams. Therefore, although he did not understand why this was so, he was not surprised when Denver dripped tears into the stovefire. Nor, fifteen minutes later, after telling him about her stolen milk, her mother wept as well" (page 20).
The above passage was taken from the beginning of the book, when Paul D was first introduced. Immediately after his coming, Denver broke out in tears. Sethe was next to become emotional in his presence. Paul D's being allows women to open up and release the tears they are holding in. He has an inviting personality and something about his presence is comforting. With this in mind, it is no wonder that Sethe expected other things of him. Like any other human, Paul D has his limits and could not deal with Sethe's past.
Halle:
"She said she was always a little scared of my daddy. He was too good, she said. From the beginning, she said, he was too good for the world. Scared her. She thought, He'll never make it though nothing. Whitepeople must have thought so too, because they never got split up. So she got the chance to know him, look after him, and he scared her the way he loved things. Animals and tools and crops and the alphabet. He could count on paper. The boss taught him. Offered to teach the other boys but only my daddy wanted it. She said the other boys said no. One of them with a number for a name said it would change his mind--make him forget things he shouldn't and memorize things her shouldn't and be didn't want his mind mess up. But my daddy said, If you can't count they can cheat you. If you can't read they can beat you" (page 245).
Halle hardly has any action in the plot and any thing that he does is in flashbacks, because he is probably dead. However, he is an important character because he was the "somebody son" that gave his mother freedom. Besides his being a hard worker, Halle was a loving, intelligent guy. He was an all around great guy, because he appreciated and loved Sethe, set his mother free, and even loved materialistic objects with an odd passion. Halle is not expected to be alive, because he was too loving and the scene with the school teacher's nephew stealing Sethe's milk evidently broke him.
Schoolteacher:
"He was a little man. Short. Always wore a collar, even in the fields. A schoolteacher, she said. That made her feel good that he husband's sister's husband had book learning and was willing ot come farm Sweet Home after Mr. Garner passed. The men could have done it, even with Paul F sold. But it was like Halle said. She didn't want to be the only white person on the farm and a woman too. So she was satisfied when the school teacher agreed to come. He brought two boys with him. Songs or nephews, I don't know. They called him Onka and had pretty manners, all of em. You know, the kind who know Jesus by His first name, but out of politeness never use it even to His face. A pretty good farmer, Halle said. Not strong as Mr. Garner but smart enough. He liked the ink I made. It was her recipe, but he preferred how I mixed it and it was important to him because at night he sat down to write in his book. It was a book about us but we didn't know that right away. We just thought it was his manner to ask us questions. He commenced to carry round a notebook and write down what we said. I still think it was them questions that tore Sixo up. Tore him up for all time" (page 44).
Schoolteacher is not a good guy. He has several scenes in the book, from the stealing of Sethe's milk to the killing of Sethe's child. He is an intelligent white man, which is why Mrs. Garner seeks his help. However, he abuses the power he is given and uses any opportunity to teach the slaves lessons, often with violence. He also writes about the slaves and how they react to different things, which shows the inquisitiveness inside his evil.
Beloved:
"In the dark my name is Beloved."
Denver scooted a little closer. "What's it like over there, where you were before? Can you tell me?
"Dark," said Beloved. "I'm small in that place. I'm like this here." She raised her head off the bed, lay down on the side and curled up.
Denver covered her lips with her fingers. "Were you cold?"
Beloved curled tighter and shook her head. "How. Nothing to breathe down there and no room to move in."
"You see anybody?"
"Heaps. A lot of people is down there. Some is dead" ( page 88.)
Beloved is the title character of the book, although she is probably not the main character. Her character is very important, because she is supernaturally connected to the child Sethe murdered. In the above passage, Denver asks Beloved questions about where she is from, thus revealing Beloved's true identity. Her character is bent on attaining Sethe's love and never again being taken away from her.
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