"Beloved, she my daughter. She mine. See. She come back to me of her own free will and I don't have to explain a thing. I didn't have time to explain before because it had to be done quick. Quick. She had to be safe and I put her where she would be. But my love was tough and she back now. I knew she would be. Paul D ran her off so she had no choice but to come back to me in the flesh. I bet you Baby Suggs, on the other side, helped. I won't never let her go. I'll explain to her, even though I don't have to. Why I did it. How if I hadn't killed her she would have died and that is something I could not bear to happen to her. When I explain, it she'll understand, because she understands everything already. I'll tend her as no mother tended a child, a daughter" (page 238).
At the end of part 1, Morrison finally lets us readers know Sethe's haunting secret: She killed her daughter.
Roughly one paragraph later in part 2 of the book, Beloved's secret is revealed to more than just the suspecting reader; Sethe learns that Beloved is the daughter she murdered.
Towards the last chapter of part one, things start getting fishy for Paul D. Stamp Paid, an old friend of Baby Suggs, feels it his obligation to tell Paul D what kind of woman he is with. After their talk, Paul D comes home to a heated argument with Sethe that results in him leaving 124.
It is hard for Paul D to understand why Sethe did what she did. He believes there were other ways to save her children; She believes the only way for her to save them from slavery would be to kill them. Paul D then reminds her of how many feet she has, a scene referred to several times later in the book. He says, "You got two feet, Sethe, not four" (page 194). He then spares her the harshness of goodbye, telling her to leave him dinner as he walks out the door, knowing his return will not be soon.
What Sethe did was not a savage action. Although she was looked down upon in her community from then on and had the extreme luck of finding a job after the incident, she never felt shame or regret for her behavior. It is difficult to judge someone's actions when such important factors, like motherhood and first-hand slave experience, come into play.
As a mother and former slave, Sethe felt it was her duty to protect her children from the horrible life she was forced to endure. This is not an unadmirable quality. However, murder was an extreme that should not have been taken. Since she gave her children lives, meant to be safe, she felt it was her right to take their lives away once their safety was at risk. In a way, she protected them because slavery was a much worse experience than death itself.
What Sethe did not understand is that once you bring a child onto this earth, the decision to take her life is no longer yours. Paul D was right - there could have been another way. Slavery evidently ended a few years before the first scene in the book takes place, meaning Sethe's children would only have to go through a few years of the enslavement. However, there is no way she could have known this information. If she had, her actions may have been different.
Sethe's actions, in my opinion, are not completely justified, but that judgment is tough to make. I have no children and thankfully, I've never been a slave. I can't tell anyone who has gone through what I have not what is right and wrong. I can't, because this is a tough decision, influenced by the conditions in which she was raised.
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