CHAPTER 28

Summary

In this final chapter, Beloved has disappeared not only as a presence in SetheÂ’s house, but also as a source of gossip for the townspeople. She is soon "disremembered and unaccounted for." Her footprints, however, sometimes appear and disappear by the stream that flows near 124 Bluestone.

Notes

The last chapter begins in such a general mode that the reader wonders if the subject--"her"--is really the character Beloved. It seems to be alluding more to all those people who have been forgotten and who haunt the living. Only in the last words of the novel is the name Beloved spoken; and the word takes on a more general meaning. Beloved is not just Sethe's daughter, but all those unfortunate souls who were lost to slavery and racism and who deserve to be beloved.

In the end, Beloved should truly be beloved. She became the catalyst for Sethe, Paul D, Denver and the community to acknowledge their loss of culture, pride, and life due to the injustices of slavery; in dealing with their past hurts, they can finally heal.

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