Beloved Trivia Quiz

Answer: Halle

124 Bluestone Road was haunted. Sethe, her mother (Baby Suggs), and her daughter (Denver) have all been affected by the ghosts of their house, and the townspeople know of the spectres that live therein. Both of Sethe's sons left the house because of supernatural events and Baby Suggs passed away shortly thereafter. When she died, Sethe and Denver attempted to contact one of the ghosts in the house, her own baby daughter, in order to reason with it and end the rage upon its soul. Sethe realizes that its anger comes from the fact that it was murdered by her hands.

Paul D Garner, the last of the Sweet Home men, stopped in at Sethe's for a visit and she invited him in. Heading in through her front door, he immediately sensed the grief and sadness. During their reunion, Denver headed downstairs to meet the man who once knew her father. They talked for a little while before she began to cry; after bottling up her emotions for so long, she decided that she no longer wanted to live in this haunted house. Sethe said that they would be unable to leave. When Denver left the room, Sethe talked about the horrible events to befall her in the past two decades and Paul D embraced her before the entire house began to pitch. Paul fought back angrily, smashing furniture and yelling for the house to leave Sethe and Denver alone before it ceased.

Sethe and Paul D went upstairs to spend the night with one another and both recalled their past together and apart. Paul D had never been with Sethe because she was already the wife of one of the other Sweet Home boys, Halle, who courted her on the farm many, many years ago and fathered her children.

Answer: A carnival

On an earlier occasion, returning from her wooded sanctuary in the forest, Denver peered into the windows of 124 to find her mother praying and a white dress with its arm wrapped around her mother's waist. Denver headed inside to speak to her mother (all the while thinking of the story of her birth) and they both theorized that the baby had a plan from beyond the world of the living.

Many months later, Paul D moved into the house with Sethe and Denver and ruined those plans by ridding the house of the spirit. Denver was disappointed by these developments as she embraced the company of the ghost in her otherwise lonely life. Paul D showed signs of settling down for at least a little while and Sethe was pleased with this; he planned to get a job nearby and she planned to keep looking to the future.

Denver asked Paul D how long he'd be around before leaving again and her mother was shocked by her manners. Denver left this thought on Paul's mind and he had no choice but to speak to Sethe about their possible lives together. They both agreed to take it slowly at first and Paul offered to begin making things right by taking them to the carnival with $2 he had to spare. The three of them, surprisingly, had a wonderful time although Sethe hadn't been to a public event in nearly two decades and Denver initially feared the jeers of the other kids in town. Nonetheless, by the end of their day, the three of them remained in good spirits.

Answer: Outside the house

Returning home from the carnival, the three found a woman sitting on a stump outside 124 Bluestone and took her inside. They offered her water and it seemed as though she was unable to speak. Assuming she had cholera or croup, they set her up in Baby Suggs' bed and Denver spent her lonely days tending to her until she felt better. The girl said that her name was 'Beloved' and revealed next to nothing about herself. For some reason she seemed in good shape but in very poor health, and none of them could explain it.

Beloved soon showed an interest in Sethe's stories about her past and Sethe found this to be flattering. As she began to tell tales about her marriage and her mother, Denver couldn't help but wonder how Beloved knew what questions to ask.

Paul D didn't feel good about Beloved staying with them past the fifth week; even then she revealed next to nothing about herself. This spurred an argument between himself and Sethe which led to his speaking about why Halle left and the torturous events in his past. Denver, meanwhile, appreciated Beloved's company and asked where she came from. The response was cryptic, but it seemed she came from 'the dark'. Denver vowed not to tell her mother the truth behind this, especially after Beloved made it clear that she was here for Sethe.

Answer: Beloved

Nine years after the death of Baby Suggs, Sethe began to long for words of wisdom. After considering the great things she did for the people of the area, Sethe decided to take Denver and Beloved into the woods. On the way, Sethe recalled her arrival at Bluestone with the baby and her reunion with her children and Baby Suggs. Halle hadn't yet arrived but she had and she and the newborn were attended to quite soon.

Sethe led the girls to the clearing at which Baby Suggs spoke with the other ex-slaves and she sat on a stump. Sitting there, thinking, she felt a pair of hands wrap around her neck, squeezing tightly, before she was awakened by her daughter and Beloved. She rushed them home to begin dinner and think a little about what had just happened.

Denver thought that it was Beloved who tried to choke her mother although Beloved denied this; she tried to save her. Nevertheless, Beloved has felt that Paul D has been keeping her from being around Sethe as much as he can. Denver is conflicted by the recent events; she loves Beloved and wants to avoid loneliness, but she's so sure of the strangling.

Answer: In the shed

It wasn't long before Paul D realized that he was being forced out of 124, and not willingly. It began with his sleep patterns in different places in the house and his lack of comfort on different nights. Soon enough, the only place he could sleep was in the shed adjacent to the house. Here, he realized that while he wanted to sleep inside, he simply couldn't; he was pushed out by something else. Beloved visited him in the night in an attempt to seduce him and while he tried to avoid her, it seemed as though he was in a trance.

Denver began to believe that Beloved was the figure who haunted her mother many months ago, and she continued to try and remain under Beloved's gaze when Sethe was at work. On one occasion, she followed Beloved into the shed on a snowy, cold day and found her inside staring into the darkness. Beloved claimed she saw herself.

Paul D stopped at Sethe's work to tell her the truth about what happened but he instead asked her to get pregnant again, something the two of them laughed over. This made him feel as though he could break the spell but it made her think that it was his way of solidifying his place in the family. She invited him into her bed for the night, much to Beloved's distaste. Denver, concerned, watched Beloved's actions for the rest of the night.

Answer: The reverend

Baby Suggs was bought out of slavery by her son, Halle, before she moved into the house which would later be occupied by Sethe, Denver, and the others. Most of the rest of her children had died or gone far away, scattered by the slave trade, but she looked forward to her future grandchildren through Halle, her youngest child. Halle would never meet her at Bluestone Road; her daughter-in-law and grandchildren would, however.

On one fateful day the four horsemen arrived -- a schoolteacher, a nephew, a sheriff, and a slave-catcher -- and when they arrived they headed to the shed to find Sethe murdering her eldest daughter (and preparing to kill Denver as well). When the sheriff, Stamp Paid, and Baby Suggs intervened, Denver was nursed and Sethe was taken to jail.

Paul D was shown a specific a newspaper clipping involving the murder. He denied that it was Sethe in the picture because it wasn't her mouth depicted, but nevertheless it was the truth; Sethe took the kids to the shed to kill them before the four white horsemen could take them away. Talking to Sethe, Paul realized the reality behind the tragedy and decided that he didn't know how to face her anymore; what she did was so cruel, rash and animal. He decided to leave.

Answer: Stamp Paid

Stamp Paid was concerned about his influence and meddling in Paul D and Sethe's life, and attempted to knock on her door but for some reason felt that the house was making him unwelcome. He remembered the final days of Baby Suggs from her own tiring out to her resignation to bed where she would think about colours for the rest of her days. He realized that he too would begin to feel that tired.

In the meantime, Sethe tried to keep herself occupied by taking the girls ice skating on the frozen river. The three returned later that night before Sethe was frightened by Beloved's knowledge of a song she couldn't possibly know -- a song she created for her children many years before. The next morning, Sethe was late for work though she felt satisfied in her own little world -- satisfied enough to be able to forget about her time and prison and the passing of her mother-in-law.

Stamp Paid returned home unable to enter 124 Bluestone though he saw someone inside he didn't recognize. He was told that Paul D had taken a bed in the cellar of the local church and realized that it was mostly his doing for informing him of what Sethe had done. Most importantly however, he didn't know who was currently residing in Bluestone.

Answer: Baby Suggs

Sethe mindlessly went about her work before heading back to Bluestone and talking unspoken stories about fleeing Sweet Home on the train with the children. Upon arriving home, she came to recognize the welcoming warmth of family and shelter and she locked the door upon entering it. Stamp Paid gave up knocking on the door to 124 as the women inside were living their own separate lives and no one would be able to interfere.

Sethe realized that her eldest daughter had returned. When she died she attempted to remain with her mother in the house at 124 Bluestone but Paul D drove her off and she inhabited a physical form. Sethe decided that she would have to make up for all the time lost, teaching and nurturing her the way she was supposed to.

Denver believed that Beloved was hers. When she was nursing she tasted her sister's blood and because of this the two were linked. Baby Suggs warned Denver that the ghost would return and, while it would be friendly to her, it wanted something from her mother; she would also be greedy. Because of Baby Suggs, Denver also believed her father would return.

Answer: Sixo

Sitting on the church steps, Paul D remembered the escape from Sweet Home and how their plans to flee through the corn fields and along the dry creek bed failed horribly. Not departing fast enough and at the same time as one another, many, including Halle, were forced to return back to the house to avoid suspicion while others, like Sixo and Paul D, were captured and tied. After shooting Sixo in the forest the slave catchers took Paul D back to the property where he saw Sethe one final time. Despite the horrible events that took place, she decided she needed to cut anyways.

Stamp Paid found Paul D on the church steps and started by apologizing for revealing the truth about Sethe. At the same time, he offered a room in many of the local houses, all of which would be happy and willing to take him in. Paul D never accepted any of these and Stamp Paid said that he also saw the girl inside 124 Bluestone; this brought him to revealing that he was there with Sethe on the day of the murder. Paul D accepted that perhaps he never was scared of Sethe after all -- perhaps he was scared of Beloved.

Answer: An ice pick

In 124 Bluestone, food got scarcer and Sethe lost her job by coming in later and later. They spent all of their money on needless desires and by the time winter rolled around, Denver and Sethe got skinnier while Beloved gained weight from getting the remainder of the food. Just as had been predicted, Beloved would be greedy and Denver noticed the impact she had on her mother when she pulled herself away from the goings-on in the household. Sethe noticed that Beloved was her daughter when she found the scar that Denver had noticed this whole time; the scar inflicted upon her by her mother. Sethe vowed to try and take back all the pain it caused her, but that pain would then be inflicted upon herself, it seemed.

Denver realized that she needed to take it upon herself to break the spell and save her mother. She decided she needed to find help, so she left the property at 124 and headed to town for one of the few times in her life. She visited her old teacher, Lady Jones, who said she would help in any way she could. Gathering the community, Lady Jones organized food to be delivered to 124 Bluestone and Denver began to meet the people of the town who, out of the kindness of their hearts, helped. While her life outside the house flourished, Denver's home life continued to deteriorate. Beloved persisted in wreaking havoc, Sethe continued to waste away -- the life was sucked out of her.

Denver got a job looking after the Bodwins at nighttime and news about her mother's true condition spread through the town. A rescue was favoured amongst the community and thirty women marched out to Bluestone Road to help in any way they could. While waiting out for Mr. Bodwin to retrieve her for work, Denver watched as these women took position near the house and began to sing, drawing Sethe and an overweight Beloved out. When they emerged, Sethe witnessed a white man, Mr. Bodwin, coming down the road and believed she had been found once again by the slave catchers. She and Denver ran into the crowd, Sethe to attack the man who, she assumed, was taking her child from her, and Denver to stop her, while Beloved remained on the porch.

Mr. Bodwin survived the attack attempt due to the intervention of the women in the crowd and Denver, who continued to benefit from her time in town and matured a great deal. Beloved disappeared, never to be seen again. Paul D arrived at 124 Bluestone Road to find Sethe on Baby Suggs' bed, remembering her best thing and how she'd lost it once again. Paul D said that he wouldn't leave her and suggested that perhaps her best thing was always herself.