Numerology and Beloved
Numerology and BelovedIn literature, numbers are used to communicate important messages to the reader. The author uses references to numbers to strengthen the important ideas of the novel. In many cultures numbers carry an important or significant meaning to them. These numbers can carry a meaning more efficiently than using only words. In Beloved, Toni Morrison uses references to numbers to emphasize the significant ideas of the novel. Morrison uses these numbers to represent the persistence of slavery brought upon in Sethe’s life, her children’s life, Paul D.’s life, and Baby Suggs life, after slavery has ended. These references to numbers are important because they show how these characters are affected after it has ended. Through physical means, through the actions of these characters, and through psychological means of these characters, Morrison shows the haunting continuation and aftereffects of slavery.
In many novels the first sentence is the most important sentence in the novel. The first sentence can set the way for the remainder of the novel. In Beloved the first sentence, and first word of the entire novel uses numbers. Because numbers are used first, before any words, I find that the references to numbers are very important. 124 is in the first sentence on the first page. The sentence states, “124 WAS SPITEFUL” (Morrison 3). This sentence is in all capital letters and also bold print. This shows an importance that this reference to numbers has on the novel. This number used on the page sets up the haunting story of slavery in one particular black household. The number refers to the house number in which the main characters live in. This house, 124, is haunted by the ghost of the baby of the main character, Sethe, who is learned to be named Beloved. 124 is barely referred to as there home, instead just simply referred to as 124.
This number 124 plays a bigger meaning in the novel than simply a house number. When taking a look at Sethe’s children: Howard, Buglar, Beloved and Denver, a relationship is brought upon between her four children and 124. Howard and Buglar left 124, Sethe killed Beloved, and that leaves only Denver to take care of. Sethe killed Beloved in order to escape slavery for herself and for her children. Howard and Buglar, the two eldest children, then left when they became a little older because they could not stand the haunted house. This leaves only the fourth child with Sethe. The first, second, and fourth children are alive. 1, 2, and 4. Beloved is the dead third child. It seems as if Beloved is left out, and this feeling of being left out is very evident in Beloved’s personality when we meet her later in the novel. The actual house 124 symbolizes the continuation of slavery brought...
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