Beloved Part 2, Chapter 19

Stamp Paid feels bad for scaring Paul D away from Sethe and 124 when he passes 124, he hears voices, again believing the place is haunted. He decides it is his duty to check up on Sethe and Denver because he was close to Baby Suggs and he feels responsible for Paul D's departure. He attempts to do this several times, but can't bring himself to knock on the door; when he finally does, no one answers. He peeks in the window and sees Denver with Beloved, who he doesn't recognize. He asks around to find out the identity of Denver's companion at 124.

Topic Tracking: Supernatural 12

Meanwhile, Sethe is trying to deal with losing Paul D and the plans she was beginning to make. She and the girls go ice-skating as an act of defiance against her loss. Their laughter at skating and falling turns to tears for Sethe, and they walk back to 124. While they're thawing out together, Beloved begins to hum a song that Sethe had made up for her children years before. Everything falls into place in Sethe's mind concerning Beloved's identity.

Topic Tracking: Supernatural 13
Topic Tracking: Loss 10

Stamp Paid understands the weariness that sent Baby Suggs to her bed wishing only to look at color and die; he feels defeated by whitefolks. The hate fueling lynchings, church-burnings, and cruelty from which Sethe tried to save her crawling-already? girl, finally got to Baby Suggs. She realized that hoping for a decent life, free from pain and heartache, was futile when there were whitefolks still hating. Stamp Paid decides that the voices he hears around 124 are the voices of those colored people abused and murdered for no other reason than their color.

Topic Tracking: Anger 12

Sethe believes that her crawling-already? girl has come back from the dead to be with her. If she has indeed come back, she must understand why Sethe killed her. Sethe is happy that she and her daughters are all together, and she's relieved about the memories she won't have to remember anymore -- the woodshed, the headstone, Baby Suggs' collapse, or the isolation brought on by the haunted 124. As time passes, Sethe no longer goes to work. Her world is inside 124 with Denver and Beloved, and the three are left to themselves.