Beloved 281-323

In this reading, we begin to see the decline of the women in 124. After being fired, Sethe begins to waste away as Beloved continues to suck the life out of her. Sethe seems to be completely devoted to Beloved, and forgets about Denver, instead making sure Beloved is taken care of in every way possible. When the women begin to go hungry, Beloved is the one who can never have enough, and Sethe continues to be at her beck and call, feeding into Beloved's greed. Beloved begins to try to imitate her mother, and over time picks up her mannerisms, dresses like her, and begins to talk like her. The two spend so much time engaged with each other that Morrison writes, "Sometimes coming up on them making men and women cookies or tacking scraps of cloth on Baby Suggs' old quilt, it was difficult for Denver to tell who was who" (283). It seems as if they've had too much a good thing, and can't figure out where to draw the line with each other.
However, soon after Sethe and Beloved become enthralled with each other, through Denver's narrations, readers are able to see Beloved slowly assert her dominance over 124, and especially Sethe. She and Sethe begin to argue, and whatever Beloved wants, Sethe will comply with. Their relationship is being overcome with turmoil, and on page 295, Morrison explains this when writing, "Sethe was trying to make up for the handsaw; Beloved was making her pay for it." Because of her submission to beloved, Sethe becomes reserved, weak, and helpless, and with no one to save them, Denver decides to step out and look for work. In her visit venture out into the neighborhood in years, she visits her old school teacher Lady Jones to ask for help, and Lady Jones in turn enlists the help of the women in her church who begin to drop food at 124 to make sure the three girls don't go hungry. However, even with the new compassion and help of these women, the house and the women in it continue to deteriorate. So, Denver turns to the Bodwins for help and ends up getting a night job from the Bodwins's maid, Janey.
Ella hears Denver tell Janey about Beloved when she visits, and gathers a group of women to perform a sort of exorcism on 124. This is when we see Ella finally sympathize with Sethe, and even defending her, because as readers learn, Ella had a child that she refused to care for due to the circumstances of the pregnancy, and eventually the child passed away. We come to learn that the women of this neighborhood, if able to look past their judgement, may be more alike than they thought.
While the women with Ella sing outside 124, Sethe and a pregnant Beloved watch from the doorway as Denver observes on the steps still waiting for Mr. Bodwin to pick her up for work. We see the full effect of the lingering trauma of slavery as Sethe mistakes Mr. Bodwin for schoolteacher, and flies into a terrifies rage as she tries to kill him with her ice pick. After the women have wrestled her down, they discover that Beloved has disappeared. After this whole event at 124, Sethe and Paul D reconnect as Sethe has taken to the bed much like Baby Suggs had. He realizes the connection they have, and decides to take her of Sethe with Denver, and discusses a future with Sethe.
As the novel wraps up, the people in the neighborhood all begin to forget Beloved, and have trouble remembering if she was even there at all. Through this, Morrison seems to speak to a more general theme of the many forgotten victims of slavery, and perhaps a warning of the significance of remembering history.