Key quotes on Denver's characterisation Flashcards
‘To Sethe, the future was a matter of keeping the past at bay. The ‘better life’ she believed she and Denver were living was simply not the other one’
‘other one’ - Refers to Sethe’s time at Sweet Home and the idea that anything is better than this, regardless of what it is.
‘she and Denver’ - Breaks generational trauma in no longer having to live in Sweet Home.
‘keeping the past at bay’ - Emphasizes the relentless grip of memory and trauma and how this looms over her present.
‘Hot, shy, now Denver was lonely…none of that had mattered as long as her mother did not look away as she was doing now, making Denver long for a sigh of spite from the baby ghost’
‘lonely’ - provides readers with a glimpse of how her circumstances have affected her emotional wellbeing.
‘sigh of spite’ - Denver’s stability is threatened by Paul D’s arrival as it draws Sethe into a different past; Denver hopes Paul D will drive Paul D away.
‘closed off from the hurt of the hurt world, Denver’s imagination produced its own hunger and its own food’
‘hunger/food’ - she obtains the nourishments she needs to survive the treachery of 124 and its loneliness.
‘closed off’ - the fact that the only place she finds solace is is away from all people underscores her disconnect from the community and failure for her home to nurture her.
SYmbolises fractured family setting.
‘emerald light’ (Denver in the forest)
A symbol of growth and transformation - Denver reclaims her life and agency following the loneliness of 124.
Sense of liberation - a place where she feels validated and valued, away from the confines of 124.
A moment of emotional escape a clarity - removing herself from the capture of generational trauma.
‘Denver was alarmed by the harm she thought Beloved planned for Sethe but helpless to thwart it’
‘helpless’ - Denver begins to questions her own actions and motivations - no longer able to protect her mother nad have a connection which was all she knew.
‘alarmed’ - Denver is awakened to danger - realisation that even within love, danger follows. Shift from being passive to emotionally urgent.
This helplessness sparks her empowerment - a way of breaking the cycle of trauma.
‘I loved my mother but I know she killed one of her own daughters…I’m scared of her because of it’
‘scared’ - reveals how Denver does not entirely trust her mother, the violence Sethe inflicted is vital regardless of the tenderness she shows Denver.
Her feelings reveal the dangers of refusing to deal openly with events, her relationship with her mother has fundamentally changed.
‘the two of them cut Denver out of the games’
‘cut’ - forceful and impactful, Denver loses all stability in no longer having emotional support - height of her isolation.
Symbolises a shift in her dependance - necessary for her survival.
‘Denver knew it was on her. She would have to leave the yard; step off the edge of the world’
‘on her’ - signals a sense of agency and responsibility, an awakening of her situation.
‘leaving the yard’ - more than just a physical boundary, a shift from a space of comfort and familiarity.
‘edge of the world’ - connotes fear but also an implication of bravery, the world beyond 124 is unknown and potentially dangerous.
