Beloved

Grade Levels

Excerpt

English IV

AP Time line for Toni Morrison’s Beloved

• 1790 Baby Suggs born (approx.)
• 1803 Ohio statehood
• 1830 Halle Suggs born; Paul D born (approx.)
• 1835-36 Sethe born (approx.)
• 1838-39 Sethe’s mother killed
• 1840 Baby Suggs hurts hip; is sold to Garner with Halle
• 1844 Halle starts working to pay for Baby Suggs’ freedom
• 1850 Baby Suggs to Cincinnati; Sethe arrives at Sweet Home
• 1851-52 Howard and Buglar born
• Dec. 1854 Sethe’s first girl, “Beloved” born
• Spring 1855 Plan to escape when corn is highest
• Aug. 1855 Escape; Denver born; Paul D sold to Brandywine in Pulaski Co, KY
• Sept. 1855 After 28 days’ freedom, feast and infanticide
• Sept-Dec 1855 Sethe jailed
• Fall 1855 Paul D attempts Brandywine’s life; led off to Albert, GA, chain-gang
• Dec-Jan 1855 Sethe “purchases” the “Beloved” headstone
• Jan. 1856 Paul D escapes
• 1856 (Approx.) Ghost makes presence felt
• Feb-Jul 1856 Paul D walks north
• Summer 1856 Paul D and his “Delaware” woman
• Late 1850s Paul D sells labor to “Northpoint Bank”
• 1862-1863 Denver attends school for one year
• 1863-1864 Howard and Buglar run away, fight for Union Army; Paul D enlists 44th Colored Infantry
• 1864 Baby Suggs dies (approx.)
• 1864-1865 Paul D works for “Rebellers”
• 1866 Paul D heads north again
• Aug. 1873 Paul D arrives at 124 Bluestone Road
• Four days later (a Thursday) Carnival; the “Beloved” girl arrives
• Oct. 1873 “Beloved” has been at 124 Bluestone for “five weeks” (p. 64) Autumn (p. 116)
• Late 1873 Snow and “three inches of ice” (p. 120)
• Dec. 1873 Paul D meets Sethe at restaurant, has been doing so “for four months” (p. 130)
• Jan. 1874 “A sunny and windless day in January” (p. 218)
• Late Mar 1874 “The end of March” (p. 240)
• Late Mar or April 1874 “The thaw was complete” (p. 241)
• April 1874 “It was April” (p. 243)
• June 1874 “By June” (p. 250)
• Aug 1874 A reference to the heat of summer; it’s 3 p.m. on a Friday when Bodwin shows at 124 (p. 257)
• Sept 1874 “Late summer” (p. 270)

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Chronologically arranged timeline for events in the novel