1. Name two sets of oppositions in Beloved that correspond to our previous discussions about Medea.

2. All of the Medea stories we’ve read feature the theme of exile. How does the idea of exile figure into Beloved? Who in this story is exiled and from what is she / he exiled? NB: There are multiple answers to this question.

3. How does Morrison put a twist to the infanticide story in Medea? How does this account of infanticide shift the emphasis of the Medea myth? What does the novel suggest about the idea of “maternal instincts”?

4. How is Sethe’s character like Medea? Whose Medea does she most resemble – Euripides’s? Seneca’s? Webster’s? Wolf’s? Moraga’s?

5. Among the disturbing elements in this novel is the wry humor with which Morrison narrates the most horrifying of the characters’ experiences. How do you interpret the tone with which this story is told? Furthermore, how do the magical realism elements of the story effect your reading?

6. Think about memory as you continue reading. Specifically, I want you to think about why Morrison chooses to use the neologism “rememory”. How does “rememory” differ from memory?

7. I also want you to continue thinking about what Beloved symbolizes / means. We suggested on Monday that she is a manifestation of all the pent-up emotions and memories that characters refuse to let themselves feel (rage, grief, loneliness). How does Beloved’s significance alter with her physical manifestation and the development of her own personality?

8. How does Beloved’s appearance change Denver and Sethe? Why?

9. How do you explain Paul D’s reaction to Beloved and hers to him? How / why is Beloved able to “move” Paul D?

10. What is the significance of Baby Suggs’s prayer circle? What is the significance of her long prayer that begins: “Here, in this here place, we flesh”?