... The number 124 symbolizes Beloved because she is the third child of Sethe, the ghost child. ... Morrison uses 124 as a metaphor to represent the three stages of Beloved’s appearance in Sethe’s life. ...
“124 was spiteful” (Morrison 3) establishes the first stage of Beloved’s appearance and the story behind the reason for Beloved’s appearance. ... Beloved is spiteful because she has come back to haunt 124, the house her mother lived, in the form of a baby ghost. “124 was…[f]ull of a baby’s venom” (Morrison 3). ...
Beloved’s existence at 124 is a result of Sethe not acknowledging her past. ... Although Sethe denies her past, the past still happened and the memory is still there, if not in Sethe’s mind, in the house of 124.
“124 was loud” (Morrison 169). ... Beloved had tormented 124 so much that Sethe begins to question her reasoning for killing Beloved. ...
“124 was quiet” (Morrison 239). ... When Sethe accepts her past as her own, 124 becomes quiet and Beloved becomes the part of Sethe that represents the independent story or voice of slavery. Morrison explains Beloved’s actions toward Sethe through 124. ... 124 also represents Sethe’s stages in accepting her past. ... Morrison closes the novel with a metaphor that resonates with her choice of the number three.
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