How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
She moved him.
Not the way he had beat off the baby's ghost—all bang and shriek with windows smashed and jelly jars rolled in a heap. But she moved him nonetheless, and Paul D didn't know how to stop it because it looked like he was moving himself. Imperceptibly, downright reasonably, he was moving out of 124. (11.1-2)
Here we get the build-up and the justification for the chapter's final betrayal: Beloved's seduction of Paul D—or Paul D's decision to sleep with Beloved, however you want to look at it). What do you think? Is Beloved really moving Paul D around? Can he really not control his body?
Quote #8
Baby closed her eyes. Perhaps they were right. Suddenly, behind the disapproving odor, way way back behind it, she smelled another thing. Dark and coming. Something she couldn't get at because the other odor hid it.
She squeezed her eyes tight to see what it was but all she could make out was high-topped shoes she didn't like the look of. (15.15-16)
Foreshadowing alert! This time, Baby foresees Beloved's arrival. How do we know? It's those high-topped shoes (and, by high-topped, Morrison means those Victorian, lace-up style ankle booties, not Converse) Beloved wears (5.3). Weird, considering that in those days, shoes like that meant you had some money. So where did those shoes come from?
Quote #9
"Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof," and nobody needed more; nobody needed a grown-up evil sitting at the table with a grudge. As long as the ghost showed out from its ghostly place—shaking stuff, crying, smashing and such—Ella respected it. But if it took flesh and came in her world, well, the shoe was on the other foot. She didn't mind a little communication between the two worlds, but this was an invasion. (26.128)
Bible shout-out! Matthew 6:34, to be precise. Translation: you shouldn't worry about the future because the present day has enough of its own troubles. Of course, the problem with Beloved is that she's from the past.