the death of the body is not the death of the soul. Schoolteacher, whom Sethe and Paul D view as the devil, causes this. They view Sweet Home as a nice place to live until Mr. Garner dies and schoolteacher takes over. Then Sweet Home begins to turn to a terrible place, one that can be seen as Sethe and Paul Ds hell with Schoolteacher being the devil. Paul D comes to the realization of what it meant to be enslaved only after Schoolteacher takes over the management of Sweet Home(Beloved). When Sethe kills her child rather than having it live the slave life under the likes of Schoolteacher, is when the child takes on the persona of the devil. This is because when Sethe remembers this part of her past she thinks of Schoolteacher and he lives in her present through the ghost and then Beloved. This plays an important part in the folklore of the novel because it shows the daily struggle of surviving and coping with life. The local hero usually plays a main role in the folk tale. In Beloved, Baby Suggs represents the local hero in her town. Baby Suggs, like Sethe, must deal with the destruction of her family. All of her children except for Halle were taken from her when they were very young. She does not know where her husband is but keeps his name. She realizes that there are other ways to be free than shutting yourself out to the world, even though she ends up in total withdrawal. She helps everyone she can and comes out as a matriarchal character in the book. She gives a spiritual lesson in the book. The caring community is a main part of the folk tale. In Beloved, Sethes current community and the one in sweet home were very protective and caring. In the end of the novel the community almost has an uprising to prevent Sethe from being harmed by what they perceive to be the devil. When Ella heard 124 was occupied by something or other beating up on Sethe, it infuriated her and gave her another opportunity to measure what could v...
