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“124 was spiteful” (3). So the story of Beloved, by Toni Morrison, begins. From the start, the reader is led to believe that the number 124, which is the number of the house where all the action takes place, means something significant. ...
The number 124 could demonstrate how the first, second, and fourth child survived in the house, but the third child, who is missing, did not. ... The combination of numbers in 124 could also have a special Biblical importance, bringing out the divine nature of the story. ...
The first paragraph of the whole book really gives the reader what to expect out of the whole story and compounds the importance of the number three:
124 was spiteful. ... It uses the house as a living thing, where one can decipher 124 to mean the baby Beloved, who was killed by her mother’s hand so she would not have to go into slavery. ... This baby, who later comes to life as the woman Beloved, has the power, which she expresses further on in the book, to send people, and especially men, packing. Through her powers to wear out a body and make it “so tired” (271), Beloved brought down the number of people living in the house to a comfortable number three- exactly what is missing from the address. ...
The number 124, and the combination of those digits, also have Biblical connotations. ... Beloved resurrects herself, the book tells us, as “a fully dressed woman walked out of the water…” (50).
Approximate Word count = 1175
Approximate Pages = 4.7
(250 words per page double spaced)
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