When once or twice Sethe tried to assert herself — be the unquestioned mother whose word waslaw and who knew what was best — Beloved slammed things, wiped the table clean of plates,threw salt on the floor, broke a windowpane.

　　She was not like them. She was wild game, and nobody said, Get on out of here, girl, and comeback when you get some sense. Nobody said, You raise your hand to me and I will knock you intothe middle of next week. Ax the trunk, the limb will die. Honor thy mother and father that thy daysmay be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. I will wrap you round that doorknob, don't nobody work for you and God don't love ugly ways.

　　No, no. They mended the plates, swept the salt, and little by little it dawned on Denver that if Sethedidn't wake up one morning and pick up a knife, Beloved might. Frightened as she was by thething in Sethe that could come out, it shamed her to see her mother serving a girl not much olderthan herself. When she saw her carrying out Beloved's night bucket, Denver raced to relieve her ofit. But the pain was unbearable when they ran low on food, and Denver watched her mother gowithout — pick-eating around the edges of the table and stove: the hominy that stuck on thebottom; the crusts and rinds and peelings of things. Once she saw her run her longest finger deep inan empty jam jar before rinsing and putting it away.

　　They grew tired, and even Beloved, who was getting bigger, seemed nevertheless as exhausted asthey were. In any case she substituted a snarl or a tooth-suck for waving a poker around and 124was quiet. Listless and sleepy with hunger Denver saw the flesh between her mother's forefingerand thumb fade. Saw Sethe's eyes bright but dead, alert but vacant, paying attention to everythingabout Beloved — her lineless palms, her forehead, the smile under her jaw, crooked and much toolong — everything except her basket-fat stomach. She also saw the sleeves of her own carnivalshirtwaist cover her fingers; hems that once showed her ankles now swept the floor. She sawthemselves beribboned, decked-out, limp and starving but locked in a love that wore everybodyout. Then Sethe spit up something she had not eaten and it rocked Denver like gunshot. The jobshe started out with, protecting Beloved from Sethe, changed to pr............