1. Beloved Symbols

2. Symbol 1 Symbols ***Symbols are objects, characters, figures, or col ors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts. Colors from the red part of the spectrum (including orange and pink) recur throughout Beloved, althou gh the meaning of these red objects varies. Amy D enver's red velvet, for example, is an image of hop e and a brighter future, while Paul D's “red heart” r epresents feeling and emotion. Overall, red seems to connote

3. Symbol 2 vitality and the visceral nature of human existence. Yet, in Bel oved, vitality often goes hand in hand with mortality, and red i mages simultaneously refer to life and death, to presence and absence. For example, the red roses that line the road to the carnival serve to herald the carnival's arrival in town and anno unce the beginning of Sethe, Denver, and Paul D's new life to gether; yet they also stink of death. The red rooster signifies manhood to Paul D, but it is a manhood that Paul D himself h as been denied. The story of Amy's search for carmine velvet seems especially poignant because we sense the futility of he r dream. Sethe's memory is awash with the red of her daught er's blood and the pink mineral of her gravestone, both of whi ch have been bought at a dear price.

4. Symbol 3 In the world of Beloved, trees serve primarily as sourc es of healing, comfort, and life. Denver's “emerald clos et” of boxwood bushes functions as a place of solitude and repose for her. The beautiful trees of Sweet Home mask the true horror of the plantation in Sethe's memo ry. Paul D finds his freedom by following flowering tree s to the North, and Sethe finds hers by escaping throu gh a forest. By imagining the scars on Sethe's back as a “chokecherry tree,” Amy Denver sublimates a site of trauma and brutality into one of beauty and growth. Bu t as the sites of lynchings and of Sixo's death by burni ng, however, trees reveal a connection with a darker si de of humanity as well.