Denver as Mother-Sister

            I’m starting to think that incest is the only qualification needed to win the Nobel Prize.  Not really, but at this rate V. C. Andrews should prepare a lecture.  I’ve only read half of the novel, but I’m starting to notice how unnatural the connections the women in this family have.  It struck me at first with Denver and Beloved, and although I have no textual proof that there is anything out of the ordinary, Denver’s desperation to keep Beloved in the family seems startling.  Denver alone knows the secret of Beloved’s true nature.  She is the incarnate ghost of the dead child.  Although Beloved only has attention to give to Sethe, (I will get to my thoughts on that later) Denver casts her own maternal gaze upon her.  Denver wants to teach Beloved how to tie her shoes, how to do chores, anything that will form a connection between them.  This might just be showing how lonely Denver is without the ghost, or emphasize how sad it was that her only connection to another spirit was a ghost in the first place, but it is also starting to get a bit creepy.  She oven refers to the tip of something peaking out of Beloved’s dress.  I believe it is an umbilical chord, and that is very weird, but referring to it as an unnamed fleshy object with a tip arouses sexual connotations. 

            Beloved’s interest in Sethe also seems a bit over dramatic.  Sometimes it seems like she is trying to kill Sethe, and other times the love she has seems romantic.  On page 114, a spirit chokes Sethe and she moans in pleasure as Beloved puts her fingers on her neck to soothe her.  The contrast between Beloved’s benevolent actions and her loving gestures are very suspicious, yet Denver would choose Beloved over Sethe since she feels a sense of responsibility over her.  I also think that Beloved might have had sex with Paul D, which would cause some problems.  Beloved’s intentions may be to kill Sethe in order to have Sethe for herself in the afterlife.  She often states that the house is “where she is” meaning that she does not plan to leave.  Could her intention be to kill Sethe, and live as ghosts in the house together?