Chapter 4 Beloved Journals

a. What does it tell us literally about the characters and what they are experiencing?
b. What is significant about the quote? Does it have a deeper meaning than the one it holds in this context? Does it contain any literary devices that make it beautiful or interesting?

7. “Risky, thought Paul D, very risky. For a used-to-be-slave woman to love anything that much was dangerous, especially if it was her children she had settled on to love. The best thing, he knew, was to love just a little bit, so when they broke its back, or shoved it in a croaker sack, well, maybe you’d have enough love left over for the next one.”
   
8. “They were not holding hands, but their shadows were.” 
   
   
   
   
   7a) Paul D is remembering what it was like to love anything as a slave. 
   7b) This quote lends an ear to slave life and how terrible it was both physically and emotionally. Often, a woman would have her children taken and sold without any idea of a goodbye. To love something was to kill it. Love couldn't survive in a slaves world and they often lived without it. And died without it to. Paul D is remembering how it was easier to only love anything just a little bit. So when it died or was taken away you wouldn't be left completely broken. There is minimal rhyming along the "broke its back, or shoved it in a croaker sack" line, which serves to draw the reader further into the line.
   
   8a) This quote tells ids, quite directly, the three shadows of Paul D, Denver, and Sethe had their hands overlapping, making it look like they were holding hands, while each of the three people were separated.
   8b) After watching their shadows, Sethe begins to believe that perhaps they can all have a happy life together.  It symbolizes a hope Sethe begins to have, and maybe Paul D too. It also supports the concept expressed in the earlier quote- Is it safe to love these people? The shadows would say yes, but is it really safe?