a pulsing, red light

In Toni Morrison’s novel, Beloved, the presence of color is constantly tied to the emotions of the characters and helps in communicating the horrific terrors of the characters’ pasts. The use of color creates very powerful imagery in that it is closely linked to emotion, and since color is visual, it allows the reader to “see” the emotions woven into and under the plot of the novel. Thus, the reader is more readily able to feel the emotions felt by the characters and can empathize with the characters’ plight. Morrison’s use of color to communicate emotion situates the reader right in the midst of the novel and furthers her intent to put the reader in an ex-slave’s mind and memory (or rememory). Moreover, color is something visual but not tangible on its own; color is without physical bounds outside the context of actual things. Therefore, reading color helps the reader experience the emotions so completely and without warning, just like the workings of rememory, and the reader has no choice but to go on.

Also, the baby ghost that haunts the house at #124 Bluestone Road is crucial to the novel’s plot. The ghost is expresses itself not only through its violent actions, but also through color, or the lack thereof throughout. Babies and infants use color as their first tool to identifying and familiarizing themselves with their surroundings. The presence of color further grounds the haunting of the baby ghost in the novel.

When Paul D arrives at Sethe’s home at #124, immediately upon entering, he is struck by “a pool of pulsing red light…It was sad. Walking through it, a wave of grief soaked him so thoroughly that he wanted to cry” (11). The red, pulsing light is representative of the presence of the baby ghost who is the little girl that Sethe lost. The red is symbolic of the blood from her death and the pulsing is symbolic of a beating heart. The red and pulsing creates and image for the reader, and creates a sense of sadness, because the reader knows that the baby is dead and this is her ghost continuing to “live.” Furthermore, the image is all the more saddening, because Paul D, a strong man, is upset by the “pulsing, red light,” so much so that he is “soaked” with sadness and grief. Paul D’s sadness helps place the reader in the house and in that sadness, which makes the events easier to understand and accept, even though some of the events are sometimes too hard to read. The power of the red is incredibly strong and continues to have a presence in the novel.