Denver Character Analysis in Beloved

Denver is Sethe’s youngest child. She is quiet and independent, but also craves attention and love from Sethe and Beloved. She loves to hear Sethe tell her about her miraculous birth. Toward the end of the novel, she gathers enough courage to venture outside of 124 by herself and get help for Sethe. As the novel ends, she seems to have a potentially promising future and to have been saved from the past that controlled Sethe’s life.

Denver Quotes in Beloved

The Beloved quotes below are all either spoken by Denver or refer to Denver. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

“How come everybody run off from Sweet Home can’t stop talking about it? Look like if it was so sweet you would have stayed.”
[...]
Paul D laughed. “True, true. [Denver’s] right, Sethe. It wasn’t sweet and it sure wasn’t home.” He shook his head.
“But it’s where we were,” said Sethe. “All together. Comes back whether we want it to or not.”

Related Characters: (speaker), (speaker), (speaker)

Page Number and Citation: 16

Explanation and Analysis:

As for Denver, the job Sethe had of keeping her from the past that was still waiting for her was all that mattered.

Related Characters: ,

Page Number and Citation: 51

Explanation and Analysis:

And if [Sethe] thought anything, it was No. No. Nono. Nonono. Simple. She just flew. Collected every bit of life she had made, all the parts of her that were precious and fine and beautiful, and carried, pushed, dragged them through the veil, out, away, over there where no one else could hurt them. Over there. Outside this place, where they would be safe.

Related Characters: , ,

Page Number and Citation: 192

Explanation and Analysis:

Yet [Denver] knew Sethe’s greatest fear was...that Beloved might leave.... Leave before Sethe could make her realize that far worse than [death]...was what Baby Suggs died of, what Ella knew, what Stamp saw and what made Paul D tremble. That anybody white could take your whole self for anything that came to mind. Not just work, kill, or maim you, but dirty you. Dirty you so bad you couldn’t like yourself anymore. Dirty you so bad you forgot who you were and couldn’t think it up.

Related Characters: , , , , , ,

Page Number and Citation: 295

Explanation and Analysis:

Denver Character Timeline in Beloved

The timeline below shows where the character Denver appears in Beloved. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

Storytelling, Memory, and the Past Theme Icon

...of the baby of Sethe, a former slave who lives at 124 with her daughter, Denver. They have lived in the house for 18 years. Sethe’s sons, Howard and Buglar, ran... (full context)

Shortly after Baby Suggs’ death, Sethe and Denver attempt to call forth the ghost to talk to it, but it does not appear.... (full context)

...works at a restaurant and sews to make money in order to feed herself and Denver. Paul D remembers more of his past from Sweet Home: Sethe came to Sweet Home... (full context)

Denver meets Paul D and is shy around him, since she is not used to friendly... (full context)

As Sethe and Denver start to prepare dinner, Denver makes a rude remark to Paul D and then begins... (full context)

...her what she means and she explains: on Sweet Home, when she was pregnant with Denver and still lactating to nurse her infant (the baby that is now the ghost), two... (full context)

After the house settles down, Denver takes the biscuits onto the porch and eats, while Sethe and Paul D go upstairs.... (full context)

Since she was a small child, Denver has enjoyed going to a growth of boxwood in the woods behind 124. The boxwood... (full context)

The dress embracing Sethe reminds Denver of the story of her own birth. As Sethe has told her, she was running... (full context)

Thinking about the story of Amy, Denver enters 124 and tells Sethe about the dress she saw. She asks Sethe what she... (full context)

Denver asks Sethe about Sweet Home. Sethe tells her about Schoolteacher, who came to the plantation... (full context)

Paul D has moved into 124, disturbing the house’s arrangement that Denver had grown used to. Denver had learned to take pride in the haunting of their... (full context)

...she tells him that he can stay at the house. Paul D is hesitant, since Denver evidently does not want him to stay, but Sethe assures him that it’s okay and... (full context)

At dinner one night, Denver asks Paul D how long he’s going to “hang around”, which upsets Sethe. Paul asks... (full context)

...that he will stay at 124 and help her, but she has to talk to Denver about making room in their life for him. He plans to take Denver and Sethe... (full context)

...to the carnival. Sethe dresses up as much as she can for the occasion, but Denver is sullen. As they walk to the carnival, Sethe notices that their three shadows are... (full context)

...as having “new skin”. She sits down on a stump outside of 124, where Sethe, Denver, and Paul D find her upon returning from the carnival. Immediately upon seeing the woman,... (full context)

Sethe and Paul D think Beloved is sick with cholera, but Denver defiantly says that she isn’t. For four days, Denver tends to Beloved, changing her sheets... (full context)

...D says that Beloved is not as weak and sickly as she seems: he and Denver saw her pick up a large rocking chair with one hand. Denver lies and says... (full context)

...to meet her on her way back from work at night. Time passes with Sethe, Denver, Paul D, and Beloved all living at 124. (full context)

...of earrings and told her that she wanted her and Halle to be happy together. Denver asks where the earrings are now and Sethe says that they are gone. (full context)

One day, as Sethe is unbraiding Denver’s hair, Beloved asks if Sethe’s mother ever did her hair. Sethe says she can’t remember... (full context)

...but that she couldn’t identify the body, even though she looked for her mother’s mark. Denver asks why Sethe’s mother was hanged, and Sethe says that she didn’t know. (full context)

Sethe ends her story and Denver realizes that she hates the stories that do not have to do with her own... (full context)

...D. He is bothered by the fact that she arrived just as he, Sethe, and Denver seemed to be getting along together. (full context)

...trying to get rid of Beloved, Beloved chokes on a raisin and then gets sick. Denver takes Beloved to her room, excited to share the room with her. Alone, Paul D... (full context)

Beloved and Denver are dancing upstairs in 124. Denver asks Beloved what it was like where she came... (full context)

Denver asks Beloved never to leave and then asks her not to tell Sethe who she... (full context)

The narration jumps into Denver’s story: Amy has found Sethe, who tells Amy that her name is Lu. Amy cares... (full context)

Sethe thinks that the baby she’s pregnant with (Denver) must be dead. She limps to the river with Amy, where Sethe suddenly goes into... (full context)

...Baby Suggs lost her faith and stopped preaching. Missing Baby Suggs, Sethe decides to take Denver and Beloved with her to the Clearing. (full context)

...she feels invisible fingers massaging her neck. But then, the fingers begin to choke her. Denver runs to help her and the choking stops. Sethe guesses that it was the spirit... (full context)

...him. Beloved sees this and is immediately jealous. She runs outside to a stream where Denver is. Denver accuses her of choking Sethe. Beloved denies it and runs off a short... (full context)

Denver recalls going to a schoolhouse when she was younger and how much she liked the... (full context)

Denver loves it when Beloved looks at her and prizes her attention. Sethe asks Beloved about... (full context)

By contrast, Denver thinks that Beloved is the white dress that knelt next to Sethe, some presence of... (full context)

Denver finally finds Beloved, who assures her that she is not going to leave, because she... (full context)

That night, after Paul D and Sethe leave the dinner table and go upstairs, Denver and Beloved talk. Denver says that Sethe likes having Paul D at the house, but... (full context)

...is holding a dead, bloody child to her chest in one hand and an infant (Denver) by its heel in the other. A nearby black man comes and takes Denver from... (full context)

...the dead baby from her, but Sethe will not let it go. Baby Suggs exchanges Denver for the baby and Sethe breastfeeds Denver, with the blood of her dead baby all... (full context)

...pair of ice skates and asks what they are. Sethe decides to take Beloved and Denver skating. They go skating, laughing and enjoying themselves. They return to 124 and drink hot... (full context)

...the hand-holding shadows she saw on the day of the carnival were not Paul D, Denver, and her, but rather Beloved, Denver, and her. She thinks that Paul D tried to... (full context)

Denver’s monologue follows Sethe’s. She asserts that Beloved is her sister and that they have a... (full context)

When she was younger, Denver was afraid Sethe would kill her, too. She would dream that her dad, Halle, was... (full context)

Beloved’s thoughts are followed by a dialogue of thoughts between Beloved, Sethe, and Denver. Beloved says she comes from “the other side” and remembers Sethe. Sethe says Beloved is... (full context)

...with Sethe, not obeying her and throwing angry fits whenever Sethe tries to assert herself. Denver worries about Sethe. She realizes that it is up to her to leave 124 and... (full context)

Lady Jones recognizes Denver and welcomes her into her house. Denver asks for work, so that she can bring... (full context)

Two days later, Denver finds food left on a stump by 124. All through the spring, various packages of... (full context)

Denver goes to the Bodwins to look for work. She tells their maid Janey about Beloved... (full context)

One afternoon, as Denver is waiting on her porch for Mr. Bodwin to pick her up from 124 to... (full context)

...and runs after him with an ice pick, but she is restrained by the women. Denver runs after Sethe into the crowd of women, and Beloved thinks that both Denver and... (full context)

Paul D’s thoughts are confirmed when Denver runs into him and Stamp Paid and tells them that she has lost her mother.... (full context)

Paul D asks Denver if Beloved was her sister. Denver says that she thinks so, but that Beloved was... (full context)

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Denver Character Analysis

Denver Quotes in Beloved

Denver Character Timeline in Beloved

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