More Beloved . . .

"124, rocking with laughter, goodwill and food for ninety, made them angry. Too much, they thought. Where does she get it all, Baby Suggs, holy ? Why is she and hers always the center of things? How come she always knows exactly what to do and when? Giving advice; passing messages; healing the sick, hiding fugitives, loving, cooking, cooking, loving, preaching, singing, dancing and loving everybody like it was her job and hers alone.

Now to take two buckets of blackberries and make ten, maybe twelve, pies; to have a turkey enough for the whole town pretty near, new peas in September, fresh cream but no cow, ice and sugar, batter bread, bread pudding, raised bread, shortbread--it made them mad. Loaves and fishes were His powers--they did not belong to an exslave who had probably never carried one hundred pounds to the scale, or picked okra with a baby on her back. Who had never been lashed by a ten-year-old whiteboy as God knows they had. Who had not even escaped slavery--had, in fact, been bought out of it by a doting son and driven to the Ohio River in a wagon--free papers folded between her breasts (driven by the very man who had been her master, who also paid her resettlement fee--)....It made them furious"(137).

Toni Morrison uses alot of imagery in this passage. She chooses words that paints a picture of exactly what she is trying to say. When she is describing all of the food that Baby Suggs is able to provide she describes them in detail; she wants you to be able to see the food, and possibly almost taste it. The tone of this passage seems resentful, hateful, jelous, etc. It is negative thoughts coming from exslaves whom Baby Suggs helps. Toni Morrison describes Baby Suggs' actions as magical--similiar to Jesus. The exslaves are angry at this because they are not used to anybody helping them. Instead of appreciating Baby Suggs they start to resent her. It is the same story as in the bible for Jesus. Jesus was hated because he had too much power and people could not understand it. They were jealous how he could heal people, and create food out of nothing. It is a similiar situation with Baby Suggs. They cannot understand why she wants to do good things for them. They do not understand why she wants to help them, feed them, take care of them, etc. They are so used to being beaten, hated, tortured, and dehumanized that instead of loving her like she loves them, they turn on her.