The Chapter begins with the arrival of the schoolteacher, the nephew, a slave catcher, and a sheriff - who are in search of valuable runaway slaves. Unfortunately, they encounter the bloody murder scene of Beloved, and her wounded brother's Buglar and Howard, and their mother Seth, who threatens to kill Denver as well.
Eventually, the teacher blames the actions of Sethe to being sexually abused by the nephew; and Sethe is arrested. The scene partially ends with Denver nursing in the arms of her mother, swallowing milk along with her sister's blood.
Analysis Of Chapter 16.
At the beginning, the image of the four white visitors arriving on horseback, portrays the Bible's Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, an universally feared by slaves. In depth, each male represented an aspect of cruelty, symbolizing Revelation's famine, war, pestilence, and death. In addition, knowing that the schoolteacher only studied the slaves as breeding stock for Sweet Home, it is no surprise that he is not phased by the murder scene. As for the slave catcher, he sees the scene as a financial loss, where he must carefully guard his "stocks" to guarantee a profitable gain. Even more, with the schoolteacher blaming Sethe's reaction on the nephew engaging her in lude sexual act, the nephew learns too late, that his earlier actions were perverse and unfair to Sethe. However, since the nephew had been a victim of sexual abuse himself, readers may not directly blame him for his actions. Moreover, his position can be represented as vulnerable and pathetic. Furthermore, the sheriff representing the "guardian of the law", had to return the runaway slave without regards to Sethe murdering her child to spare her from the evil of slavery. Also, the nursing scene of Denver swallowing milk along with her sister's blood represents the continued existence of Beloved, through nourishment and safe-keeping inside of her sister.
