In the novel Beloved by Toni Morrison there is a baby ghost, also named Beloved, who has come back to live in the house on 124 Bluestone Road along with her mother, Sethe, and her sister, Denver. Beloved is clearly the baby ghost back from the dead. The reason for which Beloved is still around and does not "stay buried" is because she did not die peacefully; in fact she died quite the contrary, killed by her own mother. When Sethe is faced with what she thinks is the same situation as the first time she killed her daughter, she reacts differently, with the end effect of Beloved leaving. .
Beloved is at their house because of the way she died, she has not had a peaceful death. In the very beginning of the book, before the reader knows that that the baby was killed by Sethe, Denver is commenting on how powerful the ghost is:.
"If she"d only come, I could make it clear to her .
"For a baby she throws a powerful spell," said Denver.
"No more powerful than the way I lowed her," Sethe answered and there it was again. (4).
In this passage Sethe flat out says that the ghost's power is just as strong as her love for it. For the whole book Sethe is in love with Beloved and does not complain about her because she is her daughter and she feels guilty about killing her daughter.
Morrison illustrates a very unhealthy relationship where Beloved feeds on Sethe's regret. "[Sethe] sat in the chair licking her lips like a chastised child while Beloved ate up her life, took it, swelled with it, grew taller on it, and the older woman yielded it up without a murmur" (250). The parasitic relationship grows and the feelings or regret grow withing Sethe. Sethe feels badly for killing her daughter and just wants to make it better so Sethe lets Beloved do what she pleases. Until Sethe feels relief and no longer regrets her actions, Beloved will plague her.
At the end of the book Sethe is faced with a replay of events where she thinks that the schoolteacher has come back.
