124's importance

Throughout Toni Morrison’s Beloved, the house has a significant presence. “124 was spiteful. Full of a baby’s venom.” are the first words of the novel, but the reader has no context to know what that means. Soon after this strange introduction, we learn that 124 Bluestone Road is where Sethe and Denver live. We also learn that the house is haunted by the ghost of Sethe’s firstborn daughter, Beloved. Beloved’s possession of the house remains through most of the novel, even after the introduction of her “reincarnation”.  

The haunting makes it seem as though the house has a personality largely based on the emotions and experiences of Beloved and how she is affected by the other characters. From being “spiteful” at the beginning, to “loud” due to conflicts between Beloved, Sethe, and Denver, to “quiet” around the time where Beloved disappears. As readers, during this haunting, we never really get the sense of terror by the characters involved, as there would be in a something such as a possession oriented horror movie. Denver and Sethe are not scared in any way by the house. Denver in particular shows a strong connection to it. She tells Paul D that it only feels “[l]onely and rebuked”

It might be important to note that before even Baby Suggs moved to 124, the owner of the house, Mr. Bodwin, remembers that “women died there: his mother, grandmother, an aunt and an older sister” This significant female emphasis may add another level of reason to certain situations in the novel, such as Paul D’s interaction/fight with the ghost and Stamp Paid’s hesitance to enter the house without invitation (something he normally had no problem doing).