Toni Morrison uses the color red in several ways in her novel Beloved. On the one hand, red is a symbol of dynamism and life, often revealing life in unexpected places. It also symbolizes pain and death, although death does not mean absence in a book where the dead have a very living presence in human life. Beautiful but terrible, red is desired and feared by characters and often signifies important turning points in the book. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Several characters in Beloved express their desire for red, showing it as a positive symbol of birth, life, and emotion. Denver, which has not left 124 for twelve years, aspires to color and dynamism. For Denver, the arrival of Beloved means the return of the dynamism he missed the most: that of a companion. Beloved's value to Denver is clear from Denver's love of colors, and red in particular, as Denver is willing to give up "the most violent of sunsets...and all the blood of autumn and to settle for the palest yellow if it comes from one's Beloved. » (143). Beloved, too, is captivated by the color red. Although she has experienced more than enough vibrancy in her own life, her eyes follow the "bloodstain" of a cardinal in the leaves of a nearby tree, "hungry for another glimpse" (119). . For Beloved, red represents the emotion she has held within her for eighteen years. Beloved's need for sentiment leads to her affair with Paul D and stimulates her desire for brightly colored clothes, like the dress Denver ultimately wears to visit Lady Jones, "a dress so loud it embarrassed the seat of the house." embroidered chair” (291) Amy Denver, the white girl from whom Denver takes its name is fascinated by “carmine” velvet. Although she has probably never left her hometown, Amy is willing to travel "a hundred miles, maybe more" to find her own red velvet (41). Amy's description of velvet as "as if the world had just been born" reinforces the connection between the color red and birth and life (40). Although admired for its beauty, red appears as both an overt and implicit symbol of blood and death, reminding the reader of Sethe's past. Beloved sometimes opens her neck wounds, terrifying Sethe and using the “blood rubies” to get what she wants (294). Sethe is horrified by this image because it reminds her of the murder she committed eighteen years ago and refutes her frequent insistence that "I have nothing to explain" (236). The reopening of Beloved's wounds reflects the fact that nothing has truly healed and that Sethe can never fully forgive herself for this act. Besides the clear references to red blood, Morrison associates the color red with violence and death in several other places. Stamp Paid often plays with a red ribbon, found attached to part of a black child's scalp in "Licking River" (212). Stamp wears the ribbon at all times to remember the cruelty of white people and the struggle of black people. When Paul D enters 124 for the first time, he encounters "a pool of red, rippling light that traps him where he is" (10). The light is the presence of the baby ghost, showing that dead things have by no means disappeared from the world of the living. Upon Paul D's arrival, the women of 124 lived with the light and other reminders of Beloved for eighteen years, allowing the ghost to become part of daily life; When Paul D forces Beloved out, she returns in person, stronger than ever. The color of the blood, the ribbon and the light connect them to the.