The Shield and Sword

In the concluding chapters of Beloved, readers are made aware, once again, of one of Morrison’s many themes that appear throughout her novel. As the “accumulating” women march toward the house at 124, it is stated that the women “brought what they could and what they believed would work,” with other women bringing “Christian faith-as shield and sword.” This theme of the sword and shield has been one, which readers have encountered many times before. Each previous time however, I believe it was in reference to Sethe and her reluctance to let her guard down. They are the words of Baby Suggs, urging Sethe to “lay ‘em down,” but what is it Sethe needs to lay down? What are her sword and shield? In my opinion, it is pain, memories of painful experiences that she cannot let go. Early on, it is stated that “To Sethe, the future was a matter of keeping the past at bay,” she is constantly fighting with her images, memories, and rememories of the past (51). After her recognition of Beloved as her daughter, it seems that all is well. The reader may be lead to think that Sethe has finally reached a point where she can truly lay these things down. However, things take a turn for the worse with Beloved and Sethe must constantly fight, once again, with the memories of her past. Trying to justify her past decisions constantly in order to appease Beloved, Sethe obviously cannot lay down her sword and shield, Beloved will not let her. So it is interesting toward the climax of the novel, that these women, coming to the aid of Sethe, must take up “shield and sword” in order to save Sethe, especially in the form of Christian Faith. A tenant of the Christian Faith is to look to God for protection. This concept is often depicted in militant or combative terms as in the following passage

"Then all this assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord's, and He will give you into our hands."

At this point in the novel, “prayer” takes over in the battle against a “devil child,” or what may actually be “the devil himself” (308, 302). Along with the religious connotations of prayer, the devil, the holiness of all human life, the women coming to the rescue recall their encounters in the Clearing with Baby Suggs, a religious woman, the same woman that urged Sethe to lay it all down. At this point, the women (and, as it would seem Morrison intends,) God take up the sword and shield for Sethe, forcing Beloved to disappear.