The ghoulish interrogation between mother and murdered child gets at the truth. "Didn't you come from the other side?" Sethe asks. "Do you forgive me? Will you stay? You safe here now." Beloved questions her about "the men without skin," the white men who tried to take her back to Kentucky. Sethe extends the strongest of benedictions — a smile that assures Beloved of safety, blessing, and acceptance.
Chapter 23, a trio for three female voices, harmonizes the strains of Sethe, Denver, and Beloved, each craving and each finding nourishment in love, security, and banishment of the past. The dialogue shifts to Denver, who warns Beloved not to risk too much by loving too much. Vulnerable since the day Stamp Paid rescued her from a violent death against the shed's plank wall, Denver knows that "she can give you dreams." Like some devouring monster, the Sethe whom Denver calls mother "chews and swallows." The only safety is found in another dream, the fantasy of the deliverer: "Daddy is coming for us. A hot thing."
The trio — Sethe, Beloved, and Denver — merge in the final lines, blessed by milk, smiles, and blood. The benediction, like a voodoo incantation, like a classic admirer's charm, is uttered three times, once for each:
You are mine
You are mine
You are mine.
