Beloved was an amazing book. Even though I am not very interested in the topic of slavery, it made me think about several related issues, like abortion, and youthanasia. In my opinion, Sethe's act was one of panic and insanity. I believe that she killed the baby in the manner that she did because she wanted to hurry up and do it before schoolteacher and his posse could round them up and take them back to slavery, so she saw a saw and did what she instinctively thought she should do in a paniced insane instance. It was obviously a moment in which Sethe was not of sound mind to any extent. Her nursing Denver with blood still on her from killing Beloved is an example of how out of her mind Sethe was at that moment.

Although, I can reason this action to make some sort of sense, I still do not agree with it. John Stuart Mill distinguishes when certain people should be allowed to interfere with other people doing things by setting a difference between certain kinds of acts. Self-regarding acts are those that only affect the doer of the act. Other-regarding acts are those that affect other people. He would say that under no circumstances would Sethe be right to kill Beloved, or anybody for that matter because that is an other-regarding. However, if Sethe wanted to commit suicide, that is ok because that act only affects her(this is debatable, but is not the issue). So, Mill would say Sethe was wrong. I agree with Mill based on these distinctions, because Beloved never had a chance, and things do change over time. The children would eventually have gained their freedom after the civil war, and they still would have experienced life. It is wrong to opt somebody else out of a situation(in this case their life), one should only be able to make that choice for themself.