Beloved
In many works of literature, past events affect the current attitudes and values of characters positively or negatively. Specifically, in Toni Morrisons, Beloved, the main character, Sethe, finds herself constantly haunted by her past. Her past experiences which lead to the ghost of her baby returning to her in the form of flesh, have a negative impact on her, and with the help of her once alienated society, Sethe is finally able to move on with her life and allow her past to diminish.
Although the events in Beloved are not chronologically organized, the reader is still able to grasp a detailed understanding of Sethes past experiences. Her physical and emotional devastation caused by slavery still haunt her and the many other former slaves, although they are free. Sethe is very insecure and her alienation is due to her unpleasant past, especially with the schoolteacher. For example, she once walked in on schoolteacher giving his pupils a lesson on her animal characteristics. This destroyed any sense of a self she had, consequently allowing her to view all white men as terrible, evil people. As a former slave, Sethe already knows how bad the conditions are, so when she sees the white men approaching her at Sweet Home, she flees into the back shed with her children. Torn between allowing her children to suffer through slavery, or killing them herself, Sethe decides to protect her children from harm and kills them herself, an action which may seem evil, yet is simply an act of motherly love toward her children. Beloved, the oldest daughter who is still an infant, is cut in the throat, and Denver, the younger sister, is saved when Paul D Garner, a former Sweet Home man, comes in and catches her as Sethe is throwing her. Trying to guard her children from the malevolence and immorality of slaveholders, she is aware that she will carry this burden on forever, yet she does not know what is yet to come trouble her.
When Sethe and Denver move to Baby Suggss house at 124 Bluestone Road, the ghost immediately makes itself known through outrage. This and other factors from the past constitute the various flashbacks and memories Sethe encounters from Beloved. The ghost of this baby repeatedly destructs her home, and at one time, is driven away by Paul D who beats the ghost out. However, determined to gain answers to the questions that trouble her, Beloved comes to Sethe physically. However, she is still a child trapped in an adults body and is eager to get to know the mother she is longing for. She states, Sethe sees me see her and I see the smile her smiling face is the place for me it is the face I lost she is my face smiling at me doing it at last a hot thing now we can join... to display her desire for her mother.
Furthermore, what serves to be a central theme in the novel is the significance of a united community. When Denver finally leaves 124, she grows up, discovers her independence, and begins to develop an identity, similar to Sethes first twenty-eight days of freedom, where she also begins to develop a sense of self. In addition, the black community in Cincinnati is partly a cause of Beloveds death, considering the fact that Sethe was not warned by others that the white men were coming.
In the end, the black community who previously mistreated Sethe, is able to push Beloved away, and allow them all, including Sethe, to forget their horrifying past. Their attitudes and values, which were plagued by their past experiences, have now been put back, and the true idea of freedom may at last, be a dream come true.
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