Beloved as a ghost shows the reader that people will forever be haunted by difficult times in their lives, specifically slavery. Although Beloved was not the reason slavery was so horrific for Sethe, her murder occurred do to the scars of slavery.
I agree with Steph that Beloved’s character as a ghost serves to represent how former slaves will be haunted by the memories of their past lives of enslavement. Beloved haunts Sethe and does not allow her to move on from her past; she also opens up Paul D’s tin can, his heart, forcing him to remember the memories he tried so hard to shut away.
In any instant, a ghost is a representation of a figure or memory that comes back to haunt you. Beloved as a ghost haunts Sethe and the family as a person, but her presence is meant, in the novel, to bring back traumatic memories of the past, ultimately creating that fusion between past and present. Beloved as a ghost is a constant reminder to Sethe of the mistake she made, as well as the traumatic memories she will never forget in a life of slavery.. I agree with Steph that the ghost interpretation gives readers the message that the past will forgevee lurk until it is fought off. In my opinion, using ghost Beloved as a supernatural figure gave 124 especially that Erie, creepy setting. It instilled fear in the family in their own home. To me, establishing this supernatural and setting was important because it displayed how the family will forever be uncomfortable. They will forever be viewed as outsiders, whether in slavery or in the comfort of 124.
The supernatural is a perfect channel for any lingering spirits or emotions. As Beloved's purpose as a character is to remind people of slavery and that the past can always come back to haunt you, the supernatural is a great channel for that. Also the use of Beloved to represent Sethe's repressed feelings and fears is a great vehicle.
Also, part of the supernatural and qualities of a ghost-like figure is having the ability to appear at any instance and any place because they have no physical means on Earth. Most of the time, people are fearful of ghosts even though they can not physically hurt you. A ghost may not be at peace with what happened in their physical life on Earth, because if they were, one would assume that they would enter into Heaven. These ideas are relatable to Beloved because she took offense to Sethe killing her and could not let it go. More importantly, her affiliation with slavery haunts Sethe and can that rememory can occur in any instant no matter how far removed she thinks she is from her past.
By Morrison referencing the supernatural by making Beloved a ghost, she is able to convey the idea that the past will always linger behind someone. Yes, Sethe killed Beloved, but that does not mean that will solely be left in the past just because it happened in the past. Beloved's ghost signifies that the past will come back to haunt you and you cannot avoid it.
Morrison uses the ghost of Beloved to show how the things that have happened to her and the things that she has done in the past will never go away. The ghost of Beloved is, quite literally, her being haunted by the memory that she murdered her daughter. Also, the ghost represents how the times of slavery in her past will haunt her life until the day she dies, the perpetuating fear that drives many of her actions.
The idea of 124 being haunted by a ghost brings an eerie feeling among the novel, as it is clear that Sethe is being haunted by her dead daughter, Beloved. However, the fact that she comes back from a ghost to a girl, is the most pivotal moment in the novel. It brings together the theme that everything in the past can really come back to haunt you. With the ghost of Beloved, she is reminded of her past and the mistakes she has made and the trauma she went through, but in Beloved’s physical form, she is face-to-face with her past. This face-to-face matter is the most haunting of all.
By making Beloved a ghost in the novel, Morrison highlights things coming back from the past to haunt you. In this case, it is slavery that is coming back to haunt Sethe and the other characters in the book. As much as they try, they cannot get rid of the horrible memory of slavery. The presence of Beloved is a sad reminder of that fact.
Beloved is a constant reminder of slavery to Sethe, she is the past she can't escape. Morrison makes beloved a ghost, because a elipsoidled it the thought of beloved would torment Sethe, but only to some extent. So by making Beloved a ghost, something that can control whats happening and actually haunt people, the past can never really be forgotten and pushed down.
Since Beloved was murdered as a baby, I believe that she uses her evil spirit to voice her feelings to her mother about how she feels about her mother murdering her. Her aggressive spirit also informs readers that she cannot let go of her past and wants to haunt her mother about the choices she has made. She also wants to seek revenge against her mother. In a more general overview, the spirit of Beloved shows that people will forever be haunted by dark times in their personal lives as well as in history. Dark memories cannot just disappear.
The function of Beloved's character as a ghost and the use of the supernatural in general are used by Morrison to show that Sethe is perpetually haunted by a spirit. Since she killed her daughter, the ghost haunts 124 and is a constant reminder of her past action. Additionally, the spirit makes it extremely difficult for Sethe to forget her past which included racial discrimination and oppression. Ghosts are also immortal which represents how Sethe's troubling memories will never die.
The function of Beloved’s character as a ghost is to give the haunting presence of Sethe’s past. Her life as a slave is something she will never forget, and Beloved coming back to haunt her gives her the constant reminder of her hardships, especially murdering Beloved. The use of the supernatural in general is to bring about memories that one may have tried to forget and move past. The past will always come back to haunt you, which becomes apparent with Beloved’s return.
Beloved works as a ghost the best because of the saying that “the past comes back to haunt you.” Morrison seems to have taken this quote quite seriously as she uses an Beloved as an instrument of Sethe’s past to literally haunt her. Beloved being a ghost symbolizes that even though the past may be gone, it is never really laid to rest. The past will always be at the back of our minds, and out there to haunt us, and since Beloved is a ghost, she is a physical representation of the past haunting Sethe.
As many people have mentioned in their responses, I believe that the use of the supernatural and Beloved's character as a ghost demonstrates that the past will never actually be the past and will always linger. Sethe killed Beloved, but she can't seem to push away that memory and it will always be stuck with her.
Morrison uses Beloved as a ghost to showcase another aspect that haunts Sethe’s mind. This is just another reminder of her past that she will never be able to shake off. Beloved being a spirit has the ability to mess with Sethe’s mind even more since she is a woman and can act out in ways that a baby could not. Being a spirit allows Beloved to always be present within Sethe and 124. The ghost being always present also goes along with Sethe’s memories of slavery always remaining in her mind.
I believe that Beloved’s ghost is symbolic of slavery, something that Sethe cannot seem to escape. She was freed as a slave, yet still deals with the effects it had on her life. Likewise, Beloved was killed, however her spirit lingers on to haunt Sethe, representative of Sethe’s memories as a slave which can’t seem to be banished from her mind.
Like every other person has said before me, I believe that Morrison uses the supernatural and Beloveds ghost to emphasize the fact that Sethe cannot escape her past. I also believe that Beloved is meant to represent slavery and how Sethe will always be reminded of her time as a slave as long as Beloved is around. It can be said that Beloved represents Sethe's past experiences and shows that Sethe is constantly haunted by her past.
The character of Beloved embodies slavery and is a ghost that symbolizes historical past of slavery just as she haunts the lives at 124. She forces the characters in the novel, most notably her mother, to first recognize the pain from her past before she can begin to work through it and her presence causes all of the characters to come to terms with themselves before she leaves. It also offers the possibility of reconciliation with the past or a better understanding of it and through Beloved's supernatural elements, she is able to metaphorically kill Sethe, which is kind of scary. These stories that are contained within Beloved cannot be truly pieced together until the end of the novel, when she disappears and leaves a lasting impression on the town, which reminds the town of slavery and the history of slavery.
To me, a ghost is is filled with memories. A ghost is still the person in the mind, however, it is not the person physically. A ghost is generally feared and Sethe is fearing the ghost of Beloved since she is irked by the fact that she killed her own daughter. A ghost will forever remain until it is satisfied. The ghost and memory of Beloved will forever stay in 124 until its revenge is fulfilled.
Beloved's ghost is just another form of the haunting of one's past. Everyone in the story has their own "ghosts", most just followed by their traumatic past. Beloved is just one of Sethe's many ghosts that remind her every day of her actions and past.
Beloved coming back as a ghost is used to represent that the past will never go away. Things can always come back to haunt you, good and bad. The terrors of slavery will always live through memories and scars and will always haunt its victims. Morrison wanted the reader to understand what that can be like and used the character Beloved to do so.
It was important to have Beloved as a character because she neeeded to "haunt" Sethe. One of the major theme's of the novel was how slavery will never be able to fade away. Even if you escape from it somehow those memories will always stay with you. The past is never at rest. Beloved's ghost is the past coming back to haunt Sethe.
Beloved’s character as a ghost and the use of the supernatural in general serves as a reminder that the past will remain with you for the rest of your life. The use of Beloved as a ghost represents that people will always be haunted by their mistakes, guilt and hardships. Sethe will forever be haunted with the fact that she murdered her own baby girl. The presence of Beloved in the novel serves as reminder of all the difficult past events. Seeing Beloved as a ghost brings back all the traumas Sethe suffered through as a slave and the reasons why she did not want her daughter to go through that. Beloved’s rememory is a ghost because this serves as a symbol that the past will not just disappear and it will forever affect you.
I think that Beloved being a ghost character is part of Morrison demonstrating that pain is not always physical. While many of the characters suffer from physical torture due to slavery, Morrison wants the readers to remember that the torture still occurs within their memories. Sethe did actually kill her daughter, so when Beloved comes back, she is a ghost or other supernatural spirit. She is used as a symbol of Sethe’s painful past, which “haunts” her, as would a ghost like Beloved.
Although Beloved comes back, she is still just a ghost. She is there as a reminder of Sethe’s actions and to haunt of her what she did. Ultimately, she is a reminder of slavery. She represents how far people are willing to go to forget the past and save people from what they have experienced. No matter what, Beloved’s spirit is still at 124 because no one can forget the slavery and the past. The memories will always haunt Sethe, which is exactly what Beloved represents.
Often, we see ghosts as the spirits of those who cannot get to where they belong because they still need something from the present world. I believe Beloved cannot leave until Sethe fully understands her actions and can let her pain go away. I also agree with what everyone is saying that that memories will always haunt you, just like a ghost.
To me, Beloved's ghost is a constant reminder of how she can not and will not be forgotten by anyone in 124. Also, going back to the parallel to the Civil War, Beloved's ghost represents slavery, and how the memory is constanly lingering, in the past but never to be forgotten because of the impact it had on so many people. Beloved's ghost haunts 124 the way memories haunt people (like Sethe).
Beloved’s spirit represents how the memories of slavery as a whole never fade. For the characters in the story that endured these events, could never truly escape the memories of their past. This is similar as to how even when Beloved is dead, she is still able to affect those around her. In addition, something perceived as supernatural is something that we can’t see or explain, but can instead feel. This can relate to the memory of slavery as a whole. Today we cannot actually see the horrendous circumstances of those who endured them, but can feel empathy and fear in recounting these horrendous events.
When someone thinks of a ghost they think of haunting. A ghost is frightening, you never know where they exactly are and when they are going to jump out and scare you. That is much like the past. In this novel the past is a hovering cloud that never leaves the minds of slaves. The past may not always be at the front of their minds but it's frightening occurrences will always remain there. The occurrences every once in a while jump out and throw the slaves off guard, frightening them and making their current lives difficult to live as if nothing is wrong.
The function of Beloved’s character as a ghost was to show the reader that Sethe cannot move on from her past; so much so that it actually haunted her day in and day out. The ghost could also symbolize a sense of power because even after Beloved was killed she still had control over 124 and everyone who lived there. The memory of Beloved would not go away and neither would the ghost; and when it did, another form of Beloved appeared. Thi just shows that there is no escaping the past no matter how hard one tries to do so.
Beloved’s ghostly presence is used by Morrison to show the reader that in life, we will always be haunted by the actions we make- good and bad. Regrets and mistakes turn to memories we can never seem to escape, especially one as brutal as Sethe’s. While Sethe is the one being haunted, she is not the only person to pity. Typically, ghosts lie in limbo, where they never reach heaven or hell. This relates to Beloved’s situation because she cannot rest until she achieves peace with her circumstances. The ghost of Beloved connects Sethe’s past remorse with her present/future endeavors. Sethe cannot shake her past until she faces it head on.
The function of Beloved’s character as a ghost and of the use of the supernatural in general is supposed to be symbolic of not only Sethe's past haunting her, but also the effects of slavery in general haunting an entire generation. Sethe is stuck living in a kind of time warp because she cannot move on from her memories at Sweet Home and the trauma of murdering her daughter. Beloved is the embodiment of Sethe's past and the fact that she is stuck in a type of limbo between life and death shows that until Sethe comes to terms with her past and learns to cope with it, Beloved will not be put to rest and move on to peace, and Sethe will not move on from her time warp to living in the present. The use of the supernatural contributes to the idea of slavery also because it hints at the fact that the past of slavery in American history is haunting and daunting and just like how ghosts are immortal, the trauma caused by slavery is something that will not die, it might be dealt with, but it will never be forgotten.
Beloved as a ghost shows the reader that people will forever be haunted by difficult times in their lives, specifically slavery. Although Beloved was not the reason slavery was so horrific for Sethe, her murder occurred do to the scars of slavery.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Steph that Beloved’s character as a ghost serves to represent how former slaves will be haunted by the memories of their past lives of enslavement. Beloved haunts Sethe and does not allow her to move on from her past; she also opens up Paul D’s tin can, his heart, forcing him to remember the memories he tried so hard to shut away.
DeleteIn any instant, a ghost is a representation of a figure or memory that comes back to haunt you. Beloved as a ghost haunts Sethe and the family as a person, but her presence is meant, in the novel, to bring back traumatic memories of the past, ultimately creating that fusion between past and present. Beloved as a ghost is a constant reminder to Sethe of the mistake she made, as well as the traumatic memories she will never forget in a life of slavery.. I agree with Steph that the ghost interpretation gives readers the message that the past will forgevee lurk until it is fought off. In my opinion, using ghost Beloved as a supernatural figure gave 124 especially that Erie, creepy setting. It instilled fear in the family in their own home. To me, establishing this supernatural and setting was important because it displayed how the family will forever be uncomfortable. They will forever be viewed as outsiders, whether in slavery or in the comfort of 124.
ReplyDeleteThe supernatural is a perfect channel for any lingering spirits or emotions. As Beloved's purpose as a character is to remind people of slavery and that the past can always come back to haunt you, the supernatural is a great channel for that. Also the use of Beloved to represent Sethe's repressed feelings and fears is a great vehicle.
ReplyDeleteAlso, part of the supernatural and qualities of a ghost-like figure is having the ability to appear at any instance and any place because they have no physical means on Earth. Most of the time, people are fearful of ghosts even though they can not physically hurt you. A ghost may not be at peace with what happened in their physical life on Earth, because if they were, one would assume that they would enter into Heaven. These ideas are relatable to Beloved because she took offense to Sethe killing her and could not let it go. More importantly, her affiliation with slavery haunts Sethe and can that rememory can occur in any instant no matter how far removed she thinks she is from her past.
DeleteBy Morrison referencing the supernatural by making Beloved a ghost, she is able to convey the idea that the past will always linger behind someone. Yes, Sethe killed Beloved, but that does not mean that will solely be left in the past just because it happened in the past. Beloved's ghost signifies that the past will come back to haunt you and you cannot avoid it.
ReplyDeleteMorrison uses the ghost of Beloved to show how the things that have happened to her and the things that she has done in the past will never go away. The ghost of Beloved is, quite literally, her being haunted by the memory that she murdered her daughter. Also, the ghost represents how the times of slavery in her past will haunt her life until the day she dies, the perpetuating fear that drives many of her actions.
ReplyDeleteThe idea of 124 being haunted by a ghost brings an eerie feeling among the novel, as it is clear that Sethe is being haunted by her dead daughter, Beloved. However, the fact that she comes back from a ghost to a girl, is the most pivotal moment in the novel. It brings together the theme that everything in the past can really come back to haunt you. With the ghost of Beloved, she is reminded of her past and the mistakes she has made and the trauma she went through, but in Beloved’s physical form, she is face-to-face with her past. This face-to-face matter is the most haunting of all.
ReplyDeleteBy making Beloved a ghost in the novel, Morrison highlights things coming back from the past to haunt you. In this case, it is slavery that is coming back to haunt Sethe and the other characters in the book. As much as they try, they cannot get rid of the horrible memory of slavery. The presence of Beloved is a sad reminder of that fact.
ReplyDeleteBeloved is a constant reminder of slavery to Sethe, she is the past she can't escape. Morrison makes beloved a ghost, because a elipsoidled it the thought of beloved would torment Sethe, but only to some extent. So by making Beloved a ghost, something that can control whats happening and actually haunt people, the past can never really be forgotten and pushed down.
ReplyDeleteSince Beloved was murdered as a baby, I believe that she uses her evil spirit to voice her feelings to her mother about how she feels about her mother murdering her. Her aggressive spirit also informs readers that she cannot let go of her past and wants to haunt her mother about the choices she has made. She also wants to seek revenge against her mother. In a more general overview, the spirit of Beloved shows that people will forever be haunted by dark times in their personal lives as well as in history. Dark memories cannot just disappear.
ReplyDeleteThe function of Beloved's character as a ghost and the use of the supernatural in general are used by Morrison to show that Sethe is perpetually haunted by a spirit. Since she killed her daughter, the ghost haunts 124 and is a constant reminder of her past action. Additionally, the spirit makes it extremely difficult for Sethe to forget her past which included racial discrimination and oppression. Ghosts are also immortal which represents how Sethe's troubling memories will never die.
ReplyDeleteThe function of Beloved’s character as a ghost is to give the haunting presence of Sethe’s past. Her life as a slave is something she will never forget, and Beloved coming back to haunt her gives her the constant reminder of her hardships, especially murdering Beloved. The use of the supernatural in general is to bring about memories that one may have tried to forget and move past. The past will always come back to haunt you, which becomes apparent with Beloved’s return.
ReplyDeleteBeloved works as a ghost the best because of the saying that “the past comes back to haunt you.” Morrison seems to have taken this quote quite seriously as she uses an Beloved as an instrument of Sethe’s past to literally haunt her. Beloved being a ghost symbolizes that even though the past may be gone, it is never really laid to rest. The past will always be at the back of our minds, and out there to haunt us, and since Beloved is a ghost, she is a physical representation of the past haunting Sethe.
ReplyDeleteAs many people have mentioned in their responses, I believe that the use of the supernatural and Beloved's character as a ghost demonstrates that the past will never actually be the past and will always linger. Sethe killed Beloved, but she can't seem to push away that memory and it will always be stuck with her.
ReplyDeleteMorrison uses Beloved as a ghost to showcase another aspect that haunts Sethe’s mind. This is just another reminder of her past that she will never be able to shake off. Beloved being a spirit has the ability to mess with Sethe’s mind even more since she is a woman and can act out in ways that a baby could not. Being a spirit allows Beloved to always be present within Sethe and 124. The ghost being always present also goes along with Sethe’s memories of slavery always remaining in her mind.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Beloved’s ghost is symbolic of slavery, something that Sethe cannot seem to escape. She was freed as a slave, yet still deals with the effects it had on her life. Likewise, Beloved was killed, however her spirit lingers on to haunt Sethe, representative of Sethe’s memories as a slave which can’t seem to be banished from her mind.
ReplyDeleteLike every other person has said before me, I believe that Morrison uses the supernatural and Beloveds ghost to emphasize the fact that Sethe cannot escape her past. I also believe that Beloved is meant to represent slavery and how Sethe will always be reminded of her time as a slave as long as Beloved is around. It can be said that Beloved represents Sethe's past experiences and shows that Sethe is constantly haunted by her past.
ReplyDeleteThe character of Beloved embodies slavery and is a ghost that symbolizes historical past of slavery just as she haunts the lives at 124. She forces the characters in the novel, most notably her mother, to first recognize the pain from her past before she can begin to work through it and her presence causes all of the characters to come to terms with themselves before she leaves. It also offers the possibility of reconciliation with the past or a better understanding of it and through Beloved's supernatural elements, she is able to metaphorically kill Sethe, which is kind of scary. These stories that are contained within Beloved cannot be truly pieced together until the end of the novel, when she disappears and leaves a lasting impression on the town, which reminds the town of slavery and the history of slavery.
ReplyDeleteTo me, a ghost is is filled with memories. A ghost is still the person in the mind, however, it is not the person physically. A ghost is generally feared and Sethe is fearing the ghost of Beloved since she is irked by the fact that she killed her own daughter. A ghost will forever remain until it is satisfied. The ghost and memory of Beloved will forever stay in 124 until its revenge is fulfilled.
ReplyDeleteBeloved's ghost is just another form of the haunting of one's past. Everyone in the story has their own "ghosts", most just followed by their traumatic past. Beloved is just one of Sethe's many ghosts that remind her every day of her actions and past.
ReplyDeleteBeloved coming back as a ghost is used to represent that the past will never go away. Things can always come back to haunt you, good and bad. The terrors of slavery will always live through memories and scars and will always haunt its victims. Morrison wanted the reader to understand what that can be like and used the character Beloved to do so.
ReplyDeleteIt was important to have Beloved as a character because she neeeded to "haunt" Sethe. One of the major theme's of the novel was how slavery will never be able to fade away. Even if you escape from it somehow those memories will always stay with you. The past is never at rest. Beloved's ghost is the past coming back to haunt Sethe.
ReplyDeleteBeloved’s character as a ghost and the use of the supernatural in general serves as a reminder that the past will remain with you for the rest of your life. The use of Beloved as a ghost represents that people will always be haunted by their mistakes, guilt and hardships. Sethe will forever be haunted with the fact that she murdered her own baby girl. The presence of Beloved in the novel serves as reminder of all the difficult past events. Seeing Beloved as a ghost brings back all the traumas Sethe suffered through as a slave and the reasons why she did not want her daughter to go through that. Beloved’s rememory is a ghost because this serves as a symbol that the past will not just disappear and it will forever affect you.
ReplyDeleteI think that Beloved being a ghost character is part of Morrison demonstrating that pain is not always physical. While many of the characters suffer from physical torture due to slavery, Morrison wants the readers to remember that the torture still occurs within their memories. Sethe did actually kill her daughter, so when Beloved comes back, she is a ghost or other supernatural spirit. She is used as a symbol of Sethe’s painful past, which “haunts” her, as would a ghost like Beloved.
ReplyDeleteAlthough Beloved comes back, she is still just a ghost. She is there as a reminder of Sethe’s actions and to haunt of her what she did. Ultimately, she is a reminder of slavery. She represents how far people are willing to go to forget the past and save people from what they have experienced. No matter what, Beloved’s spirit is still at 124 because no one can forget the slavery and the past. The memories will always haunt Sethe, which is exactly what Beloved represents.
ReplyDeleteOften, we see ghosts as the spirits of those who cannot get to where they belong because they still need something from the present world. I believe Beloved cannot leave until Sethe fully understands her actions and can let her pain go away. I also agree with what everyone is saying that that memories will always haunt you, just like a ghost.
ReplyDeleteTo me, Beloved's ghost is a constant reminder of how she can not and will not be forgotten by anyone in 124. Also, going back to the parallel to the Civil War, Beloved's ghost represents slavery, and how the memory is constanly lingering, in the past but never to be forgotten because of the impact it had on so many people. Beloved's ghost haunts 124 the way memories haunt people (like Sethe).
ReplyDeleteBeloved’s spirit represents how the memories of slavery as a whole never fade. For the characters in the story that endured these events, could never truly escape the memories of their past. This is similar as to how even when Beloved is dead, she is still able to affect those around her. In addition, something perceived as supernatural is something that we can’t see or explain, but can instead feel. This can relate to the memory of slavery as a whole. Today we cannot actually see the horrendous circumstances of those who endured them, but can feel empathy and fear in recounting these horrendous events.
ReplyDeleteWhen someone thinks of a ghost they think of haunting. A ghost is frightening, you never know where they exactly are and when they are going to jump out and scare you. That is much like the past. In this novel the past is a hovering cloud that never leaves the minds of slaves. The past may not always be at the front of their minds but it's frightening occurrences will always remain there. The occurrences every once in a while jump out and throw the slaves off guard, frightening them and making their current lives difficult to live as if nothing is wrong.
ReplyDeleteThe function of Beloved’s character as a ghost was to show the reader that Sethe cannot move on from her past; so much so that it actually haunted her day in and day out. The ghost could also symbolize a sense of power because even after Beloved was killed she still had control over 124 and everyone who lived there. The memory of Beloved would not go away and neither would the ghost; and when it did, another form of Beloved appeared. Thi just shows that there is no escaping the past no matter how hard one tries to do so.
ReplyDeleteBeloved’s ghostly presence is used by Morrison to show the reader that in life, we will always be haunted by the actions we make- good and bad. Regrets and mistakes turn to memories we can never seem to escape, especially one as brutal as Sethe’s. While Sethe is the one being haunted, she is not the only person to pity. Typically, ghosts lie in limbo, where they never reach heaven or hell. This relates to Beloved’s situation because she cannot rest until she achieves peace with her circumstances. The ghost of Beloved connects Sethe’s past remorse with her present/future endeavors. Sethe cannot shake her past until she faces it head on.
ReplyDeleteThe function of Beloved’s character as a ghost and of the use of the supernatural in general is supposed to be symbolic of not only Sethe's past haunting her, but also the effects of slavery in general haunting an entire generation. Sethe is stuck living in a kind of time warp because she cannot move on from her memories at Sweet Home and the trauma of murdering her daughter. Beloved is the embodiment of Sethe's past and the fact that she is stuck in a type of limbo between life and death shows that until Sethe comes to terms with her past and learns to cope with it, Beloved will not be put to rest and move on to peace, and Sethe will not move on from her time warp to living in the present. The use of the supernatural contributes to the idea of slavery also because it hints at the fact that the past of slavery in American history is haunting and daunting and just like how ghosts are immortal, the trauma caused by slavery is something that will not die, it might be dealt with, but it will never be forgotten.
ReplyDelete