According to Ruth Van de Akker, the term rememory signifies that the past cannot be forgotten and left behind because it still exists in the presence. It stems from the fact that rememory means constant and retrospective thinking which enables the protagonist of the novel to focus on her current situation. The researcher writes, “the prefix re- indicates that the memory is to be inevitably repeated and relived” (Van de Akker, 2013: 4). This perception of rememory parallel with Sethe`s description “[w]hat I remember is a picture floating around out there outside my head. I mean, even if I don’t think it, even if I die, the picture of what I did, or knew, or saw is still out there. Right in the place where it happened” (Beloved, 1988: 43). For her, memories and rememories still exist and are, as the researcher states, “as tangible in the present, as a place where present and past meet” (Van de Akker, 2013: 4).
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For instance, Morrison makes a connection between the past and the presence by not giving whole names to the slaves in the novel. By means of that, the writer remarks that the black possess only a sub-status in the community (Xu, 2014). Betty Wood writes that “the word slave meant a piece of conveyable property, a chattel, with no legal rights or social status whatsoever” (1997: 9). There is one more scene in the Beloved that presents having a name is important in African American tradition. After the funeral of her baby, Sethe does not want her daughter to be buried in an unnamed grave. Since she is poor and cannot afford to pay the engraver, she has sex with him “ten minutes for seven letters because she wants to have the world beloved engraved on her baby`s grave” (Beloved: 1988: 31). At this moment, it is visible that Sethe does not value her body. The experiences of slavery and racism deprive her of her dignity as a woman. Consequently, Seethe perceives her body as an
For instance, Morrison makes a connection between the past and the presence by not giving whole names to the slaves in the novel. By means of that, the writer remarks that the black possess only a sub-status in the community (Xu, 2014). Betty Wood writes that “the word slave meant a piece of conveyable property, a chattel, with no legal rights or social status whatsoever” (1997: 9). There is one more scene in the Beloved that presents having a name is important in African American tradition. After the funeral of her baby, Sethe does not want her daughter to be buried in an unnamed grave. Since she is poor and cannot afford to pay the engraver, she has sex with him “ten minutes for seven letters because she wants to have the world beloved engraved on her baby`s grave” (Beloved: 1988: 31). At this moment, it is visible that Sethe does not value her body. The experiences of slavery and racism deprive her of her dignity as a woman. Consequently, Seethe perceives her body as an