Memories In Toni Morrison's Beloved

Memories are works of fiction, individual representations of occurrences in our life whether real or imagined. They provide the framework for creating meaning to past events in others lives a well as our own. Zora Neale Hurston said that “Like the dead-seeming cold rocks, I have memories within that came out of the material that went to make me.” By this she meant that in order to interpret the incidents and directions of her life, a piece of her past and where she came from had to be known. Similarly, Toni Morrison's Beloved is told in a flashback manner, parallel to the churning of the human mind. Throughout Beloved, many of the characters such as Sethe work to avoid the past because it is filled with such debilitating pain and horror. However, they must eventually come to terms with these experiences, accepting and recognizing them in their consciousness. As a whole, Morrison suggests …show more content…
Little things like walking near a chair leg bring me back to flipping off a stool in front of the entire class in middle school. Hearing the word “test” remind me of my bad grades and countless hours of pointless studying. Like Sethe, everything that happens in the present reminds me of something that happened in the past. Society is incapable of focusing on the good that's happening in the now because they're too caught up with they've done in the past and how to fix that. This shows us that memories leave scars and everlasting impressions that eventually become inescapable and haunting. Memories, however, persist. They stay lurking in places like one twenty four and sweet home to remind Sethe and Paul D that the punishments of memory are self perpetuating and continual. Overall, In Beloved, memories are seen as a damaging and unavoidable aspect of human nature that can mutilate characters identities while blurring the lines between past and