Memory and Rememory in Morrisons Beloved - Research Paper Example

?Memory and Rememory in Morrison’s Beloved “The picture is still there, and what’s more, if you go there – you who never was there – if you go there and stand in the place where it was, it will happen again; it will be there waiting for you. So Denver, you can’t never go there. Never. Because even though it’s all over – over and done with – it’s always going to be there waiting for you” Within a person’s life, memory is a strong and defining characteristic. It is the ability to store, retain and recollect information gained from experience. While not all of our memories are accessible to us, such as through suppressed memories, things that are forgotten or experiences from when one is very young. Nevertheless, our memories stay with us for our entire lives and whether we are aware of it or not, our past experiences and how we respond to them shape who we are .People learn and grow from their mistakes and develop strengths and weaknesses based on their experiences. However, memories can often be painful, and must be managed correctly or they can become a destructive force in a person’s life. Destructive memory is a central theme in Toni Morrison’s novel Beloved , with the protagonist, Sethe in torment from the painful memories of her past, which control her life. Beloved examines the split between actual events we live through and the false memories we relive that can often be dangerous. The story follows Sethe who was once a slave and now lives with her daughter in Cincinnati. Sethe is unable to live her life in the present because the memory of her tragic past. She is constantly reliving her past through rememory. This act of remembering makes all of her past tragedies “ever present” and impossible to escape. For most people, memory is something that is access on demand. While an event or conversation may remind us of our past, a person has the option either to dwell on the memory or to let it go and continue with what they were doing. Not so for Sethe, chronological time does not exist for her. She is lives in 124, but experiences moments of life from her past daily. At any given moment on any day her memory can bring her back to relive fragmented versions of her past. These moments that are re-experienced and relived by Sethe make it impossible for her to accept her past and move forward with her life. The events of her traumatic past will not let her live fully in the present. The first example of this occurs early in the story. Paul D., a man who Sethe knew in her past at the Sweet Home plantation comes to visit her. It is the first time that the two have met in 18 years . Their conversation brings old memories to the surface and acts as a catalyst, splitting the narrative of the story into two distinct time periods the first of the present, the second of the events from the 1850s. The uncontrollable slip that Sethe experiences that leads her into her past memories is a symptom of not dealing with and working through the events of her past There are two story lines told in this novel. The first takes place at 124 in 1873. The other is a series of fragmented flashback memories about twenty years prior during the 1850s. From the beginning of the novel, the tight grip that Sethe’s past has over her is obvious. She believes that the house is haunted by a malevolent spirit, that of her own child who was killed at two years of age. The haunting often takes on a physical aspect, with objects being thrown around the room. This has taken a toll on the family, with Denver, Sethe’s youngest daughter being withdrawn, and rarely leaving the house, and the two sons having left home at the age of 13. Sethe works actively to forget her past, even her own sons. The history of slavery that she has experienced haunts her and she pushes away the memories because the pain that they cause her is too much to bear. Slavery is a painful instance in human history that led to extensive suffering and pain for many people. This psychological impact of slavery is one that is widely known. Many slaves found it necessary to repress memories of their past in order to live their future. However, such repression can be dangerous as it caused the person to lose touch with who they really are and to become fragmented . This effect can be seen strongly in the characters of Sethe and Paul D., both of whom had experience substantial pain and suffering as a result of slavery. For them to continue living and remain sane they had to bury their memories and try to forget as much of the past as was possible . For example, Paul D. had repressed most of his past, hiding his emotions and memories of the past inside a ‘box’. However, this has not come without a price and Paul D. has had to give up much of who he is and his emotions in order to control this part of him. Paul D. is forced to confront these memories towards the end of the novel when Beloved seduces him and again a little later in the book. Because of this, he begins to come to terms with his past and make his peace, which gives him the ability to move forward in his life. However, in burying her past, Sethe leaves herself with no history, this makes creating a stable life or personality difficult, and consequently she has developed little since running away. For Sethe, escape from slavery had come at a dreadful cost. That cost and the memory of it haunts her days, pulling her back into memory and regret. Sethe had three children, two boys and a girl, and was pregnant with a fourth at the time that she tried to escape. She sent her sons, Howard and Buglar on ahead of her with her daughter to her mother-in-law’s house in Cincinnati. When she finally escaped and reached the house, they have close to a month together as a family before schoolteacher, the brother-in-law of Sethe’s owner arrives to take them back. Despairing at the life of slavery that the children would have to grow up in, Sethe tried to kill them, succeeding in cutting her elder daughters throat with a hacksaw. Paul D. is a bridge between Sethe’s troubled past and her present and acts to try and pull her away from the past and into a brighter future, however this role is not easy. He is competing against Sethe’s memories, and a young woman who goes by the name Beloved, who appears to be the spirit of Sethe’s dead child in physical form. It is through Paul D. that change comes. His presence encourages himself and Sethe to remember and accept their past. Beloved triggers Sethe to access and relive her traumatic history, while Paul D tries to bring Sethe into the present. Sethe is pulled in opposite directions by Beloved and Paul D; Beloved is pulling Sethe into the past and Paul D is pulling into the present. The supernatural character of Beloved actually plays a positive role in the book, by forcing the characters to face their past, to relive these painful memories and in the process to remake themselves. Most of the characters in the book believe that she is the physical representation of the daughter that Sethe killed and react to her as such. Sethe forms an intense exclusive relationship with her in an attempt to atone for killing the child and make her feel that she was not abandoned. Her presence alone brings to light many hidden memories of the past; making Sethe and Paul D. relive their painful history. Beloved herself represents Sethe’s most painful memory, but she also helps Denver to understand her mother’s history and Paul D. to confront his own inner shame of being powerless in the face of slavery and abuse. Finally, Beloved acts as a means of representing the repressed memories of all who have been through slavery . The novel is separated into three sections, and these sections correspond strongly to a ritual of healing. In the first part, Sethe is forced to examine her past through the arrival of Paul D. and Beloved. Both her roles as a slave and as a mother are brought into sharp focus and the readers begin to understand where her pain comes from. During the second section of the book, Sethe experiences a time of isolation and atonement. Beloved becomes increasingly spoilt and unreasonable in her demands, forcing Sethe to remember her past in detail and suffer again for it. As a result, she ends up leaving her job and refusing to leave the house. It is then Denver who must find a solution, and she does so by bringing the community to their house. Finally, in the third section, Sethe is cleansed, with Beloved driven from the house through the intervention of the community. The climax of the novel is an example of rememory. Sethe’s memory and obsession with her past is so strong that when numerous members of the community, including Mr. Bodwin who has come to help Denver, arrive at her doorstep she mistakes him for schoolteacher and believes that he is her to take her and her children. This time she decides that she will kill him instead of her children and rushes at him with an ice pick. Memories also overcome Beloved, who believes that he is the man coming for her and consequently she runs away. Beloved existed because of memory. She formed a strong obsessive relationship with Sethe, believing that the woman abandoned her, and it is Sethe’s memories and deep regret and drives her strong attachment to Beloved despite the manipulative and abusive behavior that Beloved shows. Yet it is also memory that stops Beloved from existing. After she has ran away, Sethe, Denver and Paul D. have all accepted and learnt from their past and are becoming stronger in their own right. Memories are a mark of existence, and without the memories of Beloved, it is as if she was never there. It is worth noting that personal memory is not the only aspect of memory in the novel. An equally important consideration is historical memory and self-awareness. The setting of the book in dual time periods, during the Reconstruction period and prior to the Civil war serves as a vehicle for examining the painful past shared by many of the African American slaves. Morrison reminds us that although the physical scars of slavery are no longer present, the emotional and mental scars remain and these can be debilitating. There was no one coming to take away Sethe and her children towards the end of the book, yet both Beloved and Sethe felt extreme anxiety and fear as if there were. Their concern was so strong that both believed that the past was repeating, which resulted in Beloved running away and Sethe attacking Mr. Bodwin with an ice pick. It is important that we do not forget the events that occurred before our time or the lessons that others have learned. In Beloved Toni Morrison provides a vivid example of the power that memory has in influencing and controlling the way that people live. The three main people in the book, Sethe, Paul D. and Denver are bound by memory, with Sethe and Paul D. feeling forced to lock their emotions and past up where they cannot be experienced. It is clear though that this has significant negative consequences for all involved, hindering them from becoming whole and living full lives. The presence of Beloved in their lives, first as a ghost and then as a young woman acts as a means of rememory, atonement and finally absolution. Morris also highlights historical memory, the need to be aware of our collective past and to grow because of it. Works Cited Andrews, W.L., and McKay, N.Y. Toni Morrison's Beloved: a casebook. Oxford University Press, USA, 1999. Print. Demetrakopoulos, S.A. "Maternal Bonds as Devourers of Women's Individuation in Toni Morrison's Beloved." African American Review 26.1 (1992): 51-59. Print. Koolish, L. "To Be Loved and Cry Shame": A Psychological Reading of Toni Morrison's" Beloved." MELUS 26.4 (2001): 169-195. Print. Morrison, Toni. Beloved. New York: NY: Vintage International, 1987. Print.  Read More