Memory Functions in Toni Morrisons Beloved - Essay Example

This creates a touch of reality to the novel and it might be viewed as a true story at some touching chapters.

This novel uses memory to bring up certain facts and past happenings to give us a good understanding of the whole story. A memory I used in two major ways by Morrison in this novel. The first way in which he employs is directly through the character's own flashbacks to some events. We see individual characters like Sethe having reflections and remembering past events. Secondly, memory manifests itself when Morrison uses flashbacks in the different chapters. This is seen when he has some narrations to give an account of the past that we were not aware of some underlying issues. These flashbacks occur in different chapters where a narration ends a chapter and commences the next.
There are a number of illustrations to show us the use of memory. Some characters would have been insignificant and their role is quite not understood in the novel. An exemplary example is the story of beloved. It is through history that we get to know about a beloved and her unborn child in the days after the end of the civil wars. It is through this narration that the flashback gives a detailed account of what transpired in the past that made the beloved react to matters the way she did in the various scenes. The history resurfaced the dynamics of the love lives in the play. It also shows how different love lives ruined certain characters and what ways they used to reconstruct their lives.

To tell us more about how baby Suggs lost all her children to slavery, Morrison uses the character Sethe to tell us this. Here we see Sethe having memories about their childhood and her teacher. It is also through these memories that we see Sethe and Paul D get to share their past. After they share their past, they promise each other to move forward to a better future together. This instance helps the author to bring the theme of romance to this story.

The other illustration can be drawn from where we see beloved questioning Sethe. This specifically refers to the question of where your diamonds are. At the same time, Morrison's flashback reveals the history that we could not have otherwise known from any source. From this, we see a chronological sequence of events that explain the current situation that familiarizes us with beloved. It also brings the memory of Suggs and the loss of the baby amidst the occurrence of the civil wars. The next flashback involves the memories of Denver. Denver gets to recall his school-going days. He recalls how he used to go to school with the colored children and how he had problems and ended up in jail. This also helps the author to give us a background to Denver. In addition to that, racism and crime are also a theme that develops at that instance.

From the initial chapters, we did not get a character or trait of Paul D. however, when n chapter fifteen we get to know that he may have been involved in the murder of his master, another trait is discovered. This also shows how Paul D ended up in 124. This is because it is narrated that after a flood in the mines where they were held hostage for long, is when he was able to get to the Cherokee camp. It is from the Cherokee camp that he found his way to his current location and out of slavery. Also in connection to escape from slavery, we have a flashback narration that ends the fifteenth chapter and begins the sixteenth. The past events narration brings the introduction of baby Suggs and how she ended up escaping slavery.

It is interesting how many events, character traits, secrets, and past experiences among other issues pertaining to the characters in the play are relayed on memories. Morrison actually does this successfully by giving a flashback and then he follows immediately by the current happenings. This is a form of giving a prior solution to an awaiting problem or rather giving an answer to misery or unknown facts. A significant portion of the novel has this tool of memory used to affect the wholesomeness of the story and enhance a proper and elaborate understanding of the story. The justification lies behind the use of memory in nearly every chapter of this novel.