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Novel Summary - Beloved

 

            In life, there are horrifying and painful moments that people do not always want to remember. They are trying to push them away by thinking that this is the best they can do. However, as Lois Lowry once said, "The worst part of holding the memories is not the pain. It's the loneliness of it. Memories need to be shared." People cannot close themselves and pretend that the past does not exist. In Toni Morrison's novel Beloved, the same issue has occurred. Since the characters do not accept their hurtful past, they do not want to talk about it, which causes them not to be able to move on and live in the present. The horrible past of slavery haunts Sethe and even though she is free, she cannot be fully free because of the memories she tries to forget. Memories hurt people and because of that they try to lock themselves out. However, the appearance of Beloved, the twenty year old girl that is believed to be the baby ghost, changes their lives upside down and do not allow them to forget what happened in the past. Even though, Beloved is a negative character and causes a lot of damage, she herself helps people to cope with the past. Beloved allows the characters in the novel to develop and realize that memories never die by becoming the physical memory, which makes them relive it, accept it and move on with their lives. Since Sethe, Denver and Paul D do not share their past experiences and fears, Beloved helps them to open up, either by making them argue or give them the feeling of "safety." Sethe and Paul D start to talk about parts of their lives that nobody has heard before. After many years, Sethe finally has a chance to make up the years for the daughter that she killed, which helped her to accept herself as a human being and not only a woman that needs to take care of kids. At the same time, by being pushed away, the youngest child, Denver learned to go outside 124 and explore the world.


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