Memory in Beloved
Clariza Gutierrez
April 16, 2012
English 320
In everyone’s life there is a moment that is so dreadful and horrific that it is best to try to push it further and further back into your mind. When traumatized by death for example it is very natural to shut off the memory in order to self-defense suppresses the awful emotional experience. Very often it is thoughtful that this neglecting and abandoning is the best way to forget. In Toni Morrison’s novel Beloved, memory is depicted as a dangerous and deliberating faculty of human consciousness. In this novel Sethe endures the oppression of self imposed prison of memory by revising the past and death of her daughter Beloved, her mother and Baby Suggs. In Louise Erdrich’s story Love Medicine, memory of death and the past is revealed carefully among the characters of June, Gordie, Henry and Lyman. It is apparent by juxtaposing these two novels that the theme of memory of the past and death plays a major role in these characters lives. However the theme of memory is shown and depicted for two different reasons in both these novels. In Beloved, Sethe expresses an insatiable obsession with her memories with the past to understand the causes of death and then being able to cope with them. While in Love Medicine, memory is shown through a series of episodes where Gordie and Lyman attempts to bring back things alive again by revisiting the past of June and Henry through their death.
In Beloved by Toni Morrison, Sethe undergoes a self-imposed prison of memories by revisiting the past and death of her daughter Beloved. She begins by explaining to Denver the power of memories and how they are immortal. Memories have an effect on the present because they change the way we look at the world around us. She continues by explaining that the power of some experiences can be so strong that is seems that even the memory of it is enough to make the horrible incident happen again. “To Sethe, the future was
April 16, 2012
English 320
In everyone’s life there is a moment that is so dreadful and horrific that it is best to try to push it further and further back into your mind. When traumatized by death for example it is very natural to shut off the memory in order to self-defense suppresses the awful emotional experience. Very often it is thoughtful that this neglecting and abandoning is the best way to forget. In Toni Morrison’s novel Beloved, memory is depicted as a dangerous and deliberating faculty of human consciousness. In this novel Sethe endures the oppression of self imposed prison of memory by revising the past and death of her daughter Beloved, her mother and Baby Suggs. In Louise Erdrich’s story Love Medicine, memory of death and the past is revealed carefully among the characters of June, Gordie, Henry and Lyman. It is apparent by juxtaposing these two novels that the theme of memory of the past and death plays a major role in these characters lives. However the theme of memory is shown and depicted for two different reasons in both these novels. In Beloved, Sethe expresses an insatiable obsession with her memories with the past to understand the causes of death and then being able to cope with them. While in Love Medicine, memory is shown through a series of episodes where Gordie and Lyman attempts to bring back things alive again by revisiting the past of June and Henry through their death.
In Beloved by Toni Morrison, Sethe undergoes a self-imposed prison of memories by revisiting the past and death of her daughter Beloved. She begins by explaining to Denver the power of memories and how they are immortal. Memories have an effect on the present because they change the way we look at the world around us. She continues by explaining that the power of some experiences can be so strong that is seems that even the memory of it is enough to make the horrible incident happen again. “To Sethe, the future was
Cited: Morrison, Toni. Beloved. New York: Knopf, 1987 Erdrich, Louise. Love Medicine. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2009