The Influence Of The Past In Toni Morrison's Beloved

Religious figure, Buddha, once stated, “Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.” In Toni Morrison’s novel, Beloved, the past influences the present of characters lives in a number of ways. Throughout the novel, she had a hard time dealing with her painful past, leading to a difficulty in healing herself in the present. Sethe was excluded from the community, had painful memories about what she endured as a slave, and most importantly she is being “haunted” by her dead daughter. Nothing in the story ever fully dies off, just how Beloved continued to be present in 124 as a ghost. Other characters also worked to avoid the past because it was filled with pain for them. In the novel, Morrison demonstrates that the obsession of the past can invade the present, shaping our identity, and be consuming and destructive until the past is properly confronted. Ultimately, Sethe looks upon her history and learns to let go of it, creating a future for herself. In the novel, Morrison forms the past for Sethe in the shape of
Sethe would fight back memories of her enslavement, and Paul D can only talk about his experiences through music. Sethe hears Schoolteacher, teaching her nephews, “I told you to put her human characteristics on the left; her animal characteristics on the right. And don't forget to line them up” (193). Schoolteacher would treat and compare them as animals, which shows the harsh conditions slaves dealt with. They were physically and emotionally beaten, leaving them angry and fearful. Also, once slavery was abolished, they were forced to fit into a society that shunned them. This makes it nearly impossible for the characters to get rid of these memories because they are pulled by the desire to remember and forget them. Since she cannot confront her memories, she stays mentally enslaved and continues to feel the