Self Identity In Toni Morrison's Beloved

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People seem to develop a sense of self-identity from a young age. Once they develop it, it seems persistent. But, it is not as strong as it seems. One can lose their identity because of traumatic events that can actually break it. The memories are then stuck deep down in our mind that can cause anxiety if brought attention to. It can be on an individual level or even large groups of people. The examples are present in human history. For instance, the era of slavery in the United States. The subjection of the slaves to being treated harsh and animal-like, along with fear and hopelesness affected their minds, which led to the breaking and/or losing of their self identity. In case of Beloved, Sethe's past had led to the complete loss of her identity …show more content…

The way the novel changes from past to present and vice versa is kind of mysterious. There is no absolute timeline of events in her life. The change of the narrative, moving from present to past is a hint to the reader that something is a bit off, which gives the reader to take a moment before gradually uncovering more about Sethe's self-identity. Sethe's talks about all this saying that “I was talking about time. It's so hard for me to believe in it. Some things go, pass on. Some things just stay. I used to think it was my rememory. You know. Some things you forget. Other things you never do.". What one can get out from her saying this is that she says that some events just past by while others are stuck with you in your memory, which one keeps bringing to the present with them. Lets also keep in mind that she uses words like "rememory" meaning remember, and "disremember" meaning forget. By this means emphasizes the constant travel of some of her memories with her rather than them coming back once in a while, and forcing herself to vanish some memories rather than let them pass from her consnciousness,

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