Memory and Rememory in Beloved.docVIP

Memory and Rememory in Beloved The novel Beloved by Toni Morrison is told in a flashback manner, in line with the workings of the human mind. Throughout the novel, the characters work to avoid the past because it fills with pain and horror for them. The characters must come to grips with these experiences, accept and recognize them in their consciousness. The memories of the past are recollected through rememories that have been repressed in order to avoid the pain of reality. The rememory of certain events can be aroused unexpectedly through many different devices. The sight, sound, or touches of a place or event are all triggers that can enable rememory to occur. These images brought back serve to heal the suffering brought on through past experiences. Morrisons thematic concept of memory and rememory is defined through her transitions between past and present, the triggers that set off the two, and the effect on the novel. The transitions from past to present and back again are shown through the suppression of memory. Prior to Paul Ds visit, Sethe had suppressed her rememories and chose to block the experiences she knew she could not keep hidden. The characters cannot directly address the issue of their past Rememory Everyone has an experience, a bad dream or a moment that was so horrific you do your best to try and neglect it, pushing it further and further back into your mind. Forgotten until something happens that triggers the memory and you seem to experience the event for a painstaking, second time. Rememory.Sethe has tried to forget most of her life. Rememory is that act of attempting to forget yet the recollection still surfaces vividly. The plot of Beloved by Toni Morrison unfolds slowly and intricately by Sethe facing her past only though reminiscing the events she has worked so hard to surpress for many years. The years of her slavery were rough ones: ones full of loss, abuse, frigh The Transitions from Past to Present and Back Again in Beloved The no