![]() ![]() Similarly, in order to endure slavery and its lasting effects, characters in Beloved rely on each other for strength. The combined effect of a singing group is greater than that of all its individuals singing alone. My memories of being 16 were just trying to keep up with school while doing the show and trying to be around all those people on the show, as much as I could (School Memories Quotes) And it sort of jogged a memory of something that I read at school and I read it, and I thought God this is it. ![]() A chorus of singing people provides the perfect example of the strength of operating as a community. Paul D and his fellow chain gang prisoners get through their labor by singing. Baby Suggs’ sermons are centered around song and dance, while the group of women that forces Beloved from the house does so by singing. One of the ways that communities find expression in Beloved is through song. The end of the novel suggests that, after Beloved’s disappearance, people had to forget about her in order to go on living, as it repeats, “It was not a story to pass on.” But nonetheless, Toni Morrison’s novel does pass on the story of Beloved, suggesting that there still is some value in our learning about this painful story of the past, that as a nation we should not (and cannot) forget about the history of slavery. Bringing up past pain can prevent characters from moving on. But storytelling also awakens painful memories, especially for Sethe and Paul D. As stories spread between Sethe, Baby Suggs, Paul D, and Denver, personal memories give rise to a kind of collective oral tradition about the past, and offer former slaves the ability to tell their own story and define themselves, as opposed to constantly being defined by slave-owners, such as Schoolteacher (who takes notes for his own writings about his slaves). ![]() Storytelling keeps memories alive and Sethe’s telling Denver about her family and her miraculous birth gives Denver some sense of personal history and heritage. The novel explores the value but also the danger of storytelling. One of the ways in which memories live on is through storytelling. Sethe’s term for this kind of powerful memory is “rememory”, a word that she uses to describe memories that affect not only the person who remembers the past, but others as well. As the novel continually moves between present narration and past memory, its very form also denies any simple separation between past and present. Sweet Home, for example, although firmly in Sethe’s past, continues to haunt her through painful memories and the reappearance of Schoolteacher and even Paul D. We were the proud school girls everyone respected us and was afraid of us. I’ll never forget the joy of the school bell. The Roots Of Education Are Bitter, But The Fruit Is Sweet. Wisdom is not a product of schooling but of a lifelong attempt to acquire it. But beyond this instance of the supernatural, Sethe teaches Denver that “Some things just stay,” and that nothing ever really dies. Good Times & crazy friends make the best school memories. Though literally buried, the baby continues to be present in 124 as a kind of ghost or poltergeist. The most obvious example of this is the ghost of Sethe’s dead daughter. The past does not simply go away in Beloved, but continues to exert influence in the present in a number of ways. ![]()
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