Memory is that process which information is encoded within one’s brain, stored and retrieved at some point. It might be pleasant or unpleasant, voluntary or involuntary. In “Beloved” the memory of the characters is what the story is narrated on. For example, Sethe’s memory of her past hunts her because it reminds her of those times that life had no meaning. When she and her fellow colored people were controlled like properties. Her memory reminded her of the abuse she and her family had received from their owners. Even worse for her was that, her memory makes her think about when she had to cut the throat of her daughter all in the name of protecting her. Sethe said 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. But it’s not. Places, places are still there. If a house burns down, it’s gone, but the place–the picture of it–stays, and not just in my rememory, but out there, in the world. What I remember is a picture floating around out there outside my head. I mean, even if I don’t think it, even if I die, the picture of what I did, or knew, or saw is still out there. Right in the place where it happened.” This clearly tells what Sethe’s belief of time was. To her there was no such thing as time because whatever one remembers at any point is that which one lives at that moment. To remember something about the past makes you to relive the past. You go through the pains you went through again and again; sometimes the pain in the present is much worse than those of the past. Like Sethe her memory makes time to have no meaning. As she remembers the past that pain, agony and fear resurfaces and transforms her “being” into what she was and makes her not much better than she used to be.
Yes, I agree that memory plays a major theme in “Beloved” by Toni Morrison. Sethe’s hard life is a big impact on her because during this time of slavery, she has terrifying memories and it’s difficult to forget things that are so traumatizing. The worst memory of all definitely has to be when she has to cut the throat of her daughter Beloved. It was so horrifying it’s just one those times where you try to block out of your mind, but it’ll always stay with you in the back of your mind. But overall, memory is all that takes to make a story.
I agree that there won’t be any argument if we say “Beloved” by Toni Morrison is the collective narration of flashback of the characters in the story. Sethe has many unpleasant memories that she wants to get rid off, but she can’t. Instead, she is haunted by those memories. Unlike pleasant memories, unpleasant memories leave a deep cut which is very hard to recover. Sethe killed her daughter with her own hands which is the deepest wound she is suffering from inside her heart. She also remembers the days when she was abused but as the time goes on, she might come over her memories of physical pain but she can never recover from the internal pain of her daughter’s death.
Yes, I agree that memory can’t be forget or past. You can try to relive it, but you cant get rid of it. In the story “Beloved” Sethe and her daughter was haunted by a ghost “Beloved” and the ghost is Sethe’s baby girl which she had killed during her escape. The truth is the ghost does not exist, whats haunting them is the memory because memory can create illusion.
When you said memory could be voluntary or involuntary I found the quote from sethe that she said to baby suggs “that’s all you let yourself remember” and baby suggs replied with “my first born all I can remember of her is how she loved the burned bottom of bread can you beat that eight children and thats all I remember.”