In the story beloved by Tony Morrison there is no narrator inside the story ,who is a part of the story . The narrator is totally unknown. The narrator in this story is not limited , knows everything that is going on in every ones mind and how every one feels about every even that has happened in life and is about to happened in their life.  But the story is narrated from a third person point of view.  I would like to state that the narrator in this story is omniscient.

The story is very self explanatory in a way . But it gets confusing because of the sudden flash backs . The story is mainly about Sethe and her struggle through out her life . That’s what I think of the story . But her story is narrated by different voices also . Just like the way Denver talks about the story of her birth. Its Sethe’s story of escaping from sweet home which is a painful memory for Sethe but when Denver becomes the narrator she takes pride of it. There is a hint of joy she takes out of Sethe’s painful story. The narrator played awesomely with words and timing and settings over here. Which made the story a bit confusing but very lively when its put together .The narrator is the real ornament of this story .

In the novel Beloved narration helps to develop and move the plot of the story forward. In the case of the narrator in this novel he or she is an omniscient narrator. This helps get insight into the minds of the characters we get to learn about them individually from an outside source thereby there is really no bias about the characters when it comes to each other. However there are times in the book when the narrator becomes one of the characters, thereby changing it from omniscient to a first person narrator. This in turn leads us to understand the complexity’s of each character because when they have a turn we can really see the type of person they are and understand their biases as it pertains to the other characters. This is because from the point of view of the omniscient narrator we get a general idea and see into their mind but here we get into the nitty-gritty parts of them. This leads our understanding of the characters to become more rounded.

Also narration plays a role in the development of the mood and general feeling of the piece. At times when it gets dark being able to read the story from the point of view of someone looking in helps us to understand and really feel what is going on. For example when we learn about the dog and it being hit over the head with a hammer that is really dark but looking in we get the context about why it was done whereas if it was first person we would see it from their point of view and that would change our understanding of the event.  Another way that narration helps the story is that in this context with the depth of detail we get we are drawn into the world. It makes us feel like we are part of the world and are witnessing everything first hand it makes it seem as if we are almost the narrator viewing this through a telescope.

Throughout the story in “Beloved” by Toni Morrison memory seems to be a major theme.       As Baby Suggs (Sethe’s mother-in-law) preaches to the children and their mothers about the hardships slavery has done to her. As she’s talking to everyone in attendance she makes a very powerful statement as she says “in this here place, we flesh; flesh that weeps, laughs; flesh that dances on bare feet in grass. Love it. Love it hard. Yonder they do not love your flesh. They despise it. They don’t love your eyes; they’d just as soon pick em out. No more do they love the skin on your back. Yonder they flay it. And O my people they do not love your hands. Those they only use, tie, bind, chop off and leave empty. Love your hands! Love them. Raise them up and kiss them. Touch others with them, pat them together, stroke them on your face ’cause they don’t love that either. You got to love it, you! And no, they ain’t in love with your mouth. Yonder, out there, they will see it broken and break it again. What you say out of it they will not heed. What you scream from it they do not hear. What you put into it to nourish your body they will snatch away and give you leavins instead. No, they don’t love your mouth. You got to love it”(Morrison, 88).

Baby Suggs gives an insight of what happens in slavery, as you will be working daily, when you do something wrong; you will be beaten but at the end of the day you will have to love yourself in order to survive. Even if you scream, your voice will not be heard. Baby Suggs memories are a reminder of those bad times. As she says earlier that she had lost everything, except for her heart. Without her heart, she would have nothing left of herself.

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.

I was surprised not to see Carroll gardens as a neighborhood on this map that shows in Brooklyn in the 1900’s  but it tells me it came later on. The maps I have seen had to do with Brooklyn neighborhoods that were all around and even some from Queens was included. Also, another map showed what transportations were used back then, which were cars. Another image I observed was a map of the pavement that all around Brooklyn. In “Only the Dead Know Brooklyn” the “big guy” believed that a map was all he needed to really understand Brooklyn. I believe to understand Brooklyn, you have to travel amongst all the neighborhoods, observe the diversity between neighborhoods, spend a day or two there, eat the food, take pictures but even that’s not enough. To understand Brooklyn, it would really took a lifetime. I believe that I have somewhat gotten to know Brooklyn, I have been to almost all the neighborhoods and spent time there. But I still don’t know the history behind it all.