Confronting the Past, Living the Present, and Enjoying the...

So often, the old adage, History always repeats itself, rings true due to a failure to truly confront the past, especially when the memory of a period of time sparks profoundly negative emotions ranging from anguish to anger. However, danger lies in failing to recognize history or in the inability to reconcile the mistakes of the past. In her novel, Beloved, Toni Morrison explores the relationship between the past, present and future. Because the horrors of slavery cause so much pain for slaves who endured physical abuse as well as psychological and emotional hardships, former slaves may try to block out the pain, failing to reconcile with their past. However, when Sethe, one of the novels central characters fails to confront†¦show more content†¦Sethe understands that her history, filled with the pain of slavery, grief over losing her children, and guilt over Beloveds death, and tries to hide from all the anguish. However, she admits that the past seems to always be th ere waiting, thereby emphasizing the idea that past horrors of life continue to haunt forever. It appears as though the power of her experience in slavery influences her so greatly that the memory triggers great pain, causing the horrifying incidents to happen again. Even though Sethe understands that she cannot ever fully escape her history as it will come back to trouble her, she still tries to avoid them and thus attempts to shield her daughter from the horrors of history: As for Denver, the job Sethe had of keeping her from the past that was still waiting for her was all that mattered (45). It seems as though Sethe tries to deny the fact that history does not simply disappear. She still tries to protect Denver from the past even though history waits, prepared to cause trouble and inflict the pain Sethe tries to repress. It appears as though Sethe continuously tries to fight against her memories and ignore her past in part one. For example, after she wakes, she begins Work ing dough. Working, working dough. Nothing better than that to start the days