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Showing posts from December, 2021

Beloved - Haunting and Trauma

 Beloved is a novel all about trying to forget the traumatic events of the past even though they keep coming back up. All Sethe does in the novel is try to escape her traumatic experiences, yet they always come back to haunt her, and not only her but others around her.   It seems as though the more Sethe tries to repress her memories and the affects of her trauma, the harder it comes back. The most clear example is Beloved, first she haunts as the baby ghost and later she shows up as a real life form. Another example of this is Paul D coming back and living with them, Paul D is a symbol of Sweet Home and the past for Sethe. Not only that, but he has his own stories to tell which interrupt Sethe's understanding of all she tried to forget. Finally we have Denver who most likely reminds Sethe of everything that happened everyday. For example after she escapes Sweet-Home, she tries to forget the tragic stuff that happened to her while she was there. And even though Denver was born off