« Does she know? | Main | Word Importance in "Beloved" »
March 31, 2007
Rememories
On page 43 of Morrison’s Beloved Sethe is having a conversation with her youngest daughter Denver about elements of the past revisiting present times. She describes what she calls “thought pictures,” or “rememories”. She describes these visions as what happens if you return to a place of an event, even if it didn’t involve you, the event will occur again, right before your eyes, “…it will be there for you, waiting for you.” Interestingly enough, this leads Denver to the conclusion that nothing ever dies then, to which Sethe agrees.
Now, in the present frame of the novel, Paul D has returned to Sethe’s life, and with it, many memories of Sweet Home, a place that never really died in her mind. With the conversations with Paul and Denver about Sweet Home, it is as if the place is slowly returning to Sethe’s conscious, bringing her closer to that place or event that could occur again, as though a rememory. And as it turns out, that rememory comes back to her in the form of Beloved.
The accumulation of thoughts from the past and the presence of Paul D is returning Sethe to a mind frame that she hasn’t experienced in years, since the short time after she left Kentucky and moved to 124 Bluestone Road. And with these memories, the “rememory” of her daughter has returned as well, in the form of Beloved, which suggests that Sethe may have to experience the fright and confusion of the time she spent shortly after leaving Sweet Home once again….
Posted by xajtav at March 31, 2007 06:24 PM