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April 08, 2007
Time travel from water
When observing the different elements and sequences in Toni Morrison's Beloved, it appears that water plays a significant role in not only many of the memories of the past, but also important events that occur in the present day in the novel. In attempting to address our next essay question of how time travel functions in relation to the past, when you examine these temporal journeys, it seems that water has some sort of presence in all memories and changes seen in the present day.
Water is of course involve as Sethe reaches the Ohio River and attempts to begin a new life after slavery. Water is also apparent in scenes such as when Beloved emerges from the swamp, Denver is born, and immediately prior to Paul D's original return in the beginning of the novel.
In the thought process of this paper, I'm trying to piece together how the story uses water as a means of reflecting on and developing of way of understanding the events of the past. It seems that with all of Morrison's references to water and how it traditionally symbolizes new life in many contexts, that there must be some sort of connection here. Hopefully, upon finishing the novel, I'll find more, but all I have is this idea for now. Happy Easter.
Posted by xajtav at April 8, 2007 09:13 PM