Memory, Storytelling and Healing in “beloved”

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The transformation from monologue to communal storytelling is very crucial. At the beginning of the novel, the only listener is Denver. Sethe doesn’t want to reveal the past. The only part she relates is the birth of Denver, however, Denver is aware of her mother’s killing of his sister. She enjoys to hear the part of her birth when Amy helps her mother when Sethe is going to Cincinnati and she wants more information,however, this is not a literal communal act. As Mao says “if we take into consideration the fact that Denver, as well as Sethe’s other children is only part of Sethe’s body, the family-scale storytelling between Sethe and Denver constitutes no communal storytelling in a real sense.”.(872). One can say rather this act is a monologue. Sethe has to find some listeners and tellers from outside and Paul D comes who is the man from Sweet Home plantation. He can help Sethe to move her story. Sethe wants him to stay at 124. Mao states this act by saying “Paul D’s touch of Sethe’s tree-shaped back in the kitchen, together with his gentle caresses of her breast, bringing back to Sethe’s memory the scene of being milked by the two nephews and being whipped for telling on them.”. (872). They have sex after this incident and also it evokes some feeling for two of them together with some memories. Both remember the times when Halle who is the lover of Sethe and Sethe make love in the corn field because there aren’t any place to make love. So, they have to do it openly.

Then Beloved appears and she is curious about Sethe’s past. First, Denver tells the part of her birth story to Beloved, however, she wants to hear more. Beloved asks Sethe, “Where are your diamonds?” and Sethe asks, “Diamonds? What would I be doing with diamonds?” and she says, “On your ears.” and Sethe replies, “Wish I did. I had some crystal once. A present from a lady I worked for.”. Beloved’s answer is very important she says, “Tell me your diamonds.”. ( 58). One can see that she is hungry for more information and “[i]t became a way to feed her. Just as Denver discovered and relied on the delightful effect sweet things had on Beloved, Sethe learned the profound satisfaction Beloved got from storytelling.”. (58). So, the act is transformed into a communal storytelling. While they are telling these stories to each other they are forming a little community among Sethe, Denver and Beloved They all have different roles in this community. Denver and Sethe together find out how much Beloved likes stories: “Denver was seeing it now and feeling it through Beloved. Feeling how it must have felt to her mother. Seeing how it must have looked. And the more fine points she made, the more detail she provided, the more Beloved liked it.”. (78).

Moreover, with the aid of the community Sethe is able to start a brand-new life. Morrison tries to make black community aware of the things going on and she influences them to view the black society as a source for strength and support. As Krumholz states Sethe’s learning to continue her life with her past is an exemplary for the readers who must see Sethe’s earlier life as a shared past for everyone. (395). So, Morrison triggers the memories as strength and healing. She uses ritual for the healing process. Ritual means not only dance and songs. It includes stories. As Krumholz claims, “In many traditions, storytelling and poetry are inseparable from ritual since words as sounds are perceived as more than concepts: they are events with consequences.”. (396). The healing of Sethe occurs with her meeting of her past. As I mentioned earlier, when Beloved comes, she forces Sethe to face her past and reminds Sethe her roles as being both a mother and a slave. Towards the end of the novel Sethe is totally isolated and she is together with Beloved and only cares about her. By this way, she feels the past and it becomes too much vivid and she feels the pain. At the end of the novel, one can see that community of women gather and help Sethe. So, it is a bit different from the first encounter of Sethe with the white man because she has helpers from the outside and she is not alone. Another difference is that she now doesn’t have to kill his daughter instead she tries to kill the white man. (396). Toni Morrison clearly explains this healing effect in one of her interviews:

“And no one speaks, no one tells the story unless forced. They don’t want to talk, they don’t want to remember, they don’t want to say it, because they are afraid of it- which is human. But when they do say it, and hear it and look at it, and share it, they are not only one, they’re two, and three, and four, you know? The collective sharing of that information heals the individual-and the collective.”. (Darling 5)

Depending on the examples and explanations, one can understand that present is continuously influenced by the past and nothing really goes away. As Sethe describes this notion:

“ 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.". (43).

Characters make the past live through their stories and they create community. It can give pain sometimes, however, it can affect someone in a good way and can help him or her to continue his or her life. As Toni Morrison also states, people should rely on each other for strength and never forget their ancestors and their past. Through storytelling characters are experiencing rebirth and find meanings for their own lives. Toni Morrison states at the end of the novel “This is not a story to pass on.”. (275). However, she is able to pass this story herself in the novel. She states the value that there is still some importance in learning about the past because this is a notion that one should’nt ever forget about the history of the slavery and the painful effects of it. As Krumholz states “Beloved is the forgotten spirit of the past that must “be loved” even if it is unlovable an elusive.”. (407).

Works Cited

Darling, Marsha Jean. “Ties That Bind.” The women’s Review of Books 5.6 (Spring 1988): 4-

5.

Harris, Trudier. “Woman, Thy Name is Demon”. Toni Morrison’s Beloved: A Casebook. Ed.