Beloved, By Toni Morrison

Toni Morrison’s Beloved is set in post slavery America, and tells the tale of slaves living in Cincinnati with new found freedom. Although they may be free from slavery physically, they haven't been freed mentally from the horrors they faced in the past. We see each characters struggle with the past in different ways, each person facing their own demons. We see this all throughout the novel, as Toni Morrison's shows us each character's struggles. Morrison’s purpose in writing the novel was to show that even though they may be free from slavery, they’re not truly free from the horrors they faced and the memories that haunt them.
In the novel Toni Morrison shows how the residents of 124 can’t truly escape their horrific past of slavery. Paul D may have escaped from slavery but he hasn’t truly escaped in his mind, still feeling trapped, pushing it away.
By the time he got to 124 nothing in this world could pry it open” (Morrison 133).
Here Paul D lists all the terrible things he’s seen, all his worst memories. He is taking all the memories of the past, all the terrible things, and locking them away in this tobacco tin. Morrison uses the symbol of the tobacco tin to represent Paul D’s heart and brain, this repression of his memory and emotion. He locks it away in the tobacco tin, locks away his feelings in his heart, and lock his memories in his brain, not opening them up to anyone. Paul D can’t escape the past, he can only try to forget, try to push it away. He may be free from slavery, but not from the horrors he