The Dead And Beloved

Memory is what defines our lives. Our identities are shaped by our past experiences and the ways that we cope with painful memory is an incredibly important part of the human experience. In 1984 by George Orwell, Beloved by Toni Morrison, and The Dead by James Joyce the common theme of traumatic memory is explored in a variety of ways. Each of these texts contain characters who suppress painful memories and each text explores the benefits and perils of suppressing these memories. Beloved gives us two distinct reactions to trauma through the characters of Sethe and Paul D. During Paul D’s time spent as a slave he experiences horrific treatment. In order to cope with the emotional torture of reliving these events he suppresses his past by
Sethe has no control over her memories and this causes her pain. In an internal dialogue Sethe wonders about why her “rebellious brain” is incapable of escaping the past, “Why was there nothing it refused? No misery, no regret, no hateful picture too rotten to accept? Like a greedy child it snatched up everything. Just once, could it say, No thank you?”(Morrison, 70) Sethe’s traumatic experiences manifest themselves in a physical way in the last chapters of the book when she mistakes Mr. Bodwin for Schoolteacher and attacks him with an ice
Beloved, in many ways, is a physical manifestation of the past. Sethe is constantly reminded of her terrible past simply by Beloved's presence, but also by Beloved’s insatiable appetite for Sethe’s stories. Telling stories to Beloved “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.” (Morrison, 58) Although Sethe derived comfort from this ritual the more she fed Beloved and the more she surrendered herself to the past the weaker she became. Paul D. has a very different relationship with Beloved. When Beloved seduces Paul D. his “tobacco tin” opens and he keeps repeating the phrase “red heart, red heart, red heart”(Morrison) Beloved forces Paul D. to stop suppressing his memory and in the process he rediscovers his heart. Both the reactions of Paul D. and Sethe to their traumatic memories are shown to be overreactions on either end of a spectrum ranging from suppression to