Sethe's Identity In Beloved

Toni Morrison’s novel, Beloved, explores the trauma of Sethe’s past life as a slave, which ironically allows her daughter Denver, to find her true identity; representing the historical effects of slavery upon two generations of African Americans. Throughout the novel, Sethe struggles to become a free woman, not physically, but mentally, from the tortures she suffered as a slave. Though during the beginning of the novel, Denver is portrayed as rather childish and immature in order to reflect her mother’s dismay, she is able to find her true identity after the arrival of Beloved, as her presence devastates the household.

During the beginning of the novel, Sethe arrives at 124 to live with her daughter Denver. Though Sethe believes her arrival in Cincinnati will allow her to escape the

suffering she endured at the Sweet Home plantation, her desire of freedom is destroyed when her daughter haunts her home. Even before Beloved actually arrives, her presence tortures Sethe as she haunts her home. Denver’s isolated character comes to surface as she is left in utter desolation after Paul D banishes Beloved’s ghost. Morrison describes Denver’s loss as “Lonely as a mountain and almost as big, thinking everybody had somebody but her; [...] even the ghost’s company was denied her” (123). Denver is left in despair almost immediately after Paul D arrives at her home, emotionally devastating both Sethe and Denver. Paul D represents a figure of Sethe’s repressed memories of her past life as a slave. Sethe becomes enslaved by Beloved’s embodiment of the past, haunting the home even before she is represented in a physical form. Beloved serves to mentally destroy Sethe, weakening her ability to see the reality, as her daughter Denver is left distraught.
Paul D’s relationship with Sethe secludes any bond Denver may be capable of having with her own mother, “We see that having children greatly increased her burden” (Ardhana, academica.edu).

Though Sethe believed she had escaped the miseries of the Sweet Home plantation at her arrival of Ohio, she is unable to, after the arrival of Paul D, and her repressed memories worsen after the arrival of Beloved. Both Paul D and Beloved are symbolic figures of Sethe’s past, as she continues to relive the tortures she trusted were left in her past. One of the most eminent elements of Morrison’s novel is the transition from the past to the present, as stated by Morgenstern, “Returns repeatedly to scenes of traumatic separation [...] what might be called the primal scene of slavery” (Naomi Morgenstern, academic.uop). The transition from the past to present, and lack of chronological order illustrates the utter chaos and destruction of slavery within two generations, “Through Sethe’s description of a traumatic past [...] Morrison suggests the notation of an African American population continually imperiled, not so much physically as psychically, by the history of slavery” (George Sheldon,

Muse.jhu.edu).

Sethe is unable to nurture and care for Denver even before the arrival of Beloved. Once Beloved takes presence within the home, Denver finds herself tending to Beloved obsessively, as she no longer has the presence of Beloved’s ghost to keep her company, she finds herself able to care for someone physically, no longer a mere figure of her imagination. As Morrison described, “Denver tended to her, watched her sleep, listened to her labored breathing, and, out of love and breakneck that possessiveness that charged her [...] (65). Beloved provides relief and an ability for Denver to have compassion and sympathy for another person. Despite the connection Denver believes she has with Beloved, her mother is bond to yearn for a deeper relationship with Beloved, isolating Denver away as a result. Aradhana Mathews addresses Denver’s desolation, describing, “The return of Beloved can be seen as a continuation of the circle of slavery” (Mathews 5).