Friday, November 10, 2017

Chronology in Beloved

I find it really interesting,  although confusing, how Morrison intentionally leaves the order of events vague, or references things that the characters know, but no the reader. For example, when Sethe still thinks Amy is a white boy, she is scared "that he too still had mossy teeth, an appetite." (38)

Sethe often fazes in and out of being in the present and flashbacks, which makes the reader experience what is happening to her, an ugly blend of the present and her horrible past, not fully sure which is which. Denver seamlessly goes from her own memories to Sethe's, without particularly distinguishing between them, showing how she bases so much of herself on the past that she considers some of Sethe's memories to be just as much hers as her mother's.

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