In Beloved, the ghost is supposed to symbolize Sethe's past and how the past can haunt your life in the present. But, some have said that the magical realism takes away from the power of the story. I completely disagree with this statement. If the story were to omit the magical element of the story, it would reduce to an interior monologue by Sethe. While this would be interesting, it would be nowhere near as powerful as the way it is now. The physical manifestation of the past is used as a storytelling element and it truly adds something amazing to the novel.
I entirely agree with you, while other books might use the supernatural as a gimmick or a superficial means, Morrison really uses the ghost to convey deeper meanings that are already hidden within the story.
ReplyDeleteI agree as well. The supernatural aspects add so much symbolism to the book that without them Sethe's story would not be nearly as powerful.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Antoine. When I considered, what the story might be without the supernatural portion but the more I thought about it, the less powerful it seemed to show how the past and present are interconnected.
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