Reflecting on the Past

We all go through tough times in life, it is inevitable. We all do stupid things in life and it's really tough to forget those things. It's really tough for me to forget about stupid things I have done because instead of sleeping my brain decides that it wants to think about that one embarrassing thing I did in front of Jose in fourth grade. Unfortunately my brain also prefers to do my homework at one in the morning, which is exactly what I'm doing now.

Beloved centers directly around overcoming through tough times, which is really awesome to me. Throughout the novel Sethe struggles with her own self, trying to forget her past and live in the present. She just can't seem to do it. This proves to be very critical because it has a huge impact on Denver, who is a literal representative of the post-slavery era. Even though Denver was born after slavery it almost seems like she is still living through it because of Denver. She even talks about how it seems like she is living in a household that seems haunted by the ghost of the past. Denver is simply trying to move into the future but she can't do it because of Sethe.

This is understandable, however, as slavery isn't just something that you can put behind you and completely forget about. It has an affect on you, physically, emotionally, and mentally. You can't really blame Sethe for living like this. We are learning about slavery because it is important for us to understand our history so that we will never repeat things like this.

Back to doing stupid stuff. If you're like me and you have a tendency to constantly think about stupid and embarrassing mistakes you make, don't. Constantly reflecting on our mistakes isn't going to do you any good. Sometimes it may be good to do so because then you can improve in the future, but reflecting on the past is otherwise pointless because unless you're Marty McFly you can't change the past. In order to get better at anything we do in life we have to move forward.