The Power of Artfully Manipulated Time and the Emptiness of the 'Present'

Throughout Beloved, the poetic manipulation of time while still maintaining a forward pace ranks among Morrison's most skillfully crafted and intellectually striking literary tools. The progression of the novel is interwoven with the threads of its character's backgrounds to a point where a conceptually challenging tapestry is formed - the forward thread, if not unnoticed, is ever present but almost besides the point. Beloved is among the most unique narratives of its kind because most of the character development is conveyed through the use of flashback; their flashback, being told in such a manner that we as the reader are seldom aware that it is, in fact, the past, seem to manipulate the personas of the novel's 'present'.

It seems that thus far, the conscience burden on Sethe, the emptiness of Paul D's locked up heart, and the agedness to Baby Sugg's seventy years are the residual effects of the lingering demons in their past, and in Sethe's case, persist to haunt her quite literally. Whenever the novel appears to be lingering in the stories 'present day' I have gotten the impression that the character's present selves seem to be developing their flashback selves. It seems that the real toil of the soul, the real grit of the novel lies in these flashbacks while the present feels like the resolution their former trifles. Through her writing, Morrison makes it very accessible and achievable to develop a character's past self through the interactions of their (later chronologically) selves.

What's left in the present and progressive timeline of the novel, while the characters begin to show their true colors in the narrative's dissection of their past actions, is most nearly, a cesspool of warn souls that congeal around 124 in a hazy state of little more than living. It seems no one is happy to be at the home, all together. Everyone, too raw from their past, platonic, and empty seems to interact and wander the house like the burden of their past had sucked their barren. Like the sex between Sethe and Paul D, it seems all of the character interactions in the present are devoid of genuine emotion and intimacy. The reason for this, the reader comes to learn as they delve into each character's past.

Thus far, Morrison has effectively crafted characters whose presents become more realized as she reverts back to their skillfully integrated flashbacks and recollections throughout. Although her manipulation of time makes the book harder to follow for the more passive reader, it adds a level of character depth and developed presented in a way, unlike anything I have previously seen in literature.