This document provides an analysis of Toni Morrison's novel Beloved. It discusses how the novel explores themes of memory, history, and storytelling in shaping identity. While the novel is set during American slavery, these themes of confronting and navigating the past are at the core of the work. The document also analyzes how Morrison shows how people struggle with their pasts and how past experiences influence the present and future.

1. ENGLISH LITERATURE
TONI MORRISON’S BELOVED
MEMORY, HISTORY, STORYTELLING & IDENTITY IN
BELOVED

2. “HI S TORY I S A
NIGHTMARE FROM
WHICH I AM TRYING TO
AWAKE ” - STEPHEN
DEDALUS IN JAMES
JOYC E ’ S ULY S S E S ( 1 9 2 2 )

3. BELOVED
A metanarrative; a
text reporting on
archival material
Toni Morrison
found and picked.

4. IT IS ONLY PERIPHERAL TO
LOOK AT THIS NOVEL AS
DEALING WITH SLAVERY,
HOWEVER, SLAVERY CAN
BE SEEN AS A GATEWAY
TOWARDS THE MAIN
THEMES THAT THE NOVEL
DEALS WITH IN DEPTH

5. THE POWER OF…
MEMORY
HISTORY
&
STORYTELLING

6. MORRISON ACCENTUATES
THE INEVITABLE TRUTH
ABOUT PEOPLE AND HOW
THEY TRY TO AVOID THEIR
PAST SO THAT THEY MAY
NOT STRUGGLE WITH
LIVING PEACEFUL LIVES
IN THE PRESENT OR IN
THE FUTURE

7. THE STRUGGLE, THE NARRATIVE
STRUGGLE, I S, HOWEVER,
SOMEWHERE BETWEEN THE
CONSCIOUS AND THE
SUBCONSCIOUS : A NOTION
EMPHAS IZED BY SETHE, THE
PROTAGONI ST, WHEN SHE
EXPLAINS TO HER DAUGHTER,
DENVER, T H A T “ S O M E T H I N G S
YOU FORGET. OTHERS YOU NEVER
D O ”

8. LIKE SETHE, ‘ R U N N I N G AWAY ”
F RO M O N E ’ S PA S T O R
DEALING WITH IT
NEGATIVELY WILL ALWAYS
CATCH UP WITH US IN THE
FUTURE BECAUSE AS SOCIAL
BEINGS, OUR PAST
EXPERIENCES ARE
DETERMINERS OF WHAT LAYS
AHEAD OF US

9. As Morrison uses Beloved as a
metaphoric device that helps
Sethe remember, we also
need certain reinforcements
that will imbue us with
images that will build our
characters in life.