If the past were to just die, then we wouldn't be able to gradually become the person that we are now. We are who we are today because of our past. It has, in a sense, molded us into ourselves; into our skin. Our past is us.
Although the past is, well, in the past it continues to live on in the form of our memories. That moment in our lives may have already passed by, but it's remnants will forever remain and it is nearly impossible to remove it from history.
For Sethe, her past seems to be colliding with her present. There's a lot of flashbacks that goes on in this novel made almost undistinguishable by Morrison. We, the readers, don't even realize that its a flashback until we're back in the present again. This type of syntax contributes to the idea of Sethe's selflessness. As much as she tries to repress her memories of the past, she only seems to be getting closer and closer to its confrontation; the unexpected arrival of Beloved. In my opinion she is Sethe's past. Not only is she identifiable with Sethe's first born girl (whose now dead), she also effortlessly gets her to share stories about her past that she thought she was already erased from her mind. This just proves the point that the past can not truly die since it still existed in her subconsciousness. And just for the record the past can't die because it is not a living thing in the first place. Haha, take that!
As for the Piano Lesson the past obviously still lives on in the form of ghosts. The whole book (to me) was about the past. The piano was the family's legacy and it was a battle against that versus cold, hard cash. Boy Willie resembled his father while Berniece her mother. Its almost as if they had lived on through these two. But enough about that, this "novel" is nothing compared to Morrison's Beloved.
Just because you can't go back and change it doesn't mean that its not there. Oh, its there all right.
... Forever.
No comments:
Post a Comment