The Final Post

Beloved left me with one significant impression: what did I just read? The entire book was filled with interesting yet weird details. The most significant of these details that was freaky was that of death and how each character reacted (or didn't) to death. For someone like Stamp Paid, death really depended on the circumstances, with him killing his wife and all but not accepting the killing of Beloved by Sethe. For Sethe, death was necessary but awful. Her unwillingness to come to terms with Beloved and take control of what she did, and instead trying to constantly appease Beloved in her return from the after life was the major key that led to her decay.

Another concept used by Morrison is that of escape. The idea of escape is prevalent throughout the novel. Escaping from slavery, sorrow, illness. But it is the lack of actual escape that is a major theme throughout the novel. Morrison plays with the idea that the characters cannot escape from slavery, no matter how far they run. That they will always be looked down upon by society, always be kept down, and that no amount of so called "freedom" or war can change the fact that they have no ability to escape poverty and the sadness that surrounds them. For Sethe, for Baby Suggs, and for Beloved, the way to escape the constant struggle with being kept in a theoretical bondage instead of the actual that they had fled was through death. Sethe lays herself down to leave, and does not try to get healthier, ditto Baby Suggs. For Beloved, she is killed to prevent her from going into slavery, only to be resurrected and inflict suffering upon Sethe for being killed, and in turn making Sethe's life miserable before running off.

To say the least, the book is something that one cannot prepare for. It simply happens that almost every character has either killed another person, inflicted serious pain, been killed or maimed, or a combination of these possibilities. But overall, it makes for an interesting story filled with connections to the post Civil War era in the United States, regarding Black Codes and Jim Crow Laws and the constant struggle for freedom and independence for African-Americans.