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Sethe's Identity In Beloved

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In general, Beloved’s role in the formulation of Sethe’s identity is absolutely crucial in the novel. Beloved is not only the ghost of Sethe’s killed daughter, but also a powerful symbol of the link between the present and the past Sethe attempts to keep the past away, however, Beloved’s comeback demonstrates the impossibility and the difficulty of suppressing her past. In other words, with Beloved’s arrival, revealing memories helps Sethe understand her past and thus herself. Beloved can be seen as Sethe’s personal past and at the same time as her repressed memories.
Sethe’s identity is formulated with the relationship to her past which she retrieves through the ghost of Beloved. Beloved does not belong to the present nor the past but she portrays the relationship between the present and the past. Therefore, the lives of Sethe and Denver are connected with the past that is impersonated in Beloved. Otten interpretes the return of Beloved thus:

Beloved is both Sethe’s doomed infant and one of the “Sixty Million and more,” a victim both of Sethe’s “rough love” and the manifest cruelty of slavers. What is more, she becomes a demonic force returned to punish and to redeem Sethe, a remarkably ambiguous force able to free Sethe at last from her past, but only by exacting an enormous price; she is on one …show more content…

With this, Sethe starts to recover mentally. Sethe is emotionally prepared to start a new life, and feels the emergency of a family. Indeed, Beloved stands here as a key element in the construction of Sethe and Denver’s quest for identity. Beloved’s appearance is essential for Sethe and Denver in the process of finding their identity. Paul D’s arrival to Sethe’s home indicates that she is now “free,” and as a result, Paul D may represent freedom for her and

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