The Past Has Not Passed

By: Tim Combes

The past is an illusion; all that truly exists in this world, exists in the present. Past and Future alike exist only in one’s mind, while the present eternally unfolds around him or her. The past is simply memories and the future is what one imagines tomorrow will bring based on those memories. Given the immaterial nature of the past, one would think that mankind would be able to keep it in its place; mankind, however, does no such thing. For many people, the past is a rock-filled suitcase they drag behind them wherever they go; it is more real to them than the present is or ever will be. No group of people demonstrate this connection to the past more completely than the former slaves of the American slave trade. These men and women endured years of torture within the institution of slavery and then were forced to deal with its lasting psychological bondage long after they were physically “freed”. This is one of the core themes in Toni Morrison’s acclaimed novel Beloved. In the novel, former slaves are forced to confront the past with the return of the protagonist’s deceased daughter, who goes only by the name “Beloved”. By reincarnating Beloved, Morrison illustrates how the past invades the present.
Beloved represents, among other things, the anguish of every African American soul lost in the slave trade. One must look no further than the phrase and scripture that preface the book for substantial evidence. The phrase “Sixty Million and more” comes right after the title page and serves as a dedication to all of the men, women, and children who were lost to the Atlantic slave trade. These people remain forever nameless, laid restlessly to rest in unmarked graves. By dedicating the novel to these lost souls, Morrison looks to give them a name and a story. The name she gives them is found in the words of the Apostle Paul on the following page, “I will call them my people, which were not my people. And her Beloved, which was not Beloved”. Here, Morrison connects the biblical reconciliation of God and His people to the reconciliation of lost slaves to modern thought. In the same way that God looks to give a name to people previously unnamed, Morrison looks to give a name to the “sixty million and more” lost slaves who have been hitherto nameless. The name she chooses to give them is the same one that God gave his people: “Beloved”. 
Further proof of this is found abundantly throughout the novel. After her death as a child, Beloved spent her years in a dark timeless place she refers to simply as “the bridge” (87, 248). This place is an afterlife, but it is by no means heaven. On the bridge, she meets a man whom she refers to as “the man with my face”, who one can assume is her father (248). She also meets a woman “with [her] face” who dons an iron circle around her neck who is most likely Sethe’s (the protagonist) mother (250). In this dark eternal place her soul mingles with her ancestors as well as the souls of countless other slaves and over time their anguish mixed with hers so that when Beloved came back to earth, she was something far greater than Sethe’s murdered daughter. Beloved comes back, in part, as every dead slave longing to finally be known. While on the bridge, she says, “there is no one to want me, to say my name” (251). This longing to be known plays deeply into her seduction of Paul D, as there is nothing more intimate in this life than sex. As Adam “knew” Eve, Beloved wants to be known by Paul D. When she begs him to call her by her name while they make love, she is not asking just for herself; she is asking for herself and every nameless soul that intertwined with hers on the bridge (137, 251).
The ways in which Sethe, Paul D, and Denver interact with Beloved is symbolic of how each of them deals with the past, specifically slavery. Sethe is quick to accept Beloved as soon as she shows up soaking wet on the road to 124 Bluestone (61). She is instantly endeared to her because her name reminds her of the daughter she lost and she immediately invites her to stay in her home (63, 64). Once she discovers that Beloved is, in fact, the daughter she murdered all those years ago, she is elated that she has returned and has seemingly forgiven her (213). Beloved’s emotions toward Sethe, though, are much more complex than love and forgiveness; Beloved is filled with much more rage and spitefulness toward Sethe than she at first appears (281). Once Beloved’s rage becomes apparent, Sethe begins to lose her mind and thinks she must explain her actions to Beloved (284). This complicated web of interaction is symbolic of Sethe having her final battle with her past. Sethe’s past forced her into a corner where she was forced to murder her own daughter to save her from the horrors of slavery. This act is the pinnacle of Sethe’s relationship with the past because it shows how she let the past control her actions to the point of infanticide. Once Sethe knows that Beloved is her daughter, she decides that the only way to overcome her past is to make Beloved understand. If she can achieve forgiveness from Beloved, then she has overcome the past. If she can make Beloved understand, then she has overcome slavery. What she discovers, however, is that Beloved’s forgiveness doesn’t matter; what matters is if she can forgive herself (322). She must learn that she, herself, is her “best thing”.
As much as he would never admit it, Beloved has immense power over Paul D. He is allured to her “shine” and is extremely wary of her, so much so that he begins to have sex with Sethe in the mornings to clear his head before he sees Beloved (76). She has so much power over him that she is even able to physically move him (134). She gains so much power over him that she is eventually able to put him into a trance in order to make love with him, which causes the lid to his tobacco tin heart to come loose (138). This tricky relationship with Beloved perfectly illustrates his tricky relationship with the past; the past has immense power over him. Just like Beloved, Paul D is unknowingly “moved” by the past. He thinks his “thin love” is an advantage, that it keeps him safe from harm when, in actuality, it keeps him from ever truly experiencing life. Paul D’s inability to love keeps him constantly nomadic, until he meets Sethe. His past catches up to him when he reconnects with Sethe, and the rust begins to fall off the tobacco tin that is his heart when his love for her begins to grow. In this way, when Paul D is being intimate with Beloved, he is being intimate with his past. Ironically, his affair with Beloved further illustrates his love for Sethe because it shows that he is willing to face his dark past to be with her.
Denver did not care much for Sethe’s past until Beloved came along; she found it annoying and superfluous since it didn’t involve her - since it didn’t “belong” to her (15). Beloved’s arrival, however, instantly gives Denver something in the past that belongs to her: her sister. Denver may be a young, immature girl, but she is extremely perceptive and recognizes Beloved for who she is almost immediately. Denver knows what Sethe did and is terrified of her for it. She believes it is her job to protect Beloved from Sethe, so that the past does not repeat itself. Once Denver sees Beloved’s true colors, though, she realizes that the truth is not as black and white as she once thought and realizes it is her responsibility to save her family (286). Even though Denver loves Beloved, she is not tethered to her in the same way that Sethe is and the same is true for Denver’s relationship with the past. Denver is aware of Sethe’s past only partially, in the same way that she only knows Beloved partially, and is therefore not as bound by its grasp as Sethe is. This freedom from the past is what allows Denver to become the true hero of the novel and eventually save her mother.
The final chapter illustrates how modern society chooses to ignore the past to not have to face it. This chapter serves as a beautifully poetic epilogue to the story and is peppered with the repeating phrase, “it was not a story to pass on” (323, 324). In other words, Beloved’s story was not to be passed on. This phrase was very cleverly included by Morrison because it has multiple meanings depending on how one reads it. One can either read it as “It was not a story to pass on” or as “it was not a story to pass on”. If one reads it and emphasizes the word “not”, then he or she will get the impression that the story is bad or worthless. The story should not be passed on, it should be lost forever in time; it would be better for society if everyone forgot about it. However, if one reads it as “it was not a story to pass on”, then an entirely different meaning emerges. Morrison simply could not pass on the opportunity to write this novel. This story is important and must be told to everyone in the world. This double meaning illustrates the dual nature with which society treats the past, specifically slavery. Society wants to sweep slavery under the rug; it wants slavery to be forgotten. It is best for these stories not to be passed on from person to person, to just let them die. The past, however, is a pesky thing and will just not die that easily; to defeat the past one must face it. This truth is illustrated by the second interpretation of the phrase, “it was not a story to pass on”. For society to ever truly overcome the past, these stories must be told. Healing can only come after one recognizes a wound.
Throughout the events of Beloved, it is abundantly clear that the past has invaded the present. Beloved rose from the river soaked not only with water but with the sadness and rage of sixty million lost souls. She returns from the dead and brings not only her own pain with her but also the pain and of countless slaves lost in a timeless abyss. Beloved’s return forced both Paul D and Sethe to deal with their long buried pasts, and Denver was forced to learn how to help them do it. The past is not easy to overcome, it is a process full of agonizing pain and damaged pride, but it must be overcome nonetheless. Just like a murdered daughter gone too soon, the past never stays buried.




 



Works Cited
Morrison, Toni. Beloved. New York: Vintage, 1987, 2004. Print.