Remembrance, progress and respect

“It was not a story to pass on.

They forgot her like a bad dream. After they made up their tales, shaped and decorated them, those that saw her that day on the porch quickly and deliberately forgot her. It took longer for those who had spoken to her, lived with her, fallen in love with her, to forget, until they realized they couldn’t remember or repeat a single thing she said, and began to believe that, other than what they themselves were thinking, she hadn’t said anything at all. So, in the end, they forgot her too. Remembering seemed unwise…

It was not a story to pass on” (323-324).

Beloved is referred to as a “bad dream”. As a result, people want to forget her and live life as if she never appeared. They have convinced themselves that she is a blank memory and nothing more. After all, all Beloved does is bring back horrid flashbacks to Sethe. In order to be a peace and comfortable with their lives, Beloved has to be forgotten, completely shut out. However, Beloved cannot be. It is a symbol in this book for a greater theme in America’s history and socioeconomic conditions.

Beloved represents hatred, slavery, denial and much more. Yet all this chapter does is express how much it wants to put away this reminder in a sense. At the end of the book, the phrase “It was not a story to pass on” is repeated three times throughout. It emphasizes the want to forget about America’s past and move forward. However, in order to move forward, we have to acknowledge and remember the past, no matter how painful it might be. The past connects to our present. The socioeconomic history and patterns of this country speak for themselves. The relationships and tensions between social classes and racial ethnicities are evident. They relate back to a bigger issue in America. Beloved serves as a reminder that oppression is real and has to be addressed. It may be an uncomfortable topic to discuss but one that needs to nevertheless. The final ending says a lot about today’s struggle while also doing a great job of honoring past struggles.