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Beloved Glorification Essay

1426 Words6 Pages

Glorification is defined as the act of acknowledging the majesty and splendor of God through one’s actions while bestowing honor, praise, and admiration. In the novel, Beloved, written by Toni Morrison, the character Sethe realizes that Beloved is a physical manifestation of her and her ancestors’ traumatic experiences with slavery. However, blinded by her desire to safeguard her family, Sethe is led to believe that Beloved is the reincarnation of her dead daughter. Sethe’s inability to correctly recognize Beloved as a personification of her traumatizing past demonstrates her unwillingness to confront her trauma. Morrison uses symbolism and conflict to convey how Sethe’s efforts to suppress her trauma have led her to ignore Beloved’s true identity …show more content…

As she was explaining her fear of her lurking past, Sethe tells Denver that “The picture is still there and what’s more, if you go there–you who never was there–if you go there and stand in the place where it was, it will happen again; it will be there waiting for you…That’s how come I had to get all my children out. No matter what” (43-44). With the phrases “it will happen again” and “it will be there waiting for you,” Morrison makes it clear to the reader that Sethe finds it impossible to escape the past, as it will always be waiting for her. From Sethe’s point of view, the repressed memories will always be back to haunt her no matter what she tries. Instead of facing her trauma to solve her issue, Sethe continues to use the avoidance tactic and becomes more devoted to preventing her children from being enslaved “no matter what.” After Sethe discovers her dead daughter, however, she starts to struggle with conflicting emotions about her situation. On one hand, she is willing to do anything to inhibit her children from becoming enslaved. On the other hand, she starts to feel guilty for killing her daughter, even though she had good intentions. Despite that, due to Sethe’s immense fear of Sweet Home, she avoids the memories of her murdering Beloved by proving her love to

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