Sof Sheriff
A person’s past shapes their identity and affects every part of them, including their name. Our previous experiences define us and make us who we are today. Toni Morrison demonstrates this point in her book Beloved. Throughout the book, we are told the stories of characters who are defined by their deplorable past. Sethe, Denver, and Baby Suggs are exemplifications of how their pasts have changed who they are. Their names are not only their identification, but a symbol of their past. Through this we can substantiate that a person’s past forms their identity.
Sethe, the protagonist of Beloved, is one example of how a person’s past structures their identity. She is not only distinguished by the death of her infant daughter, who she massacred, but also by the memories of her preceding life in slavery. Because she is unwilling to surrender her children to the grim life of slavery, she commits infanticide because she believes that murdering her children was only way to free them from the horror that she herself had endured. “I stopped him, she said, staring at the place where the fence used to be. I took and put my babies where they’d be safe.” (pg.164)
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You gonna tell her? Who brought her into this here world?" She lifted her chin, looked off into the place where the sun used to be. "You better tell her. You hear? Say Miss Amy Denver. Of Boston."(pg.100) Denver's name came from the last name of Amy Denver, the woman who helped bring her into the world. With her birth, her identity was created and Sethe wanted to honor the woman who helped birth her newborn child. This is an important aspect of Denver’s character, because she adores the story of her birth. Amy Denver contributed to her character by giving Denver life and ensuring the pregnant mother she found in a field would not