One concept from Beloved that I found particularly intriguing was rememory. Rememory paints the idea of memory as a dynamic, always-changing representation of an event, and in this regard, a central characteristic to an object or memory is the perspective from which you're viewing it. What an object is depends on the person whose perspective you're considering it from, as well as the time—past, present, or future—from which you're considering it.
For instance, I initially thought Sweet Home exists in the novel's present just as it's described and remembered by Sethe, but upon further thought, it's probably drastically different from what Sethe remembers now. Yet what matters is how Sethe thinks of and remembers it for what it was in the past, since that's what impacts her present and future most. Paul D remembers Sweet Home in a different way—even though he lived there at the same time as Sethe, he experienced different events and therefore, his memories of Sweet Home affects him in a different way.
Sethe's description of rememory also emphasizes how objects retain aspects of their pasts or how they're "haunted" by their pasts. Even if they don't seem to have physically retained aspects of their pasts, they've retained symbolic aspects of the past through people's memories of them, which are equally, if not more significant.
In any case, every object is associated with both memory-related and physical aspects of rememory. In the case of schoolteacher's hat, Sethe is triggered to make the most consequential decision of her life by the physical sight of schoolteacher's hat because of the memories she has associated with it. In this regard, rememory is like the physical manifestation of memory.
Another interesting aspect of rememory is how the fact that something happened can never be evaded. Different perspectives shape and add to a person's memory of an event but once memories are further reformed, they can't go back to how they were previously.'
I found it really fascinating how Morrison allows readers to experience the rememory effect through the structure of the story, which also helps readers understand how the characters were processing their memories. In Beloved, each character has such a unique and complex perspective on events that occurred, which shape each other and ultimately end up shaping the story as a whole.
It's important to point out the inherently individuated and subjective nature of these traumatic memories (or "pictures," as Sethe puts it). "Sweet Home" represents something different for everyone, even if there's a lot of overlap in the sense of it being a site of horrific trauma. Paul has his own set of associations and memory-pictures that would shape his own "rememories"--"Brother" the tree, the image of his own brother hanging from a tree, his image of Sixo being burned alive and *laughing defiantly* at schoolteacher, "Mister" the rooster smiling at him with the bit in his mouth, Halle at the butter churn. Sethe, as we know, has her own distinct set of images (mossy-teeth, the barn, the whip), and these shape her "picture." Their pictures overlap, and indeed Paul's picture ends up reshaping Sethe's profoundly, when he decides to tell her about Halle and the churn (initially he chooses not to mention it).
ReplyDeleteI also found it pretty incredible how Morrison illustrated the concept of rememory through the structure of the story--the way we understand the events of the story is based on multiple characters' different perspectives of those events, which is pretty cool. Another big takeaway I got regarding rememory is that although events are temporary, their memories last forever. The experiences that characters like Sethe and Paul D endured at Sweet Home caused trauma that affected them for the rest of their lives.
ReplyDeleteI like that you emphasized the individual perspectives that rememory shows because I think personally I considered rememory to be almost like a communal memory. I imagined that when Paul D adds onto Sethe's rememory of the barn scene, they're creating a more fleshed out, more 3 dimensional shared memory. But I think your interpretation that instead other peoples' memories are merely added on to an individuals and the distinctiveness of perspective is what's important in rememory is really interesting.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't thought of rememory as a communal memory—that's such an interesting way to consider it. Maybe rememory could also be seen as a communal, all-encompassing memory that each individual sees/gains different perspectives of? There's definitely many ways to interpret this idea!
DeleteThe idea of rememory was also really intriguing to me. Beloved herself for example seems to be an example of a rememory. Her death and her haunting fit the description of rememory, especially the scene where Paul D describes the haunting as feeling sorrow and sadness around him when he entered. At the same time, when she appeared in the form of a woman that further drew connection to the idea of rememory, since she now has a physical body as well. She is now a "physical memory," just like the examples of rememory that Sethe gave.
ReplyDeleteOverall, great post.
The structure of the book just feels very human. It's the way a person would tell a story. Things are left out then added, scenes are doubled back to, at times it's very confusing. Often confusion or disorientation is an appropriate emotion for the content, and yeah, the book does a good job of explaining how rememory feels through showing as well as telling.
ReplyDeleteRememory also was interesting to me so I'm glad you chose to write about it. I found it really interesting how Sethe was able to process her trauma and past through memory. It also goes to show how rich Toni Morrison's worldbuilding is because even the smaller characters have these really intense and well-thought-out backstories.
ReplyDeleteI think it's important to unravel the meanings of "rememory," and I really liked what you said about it. To me, throughout the story, the description of it that kept coming back to me was PTSD. Although rememory is not inherently traumatizing or negative, many of its aspects are reminiscent of how one may respond to trauma-- objects, places, or people being triggers. I find the concept really abstract yet beautiful in a way, and I like how you described it.
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