Beloved: The Price of Freedom

Through the shifting timeline and revealing of past events, Beloved by Toni Morrison examines the inability of characters to escape the past as well as relating it into the real world example of the ever so cliche "price of freedom." Both main characters in the novel, Sethe and Paul D, were constantly presented with struggles and the persistent reminder of their past. In Sethe's case, the constant presence of Beloved haunted her, reminding her of her vivid past. She reminds Sethe of her murder of her own children and her loss of those important to her. Sethe also faces Sweet Home which was almost personified as a shifting and overtaking power over the characters in the home. In order to achieve her "freedom," Sethe must lose her sons and also her daughter. Much like Sethe, Paul D is haunted by his own past. While jailed in Georgia, Paul D releases his heart to become a tobacco tin. His escape or freedom of emotion comes only by way of losing connection to those around him and the world as a whole. His loss of heart results in a loss of sociability or connection with either a human or an idea. Both characters cannot escape who they were before and in result end up feeling more and more connected to each other.