Beloved - Memory, Rememory, and the Power of the Past (Chp. 9)

It seems as though one can never truly get away from one's past.  As a result of Beloved's extreme curiosity Sethe is constantly going back through the stories of her past as well as those of her relatives.  In an effort to clear her mind as well as regain some order in her life Sethe takes Denver and Beloved to the Clearing where Baby Suggs had preached.  She begins to feel calm until she felt the hands of Baby Suggs massaging her back.  While at first it felt good, it quickly turned bad when the hands began to strangle her.  Her past, she so readily became attached to, was causing her to suffer.  As Sethe was being strangled Beloved ran over to her and tried to calm her down by lightly placing her hands on Sethe's neck.  This frightened Sethe because Beloved's hands felt exactly like those of Baby Suggs.  Even more, Beloved had the scent of the dead baby which scared Sethe to no end.  Bringing back the past can lead to great pains if not filtered and controlled as demonstrated throughout the story.  Beloved is someone to truly pay a great deal of attention to because of her odd similarities to past relatives of the family.  We can only learn as the story unfolds.