Beloved: Memory, Rememory, and the Power of the Past

After you complete your reading for today, we'd like you write your journal entry for chapter 9 as a blog post.  The focus of it revolves about the issue of Memory, Rememory, and the Power of the Past - what is the novel saying about these topics at this point?  What are the challenges and issues that arise when the past is either raised or specifically avoided?  When is it embraced - when is it hidden - why?

I feel as if Sethe is experiancing moments that reflect on her past in order to remind her of something tragic that happened somewhere in Sethe's past. An example of this is when Sethe was recalling old memories of Baby Suggs as she was sitting on the old rock in the Clearing. She wishes for a massage from deceased Baby Suggs, and suprisingly she starts to feel fingers on her shoulders, but then it starts to get violent and she realizes she is being strangled. When Beloved kisses her neck, Sethe smells milk in her breath, and shockingly says “You too old for that” (115). Beloved's breath and touch reminded her of her deceased daughter, and Sethe went into shock and started denying what seemed to be true. When Denver confronted Beloved about the strangling, Beloved insists that "the circle of iron choked it" (119). What could this mean? Could it have anything to do with the past references to "Iron Eyes?"  I feel as if Sethe is trying to avoid parts of the past that involve the death of her baby daughter, while Beloved is trying to expose it. I cant help but feel Beloved is trying to get some sort of revenge on Sethe. Is it possible Sethe could be responsible for the death of Beloved? is that why Baby Suggs's "faith, her love, her imagination and her great big old heart began to collapse twenty-eight days after her daughter-in-law arrived" (105). Sethe must have been involved in something tragic shortly after she arrived to 124. Possibly the same tragedy of the baby's death?