The memory of historical events changes over time, as details are intentionally excluded, events are not documented, and oral histories change with each new telling. Some historical institutions, like slavery, are so traumatic and have affected so many people that individual stories are lost when talking about these institutions as a whole. This loss of personal testimony is detrimental to understanding slavery because the human element that evokes sympathy is buried beneath facts and figures that have come to define this era of American history. Beloved, a 20th-century work of fiction, recovers the human element lost in the history books, sharing the story of Sethe, Denver, and Paul D, whose lives are interrupted when Beloved appears, revealing not only their memories, but also the traumatic memories of many. through a process called memory. Memory, a concept rooted in the Gothic element of the supernatural that exists exclusively within the pages of Toni Morrison's Beloved, serves as a means to recount and pass down the traumatic events that occurred as a result of slavery. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay In Beloved, memory works in many ways, primarily through personal memory, collective memory, and supernatural memory. In many ways, memory is similar to collective memory, except that instead of remembering an event through the transmission of stories from generation to generation, anyone can encounter a memory. Memories unfold as a vivid account of an event not personally experienced. Richard Perez explains: "Memory names the traumatic substance of historical activity suffused in the atmosphere in the form of invisible images...memory describes an alternative dimension of reality, a space charged with dense layers of historical perception whose presence is felt , it is perceived and experienced". "(199). This description of Morrison's memories encompasses many elements of the gothic characteristic of the supernatural because these memories exist independently of the person who experienced them. These intense memories occur in the place where they happened or can be triggered by the presence of a person or object in a remote place. What is most important to note is that memory is linked to trauma and many of the experiences recounted in the novel have traumatized the characters, as they relate to the cruel and inhumane practices of slavery. Sethe explains memory to Denver using the example of a burned house: "If a house burns, it is no longer there, but the place, the image of it, remains, and not just in my memories, but out there." in the world” (Morrison 43). Although Sethe does not explain the memory using a personal memory, the experience of one's house burning is traumatic and therefore drives home the point to Denver. Thus, the memory is rooted in the gothic element of the supernatural , as images and memory of events will always exist in the world long after those who experienced the trauma are gone. Within the novel, the supernatural presence in the text, which is rooted in memory, comes primarily from Sethe's explanations, experiences, and interactions with Beloved. Caroline Rody discusses Sethe's personal connection to memory, stating: “For Sethe a 'memory' (an individual experience) hovers as an 'image' that can enter the 'memory' of another (the part of the brain that ' memories') and complicate consciousness and identity,” which is seen in how Beloved possesses knowledge of Sethe's past experiences and possessions (101). He questions Sethe about her diamonds, her relationship with her mother, and herearrings that Mrs. Garner gave her as a wedding present (Morrison 75). It is through memory – the ability to recall the experiences of another – that allows Beloved to be aware of and question these parts of Sethe's life that she keeps hidden. Despite the fact that Sethe tries so desperately to suppress her past traumatic, "Memory is... a threatening force in Sethe's life – it seems to haunt her – and she works hard to avoid it", which ultimately manifests itself through Beloved's memory, which leads to Sethe sharing stories from her past, connecting thus memory with the Gothic (Barnett 419). In Beloved, Morrison uses Gothic elements of the supernatural and memory as a way to personalize a communal experience, thus ensuring that memories of the enslaved past are not forgotten. Since “memory as a [Gothic] trope postulates the interconnection of minds, past and present, [it] perfectly connects the supernatural vision of the novel with its aspiration to the communal epic, realizing the 'collective memory' of which it speaks Morrison” (Rody 101 ). For example, Denver experiences a memory surrounding his birth: Denver looked in, [and] saw his mother on her knees praying, which was not unusual. What was unusual... was that a white dress knelt next to her mother and had her sleeve around her mother's waist... It was the tender embrace of the dress's sleeve that made Denver remember the details of her birth. .. Easily entered into the story told that lay before his eyes on the path. (Morrison 35-36) As previously mentioned, this memory occurs remotely from Denver's birthplace, triggered instead by the white sleeve and the presence of his mother. Furthermore, the way the memory appears before her is rooted in the Gothic because "The elevation of memory to a supernatural power that connects all minds, [makes] it possible to 'stumble upon a memory that belongs to someone else'" where this memory belongs to his mother (Rody 102). Furthermore, Denver's birth and her memory serve to chronicle a communal experience because a slave's pregnancy and birth were heavily influenced by the circumstances of the trial, which would be very different from a white woman's pregnancy. Given that Sethe was a runaway slave when she was pregnant and gave birth to Denver, the experience would have been both stressful and traumatizing, and is indicative of a collective slave experience. Using memory to share this experience with Denver, now a young adult living in post-slavery America, Morrison engages with the supernatural as a way to connect the slave past to the non-slave present. The supernatural element of memory is also used to remind the community of their previous experiences that should have brought them together, but instead tore them apart. As the community approaches 124 to exorcise Beloved, these characters collectively experience the memory of rushing to the house when it belonged to Baby Suggs: When...they got to 124, the first thing they saw was not Denver sitting on the steps, but themselves . Younger, stronger, just like sleeping little girls lying on the grass... Baby Suggs laughed and skipped among them... The fence they had leaned on and climbed over was gone. The walnut stump had split like a fan. But there they were... playing in Baby Suggs' yard, not feeling the envy that would emerge the next day. (Morrison 304). This memory is crucial because it reminds the group of a time when the African American community should have come together to support a woman torn between slavery or freedom for both herself and her children. Supernatural elements fill this scene and the pages thatthey follow, as the community performs exorcisms and the present parallels the past, allowing Sethe and the community to ultimately rewrite the past and come to terms with her traumas. Therefore, the use of Gothic through memory and repetition of history is necessary to the conclusion of the novel as it ultimately leads to redemption for Sethe and the community. In many ways, Beloved itself serves as a reminder of the enslaved past as readers are. able to remember the experiences of others through history. Rather than a simple collective memory, the novel goes beyond a vague retelling of the past by recounting vivid and detailed events, making the characteristics of the novel more similar to those of a memory. Caroline Rody compares the novel to a memorial, stating, "Beloved is not a 'place' of the dead but a place where survivors can go to 'conjure' and 'gather,' to look at the graven shape of their own grief." in particular through the telling and understanding of past events (98). While it is difficult to wrestle with and make sense of slaves' pasts, "storytelling becomes memory's struggle with catastrophe and loss...cultural transmission requires the recovery of traumatic memories," particularly those that can no longer be transmitted personally. Therefore, the fictionalized version of the slaves' experiences in Beloved becomes a memory through which the reader lives and experiences the past of slavery (Rody 99). The importance of passing down Sethe's story, bound in the pages of Beloved, is emphasized in the final pages of the novel, where the phrase “this is not a story to be passed down” is repeated three times (Morrison 323-324). In treating Beloved as a memory, the supernatural is not the only gothic element used as this depiction of slavery and its repercussions evoke strong feelings in the reader. The connection between memory and the evocation of strong feelings occurs because "memory is not simply the result of the ability to remember but a collective 'mental image' of a different time that 'belongs to someone else' and is imprinted in space by an experienced intensity ” (Perez 198). Perez's explanation of memory and the emergence of intense feelings links these two elements of the Gothic together within the text. Through sharing and transmitting Beloved as a written document, Morrison has constructed a novel in which the gothic elements of supernatural and intense feelings are tied to the physical novel itself. Morrison established a dialogic tension between the need to explore or confront harsh history and the need to repress painful memories in the debates between Sethe and Baby Suggs. Their dialogues demonstrate how enslaved women can survive in multiple ways and the numerous psychological and emotional consequences. As a way to deal with loss, Baby Suggs endorsed and promoted intentional forgetting. He urges Sethe and the others to "everyone" lie down. Baby Suggs defines Morrison as the "survivor" who had to pierce her memories to "get out of bed every morning", facing past suffering by forgetting it and trusting in one thing. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper now from our expert writers. Get a Custom Essay In Beloved, Toni Morrison evokes the Gothic through the use of the supernatural, seen primarily in the concept of memory, which impacts both the novel's characters and the reader. As a novel that deals with the institution of slavery and how slave narratives are preserved and transmitted, the idea of ​​remembrance serves as an intense and disturbing form of collective memory, allowing individual accounts to be passed down and demonstrating how l The impact slavery had continued”. 2016.