Beloved

I totally agree with http://samjanssen.blogspot.com when she was talking about the importance of slavery in Beloved. It seems that slavery and it's memories are haunting the characters, and because of this the characters can not escape from their pasts.
I found Sethe's scars to be interesting, as they seem to be a symbol of the past and how it just won't go away. Paul D starts by saying that her scars look like an ugly clump of scars, but later on in the novel Sethe is told otherwise. "It's a tree, Lu. A chokecherry tree. See, here's the trunk -- it's read and split wide open, full of sap, and this here's the parting of the branches. You got a might lot of branches. Leaves too, look like, and dern if these ain't blossoms. Tiny little cherry blossoms, just as white. Your back got a whole tree on it. In bloom. What God have in mind, I wonder."(pg 79)
The past filled with slavery continues to affect how the characters act. Paul D believes that it is dangerous for an ex-slave to love anything too much. Because of his past in slavery Paul D does not want to count on anything too much and affects his life greatly. This is repeated again later in the novel. That is an interesting aspect to remember because this will affect Paul D greatly later on. I am looking forward to seeing how this happens.