Recollections and Repressions in Toni Morrison’s Beloved (1987)
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Date
2018
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Université Mouloud Mammeri Tizi Ouzou
Abstract
The aim of this study was to discuss the theme of memory and trauma in Toni Morrison's
Beloved (1987). The focus of this dissertation is on the repressed memories and the traumatic
experiences of the characters. Indeed, the stress is on the depiction of the characters repressed
inner past memories like Paul D, Sethe and Denver. To achieve this aim, we relied on Cathy
Caruth's trauma theory “Trauma: Exploration in Memory” (1995) and “Unclaimed
Experience: Trauma, Narrative and History” (1996). We have shown how Toni Morrison
brought to the surface of the inner thoughts of the characters and depicted them in struggling
with their past through memories and different incidents that brought them to their actual
situations. We also explored the way she raised the theme of memory and trauma as a
dominant themes in the novel. In the end, we studied the modernist techniques mainly the use
of flashbacks to reveal to which extent to which the traumatic memories affected the characters
of Beloved and took an important part in their lives. We reached the conclusion that Toni
Morrison focuses on the link between the events and their traumatic impact on the characters
in the context of trauma theory.
Description
30cm ; 45p.