There Is No Future Among a Present Past
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There Is No Future Among a Present Past
"You know, they straightened out the Mississippi River Occasionally the river floods these places But it is not flooding; it is remembering. Remembering where it used to be. All water has a perfect memory and is forever trying to get back to where it was" (119 Site of Memory). Much is the same for people; it is the reason we have memories. Our memories are like a hint of our self trying to get back to where it has been, its origins. Sethe, in Toni Morrison's Beloved has this urge to get back to where she's been. She tries to change her life by running away from slavery, but eventually, her past catches up to her and she feels the pull to go and live in it; to live in her life before she murdered her crawling-already? baby. But she wouldn't even have noticed this urge if it hadn't been for Paul D. The day he came into her home was the day that her past was reawakened...