Beloved

Toni Morrison's novel, Beloved, deals with possession, possessing others and self-possession. This concept define's the character's as they define themselves by their possessions. Sethe defines herself according to her children, specifically the daughter she murdered. Murdering the "crawling already girl" is an act of possession for Sethe. She hastily lays claim to her children rather than let schoolteacher take possession of Sethe and her family again. The guilt Sethe feels after the murder define who she is and how she acts throughout the novel, which picks up 18 years after the murder. She allows the past to hold on to her, to possess her. Sethe becomes an outsider in the community and makes her living daughter, Denver, an outsider as well. She refuses to face the community and they shun her because of her behavior. Sethe surrounds herself with the past, yet ignores past events in an effort to convince herself of a different outcome. She ignores the murder of her daughter while also trying to justify the murder. Sethe becomes lost in the past and ignorant of the present by refusing to leave the house at 124, relishing the presence of her murdered daughter's spirit. "Nothing ever dies" according to Sethe, rememory is always there long after a place has disappeared. Sethe's rememory traps her in the past, and the past becomes her life.
Beloved, the murdered daughter come back to life, holds Sethe hostage in the past. Time stops at 124 when Beloved comes. Beloved's fixation with Sethe and her past overwhelm Sethe. Beloved is obsessed and takes possession of Sethe. The mother no longer possesses herself. Beloved victimizes Sethe, bringing up the past with questions about Sethe's mother and her earrings. Each question Beloved asks draws Sethe deeper into her past and prevents Sethe from coming to terms with the past. Sethe recalls her past and tries to explain her actions but Beloved won't let Sethe move on. Beloved holds her in the past with the guilt that Sethe hurt Beloved and doesn't love Beloved. Sethe "loved too much" and her love became obsessive; she possessed her children in an effort to love them.
The longer Beloved stays the more she eclipses Sethe and Denver. Denver doesn't seem to matter to Sethe because Sethe's life revolves around Beloved. 124 and Beloved symbolize the possession that defines Sethe. Her inability to move on halts any progressive into freedom she could achieve. Sethe indulges the past and Beloved begins to get fat, like a pregnant woman, as Sethe turns bony and weak. The old life of slavery that deprived Sethe of self-possession is reborn.
Denver doesn't allow the past to become her life. She defines herself separately from 124 when she finally steps outside the boundaries of the house and seeks outside help from the community. She becomes her own person when she chooses to depend on other people. Neither Denver nor Sethe can develop as individuals while possessed by their crippling past. Sethe murdered Beloved and Denver dranks the baby's blood, the past is part of them. Unlike Sethe, Denver reaches beyond the past and steps out into the present. She becomes a free person with an individual identity. Sethe was not free to love as she chose and defines herself by that lack of freedom. Denver, born free, can see beyond Beloved and the dangerously indulgent past and finds self through the necessity of self-preservation.