Around and Around, a Critical Lens Experts Blog by Sierra Nelson-Liner

Whilst reading Circularity In Toni Morrison’s Beloved by Philip Page, there were many aspects of the passage that resonated with me. The first was the repeated or “circular” actions of the written form of the story. For instance, each character dives a little deeper into a memory but keeps circling around and around not entirely reaching the heart of what the memory means. This form of repetition within the memory and remembrance is very interesting because it reveals a sort of defense mechanism, such as a mix of repression and displacement, which further brings the reader into the mind of the characters. The audience can’t immediately know what is going on because the characters themselves are trying to sort through their own fractured memories. This allows the readers to make a better connection to self on such a severe and traumatic subject as slavery. This led Philips to decide that Beloved itself is a collection of memories that often highlight certain emotions. This can also lead to paradoxes such as the intent for the story of Beloved in the end of the novel. Toni Morrison states that Beloved is not a story to pass on; when in reality the story did get passed on, and had to be. The characters in Beloved had to face their memories. We as readers have to face what occurs in the story, and even the possible connection between our own history and our generation's part in slavery. This circulatory system of pushing forward and revealing the truth is vital to Beloved and to the real world.     

The second thing that resonated with me was what Philips described to be the possessiveness in Beloved of "being ‘mine’ or ‘yours’ as part of the vocabulary of love.” This was often repeated between Sethe, Denver, and Beloved. As each character moved towards love as a possession they moved closer and closer to obsession and farther and farther away from love. Philips went as far as to compare this unhealthy level of possession to that of slavery. This is interesting to think about because all throughout the character’s lives that were previous slaves they were owned, and once they escaped they still reflected almost natural forms of greed and obsession. By making love a possessive aspect of their lives they were reflecting what they must have trained their minds to think. Possibly that all of the orders and restrictions that came to their family lives as slaves they didn't know any better to fix once freed. This interestingly enough underscores what the purpose of freedom is, and the value and strength of family in Beloved. As it was, the desire of the characters was to be free and find a safe place to call home. This cannot be achieved through obsession.