From Rememory to Forgetting
I loved the ending of Beloved. One of my favorite aspects is the small, rather poetic, epilogue that Toni Morrison includes. Without naming specific details or distinct references to the plot, this short series of passages at the end of the novel seamlessly, effectively, and succinctly ties the novel together and gives the story a solid conclusion and final message. Here is a shortened version of the ending: Everybody knew what she was called, but nobody anywhere knew her name. Disremembered and unaccounted for, she cannot be lost because no one is looking for her, and even if they were, how can they call her if they don’t know her name? Although she has claim, she is not claimed… It was not a story to pass on. They forgot her like a bad dream. After they made up their tales, shaped and decorated them, those that saw her that day on the porch quickly and deliberately forgot her. It took longer for those who had spoken to her, lived with her, fallen in love with her, to forget, until