Despite my personal opinion I found Beloved does address my big question rather well. Slavery was about stripping the identity and worth of human being. It seems to me as though forcefully trying to take ones identity makes the individual fight even harder to keep it. Beloved's ghost represented the lives of many other slaves (quote) and even in death they fought to come back. I feel as though slavery both gives and takes identity from those it enslaves. Former slaves seem to define themselves on their history on not on their present. In this case the past continues influence long after the people involved have left their lives. Despite Sethe and Paul D.'s denial of the past it influences everything decision they make "This is worse than when Paul D. came to 124 and she cried helplessly into the stove. This is worse. Then it was for herself. Now she is crying because she has no self" ( Morrison,123). If I were to argue my big question only based Beloved I would have to say there is no such thing as individuality on a personal level but a unique cultural identity does exist among the African American people as a whole and although it sets apart from other cultures it prevents from them every being truly their own person (which is not necessarily a bad thing). Beloved supports the idea, derived from the other books we have read, that individuality comes from tragedy, sadness, and mental disorders. Is the road to individuality (if it exists) really worth it?
