Beloved Short Essay

Leave the Past Behind and Into the Future My Beloved

The past should not be left behind no matter how hard of a past, story, or history. We should not forget the suffering and pain that our ancestors who were once Kings and Queens went through for us to be where we are today. Our ancestors were fighting for their freedom which came at a price a price we are still paying. A lifetime of  searching  that is the price. Searching, searching, searching for what, for our souls, the souls left behind by our ancestors, families, true identities and stories, and our dignity we once found but have lost once more. searching for these belonging we have been stripped of then told we never had them to begin with. Given different names, identities and beliefs that were not our own. So in order to move away from the truth, our story, our past we try to forget and maybe then we start to believe that it never happened.

“Everybody knew of her but nobody anywhere knew her name.” Everyone knew of “beloved” but knew nothing about her. “Beloved” represents the past or origins; Africa , slavery, the culture and what happened  during that time. People know of the past of Africa and slavery but know nothing really about it how can they if they have never faced it or can only go off of what is left or told about it. People only knew of “beloved” but not about her and her story or what she has been through. They do not know her struggle, her heartbreak, triumph, they don't know her personally or what she has been through as a person. It is the same as people only knowing about Africa and they romanticize about it. People only see and hear what they want about Africa but never really getting to know it, the people, the culture, the struggle, the heartbreak, and  the fight.They only know the good things about africa and base their ideals on Africa about that.

“Disremembered and unaccounted for, she cannot be lost because no one is looking for her,” ”Beloved” herself and what she symbolizes is not being remembered.She is not lost because no one is looking for her. For something to truly be lost it must be unreachable, something that can not be found, something that is hard to look for. she is just missing or misplaced from their memories and lives. The past “beloved” is never lost it shall always be there in reach because it was always there from the start.  “and even if they were, how can they call her if they don't know her name?” If people were looking for “beloved” how would they find her or call out to her if they don’t even know her real name. How would one go looking for their history if they do not even know who they are or what they are searching for. It might be that “beloved” wants people to search for her because when they do they find a part of them then they will truly know her name and find out that they knew it all along but just didn't know it.

“Although she has claim, she is not claimed.” Even though she claims  love for someone or people, she is not loved and that is what she wants. she wants to “beloved” like she deserves.

“They forgot her like a bad dream, after they made up their tales, shaped and decorated them.” “It took longer for those who had spoken to her, lived with her, fallen in  love with her, to forget, until they realize they couldn't remember or repeat a single thing that she said, and began to believe that. so in the end they forgot her too.” The people who knew of her had forgotten her already because the story that was being told was probably not truly hers but that of fabrication elongated stories and hints of the truth. And soon her truth and story was fading because it was a story not to pass on. For the people that did know beloved they most likely forgot her along with “their memory that they never wanted to reminisce the past”(301). Beloved was the past and “remembering” a past that had “enough pain” already “seemed unwise”. If a person wants to forget their past then they must forget all of it or none of it. “The future was sunset; the past something to leave behind”(302).