The most dangerous of slavery's effects is its negative impact on the former slaves' sense of self. Paul D is so separated from himself that at one point he cannot tell whether the screaming he hears is his own or someone else. Slaves were told they were less than human and were traded as merchandise whose worth could be expressed in dollars. Paul D is very insecure about whether or not he could possibly be a real man and he constantly wonders about his value as a person. Sethe was also treated less

than human. She once walked in on Schoolteacher giving his students a lesson on her animal characteristics. She seems to b

e separated from herself and filling with self hatred. She sees a part of herself as her children. Denver her identity with Beloved's, and Beloved feels herself becoming physically falling apart. Slavery has also limited Baby Suggs self-conception by wrecking her family and denying her the opportunity to be a true wife, sister, daughter, or mother. Since they are unable to believe in their own existences Baby Suggs and Paul D is emotional. While Paul D was a slave, he developed self-defeating coping strategies to protect him from the emotional pain he was forced to suffer through. Any feelings he had were locked up in the rusted "tobacco tin" in his heart. Paul D describes his heart as a "tin tobacco box." After his shocking experiences at Sweet Home and at the prison camp in Alfred, Georgia, he locks away his feelings and memories in this box, which has, by the time Paul D arrives at 124, rusted over completely. He operates only the part of his mind that helps him walk, eat, sleep, and sing. Since then he decided he would love nothing too deeply. By separating himself from his emotions, Paul D hopes to protect himself from further emotional damage. In order to secure this protection, Paul D gives up much of his humanity by foregoing feeling and gives up much of his self by keeping his memories inside. Although Paul D is convinced that nothing can pull the lid of his box open, his strange, dreamlike sexual encounter with Beloved caused the box to burst and his heart to glow red once again. In Paul D's case, the color red represents feeling and emotion. Other slaves like Jackson Till, Aunt Phyllis, and Halle-went insane and suffered a complete loss of self. Sethe fears that she will never end her days of insanity. She does prove to be crazy when she kills her own daughter. But Sethe feels that under slavery, a mother best expresses her love for her children by murdering them and protecting them from the destruction slavery holds.

In this passage Sethe's love activates the memory of selecting a tombstone for the baby she killed. The phrase "there it was again" shows that this is a memory that reoccurs and that brings the emotions of torture and relief. Also in this passage the memory of the tombstone activates her memory of the shameful conditions of getting it engraved. This memory reveals together t

Some common words found in the essay are:
Denver Sethe, Baby Suggs, Morrison's Beloved, Sweet Home, Alfred Georgia, Beloved Sethe, Paul D's, Phyllis Halle-went, Suggs Paul, Bluestone Denver, baby suggs, sweet home, paul d's, paul arrives, remember sethe, forget paul, protect emotional, daughter sethe, activates memory, hard remember,
Approximate Word count = 1562
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)