The idea of the self in Toni Morrison's book Beloved combines three central themes. The way an individual speaks has a direct correlation to the environment they are in. An identity cannot be defined without there being other people to anchor it. And, the self is not only limited to a single individual but can expand to multiple persons. Beloved is a complex novel that depicts the concept of the self unbounded by western thought.
             Human language developed with civilization. Language has created accents, meaning and vocabulary. Learning any language, vocabulary and accent is heavily reliant on the location of the speaker. When language is developed within society words have a culturally-derived meaning. In the case of Beloved all of the speakers have learned language from a slavery driven south. The language is inter-wound with the idea that blacks are inferior objects to whites. White people refer to Blacks as objects, as was the case when School teacher and his posse retrieve Sethe "Right off it was clear, to schoolteacher especially, that there was nothing there to claim" (pg157). The claim refers to Sethe and her children. Treating Blacks as objects is lessened when Baby Suggs refers to Sethe: "Sethe. You take my armload and gimme yours." (pg159). It is clear to see that Sethe is no longer an object but a person with a name. However, there is still a hint of treating people as objects when Baby Suggs does not refer to Denver and Beloved by name. Baby Suggs is still a product of a slavery driven language.
             The idea of identity is a boundless philosophical question that has plagued man kind for centuries. However, a person can only be defined by what surrounds them. For example; grey is a neutral color, but when put next to white it looks dark and when put next to black it looks light. The color grey can only be defined by what surrounds it in its environment. Taking the same approach Toni Morris
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