"Sethe deals with a great deal of guilt and anguish about things she's suffered and/or dealt with. Examine her relationship with beloved and Denver. Is it about retribution or absolution?"
             The old saying goes, "the bond between a mother and her child is sacred"; a feeling that can not be described, only experienced. More so even, the bond between a mother and daughter, a bond that has survived the test of time, is the theme of Toni Morrison's novel "Beloved". When two white plantation owners threatened to take her away, Sethe, a middle aged single mother of two, killed her first born (Beloved) in an act of love. Sethe, having endured years of cruelty and heartache as a slave, would rather her daughter die by her own hand, then suffer through the tortures of servitude. Sethe was able to escape the plantation before her second born, Denver was born. Further into the novel, Beloved "comes back from the dead" to once again become a part of Sethe's life. The way that Sethe parents, quite obviously is an "I won't treat my children the way my mother treated me" approach. When Sethe was growing up at Sweet Home (the plantation she was a slave at), her mother was at best, distant. She never got close to Sethe, because there was a common notion that the moment you get close to someone, something bad will happen to them.
             The reference is not so far-fetched considering Sethe relationship with her ex-husband Halle. Soon after there marriage, Halle witnesses Sethe being raped by multiple white males in the shed on the plantation. He is immediately discouraged by the thought of her and there relationship crumbles from there. That in mind, why does doesn't Sethe follow suit with the same distant relationship when raising her own children? The reason is because Sethe experienced what most of her colleagues had not, love. She married Halle because she love...