Wednesday, November 30, 2011

What's a Rememory?

      In Beloved, Toni Morrison uses her own word, "rememory", several times, as well as "disremember." I understand why "disremember" is used. The characters have undergone so many traumatic events in the past that they don't ever want to be reminded of again: Sethe's milk being stolen by schoolteacher's nephews, the killing of her own daughter, Beloved, Baby Suggs's death,  Paul D being shackled to ten other slaves and so much more. They seek to disremember and rather go on with the future, to leave the past behind. But "rememory" is harder to analyze. I think a rememory is a memory that is repeatedly remembered. When you think about the prefix "re-", you think of something happening over and over again. This implies that the memories of Sethe continue to be brought up several times. She "remorizes" traumatic things that occurred in her life because she can't get over her haunting past. She's gone through so many hardships in her life, such as trying to escape from Sweet Home as a slave, almost dying had Amy Denver never found her, not knowing what happened to her husband, Halle, and having the tough duty of killing her 2 year old to free her from a life of slavery. The "re" puts emphasis on the word memory, implying that it's a memory of an event or thing that is revisited due to its importance or awfulness.

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