Sethe's Rememories

"Can other people see it?" asked Denver.
"Oh, yes. Oh, yes, yes, yes. Someday you be walking down the road and you hear something or see something going on. So clear. And you think it's you thinking it up. A thought picture. But no. It's when you bump into a rememory that belongs to somebody else. Where I was before I came here, that place is real. It's never going away. Even if the whole farm--every tree and grass blade of it dies. The picture is still there and what's more, if you go there--you who never was there--if you go there and stand in the place where it was, it will happen again; it will be there for you, waiting for you. So, Denver, you can't never go there. Never. Because even though its all over--over and done with--it's going to always be there waiting for you. That's how come I had to get all my children out. No matter what."

This monologue from Sethe is very revealing on the psychoanalytic side. She speaks to Denver of what she calls "rememories," and how they linger in the places they originally occurred, for years and years. The way she speaks of them, as well as the clear disdain she has for the place where Sweet Home used to be give insight to how she felt during her time there, and how she feels now. The emphasis on the word "never" illustrates how Sethe really feels about Sweet Home, showing how much she resents it and every memory associated with it. Her time there made her feel inhuman, undignified and dead inside, memories she never wants herself or Denver to ever experience. This is why she is clear with Denver that she is never to return there, because she believes deep down that experiences last forever. The last sentence, about getting her children out gives rise to a question. How long did Sethe dream of escaping Sweet Home? Was it always her goal or did the dream come into being after years of abuse and hardship? Regardless, it is clear that her time there has affected her greatly and negatively, has taken away a piece of her, and changed the outlook she has on life. Life is no longer about living, about progressing, to Sethe. For her, life is about avoiding Sweet Home and only that, and as long as 124 isn't Sweet Home, Sethe is content.

This is just one moment of many in which Sethe gives Denver and the readers a view of her inner thoughts and feelings, something that allows us to feel closer to her and begin to empathize with her internal struggles.