Beloved, by Toni Morrison, explores the physical, emotional, and spiritual devastations created by slavery. The characters in this story get continuously haunted by these devastations even in freedom. The most dangerous of slavery's effects are the negative impact on the former slaves" self image, and the novel contains multiple examples of self-alienation. Paul D, for instance, gets so alienated from himself that at one point he cannot tell weather the screaming he hears is his own or someone else's. Slaves were told they were subhuman and were traded as commodities whose worth could be expressed in dollars. Consequently, Paul D becomes very insecure about weather or not he could possibly be a real man, and he frequently wonders about his value as a person. Sethe, also, was treated as a subhuman. She once walked in on School Teacher giving his pupils a lesson on her animal characteristics. She, too, seems to be alienated from herself and filled with self loathing. Slavery has also limited Baby Suggs's self-conception by shattering her family and denying her the opportunity to be a true wife, sister, daughter, and a loving mother. Before Baby Suggs's passed away, she reminded Sethe that love is an emotion that cannot be felt because it leads to depression and sadness. The past slavery experiences prevent Sethe, Paul D, and Baby Suggs's to .
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ever love again. Denver is the only exception in this story. She never was a slave in the past, but got affected indirectly by her mother's, Sethe, secret past. These characters show some signs of peace and relief throughout the story, but then the ghost of Beloved appears and reveals all past memories. Beloved represents the tragedy symbol of the effects of slavery. With every confrontation with Beloved, Sethe, Paul D, Baby Suggs, and Denver understand their true identities. .
Each of main characters that were freed from slavery had their own strategies of protecting themselves from emotional pain.
