Responding and Reflecting #2

Reading Beloved has been different from any other books I have read using the New Historical lens. It give me different perspectives on slavery, it made me really think about what life was like before and after slavery. It goes into a personal perspective on what Sehte went through while she was in slavery. It makes you think about what it was really like back in that time. Before reading Beloved I had never really thought about what it was like being a slave, when ever we talked about slavery we told about things that happened but, it never made me really think about what happened to former slaves after slavery was abolished. In Beloved it shows how much slaves were affected by slavery. It also made me think about how bad some slaves were treated. Sethe had some bad things happen to her, but it made me think that some slaves probably were treated worse than Sehte or the other slaves at Sweet Home. Other slaves probably had worse experiences that left them scarred for life and after they were freed left them always thinking about the past and unable to live their life normally because of their past experiences. It kind of makes me think about war veterans with PTSD, like some former slaves are never able to recover from being a slave, they can’t recover from what happened to them. Reading Beloved also made me think if other slaves had to kill one or more of their children to keep them for being captured or because they did not want to be slaves. Sethe did it so she would not be captured and not life her life being a slave, it somewhat makes sense but it is a pretty drastic measure to make sure that your children don't become slaves.