Reading Beloved through the New Historical lens has given me a different perspective of slavery during that time period and overall. It really showed me how long the effects of slavery stayed with slaves. In Beloved Sethe and Paul D are both affected by slavery after they have been freed. Paul D specifically is affected the most even though he is free, he flashes back to when he was at Sweet Home and all the bad memories which has affected his ability to have the life he always wanted.. I had never really thought about the impacts on the slaves after they were freed, this goes into the effects on them after they were free. Looking at the text through this lens also showed me that some slaves never truly felt they were free after slavery ended. You can see this in Beloved when Sethe or Paul D flash back to Sweet Home, they can not keep their minds from thinking about it and it still has a big affect on them. They still feel like so much of their life was taken that freedom now, while although good it is not as meaningful as it would have been earlier in their life. Baby Suggs is a good example of this she says “...then he gave he Halle who gave her freedom when when it didn’t mean a thing.”(28) She got her freedom when she was older and not able to enjoy the freedom, which is what some of the slaves felt at the time when they got their freedom as well. Overall reading Beloved through the New Historical lens gave me a different perspective on the lives of slaves while they were slaves and when they were free. The effect on slavery in the long run was a lot more than I ever thought of, when you think about slavery you never really consider the effects after the slaves were freed, you only think about the effects during slavery.
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