Trauma is Universal

Beloved is, in essence, a representation of how messy real life can be, especially for people who have faced brutally traumatic treatment. For the former slaves, their past life will never fully leave them, which is shown throughout the novel with its unannounced flashbacks that leave the reader feeling as though the entirety of the story is not told entirely by a narrator, instead it gives the feeling that the reader is in the head of each character. For Sethe, the smallest thing can shock her into a deep memory that should would rather pack away like Paul D. Paul D. manages his terrible memories by packing them away into a “tobacco tin” which he chose to ignore instead of dealing with his painful truths. These differing methods of coping with their brutal treatment allow Sethe and Paul D. to live their lives relatively painlessly, these methods also highlight the psychological damages faced by people in stressful environments. There are relatively few modern Americans who face this same level of trauma and stress, with those who do generally being soldiers who have experienced violence in some way. For these Americans their traumatic experiences left them with PTSD, causing them to undergo many of the same symptoms as Sethe and Paul D.

Although the two seem strikingly different war and slavery are not two entirely different things that the world faces. Both bring unnecessary violence, trauma, and hatred into fruition. Both leave the survivors with deep psychological and emotional wounds that can never be fully healed. The difference comes in the treatment they receive, while American veterans do not receive the proper treatment for their services, they receive far more assistance than Sethe and Paul D. could ever hope of being provided. In the late 1800s, the science behind PTSD had not been discovered, it was still a time where cocaine or opium would be sold as headache or cold medicines. In modern times, we can help reduce, but cannot end the suffering from those who are facing the same trauma. The other enormous difference for these two groups is that while a soldier serves a few tours of duty lasting roughly a year or so, slavery was for life, and there was no way to be excused from it. The real lesson here is the importance of making sure that we support anyone who undergoes a traumatic experience, otherwise they may be forced to emotionally distance themselves from those around them, similar to Paul D. Or they may have to face their experiences over and over again similar to Sethe.