Beloved

Toni Morrison's Beloved has an overall message that I found both very powerful, and in several ways, very relevant to my Big Question.

Sethe's inner struggle with her past limits her ability to live her life to the fullest. Her past literally consumes her when her dead daughter comes back into her life. It seemed to me that Sethe did not choose to allow herself to get caught up in Beloved's presence, which to me indicated that her mental vulnerability resulted in further inability to create her own reality. She may not have been able to create the reality of her past, but I also believe that the present could have been in her control had she truly desired it to be.

This book presents an interesting addition to the conditions of my big question. The past affects our realities so deeply that perhaps it is impossible to avoid certain reactions to certain situations.

On the other hand, Denver's strength after Beloved's sudden departure seems to suggest that happiness can, in fact, be a decision. In every situation I've read so far however, it appears to me that the ability to determine one's own reality depends not on the magnitude of an individual's misfortune, past, or present, but the individual's mind alone.