In the novel Beloved by Toni Morrison, memories and past experiences play an important role in the daily lives of most, if not all, of the characters in the novel. Many of the characters in Beloved had to experience slavery and the evils that accompanied it. The traumas the characters experienced when they were slaves and afterward have forever changed who they are. In the case of Stamp Paid it gets a completely new identity and name. He takes the name Stamp Paid because he had to give up his wife to his master's son and therefore believes he no longer owes anyone anything. We are told that "freeing oneself was one thing; claiming ownership of that liberated self was another." It's one thing to try to repress and forget the horrors you've been through, but it's another to move past those horrors and not let them affect who you are and how you live. This cannot be a more accurate description of what happens to the protagonist, Sethe. Although Sethe has long left the chains of slavery behind her, she continues to be a slave to her own experiences and memories of her time as a slave in her childhood and on the Sweet Home plantation. He carries these experiences with him like the cherry tree on his back. The relationship between Sethe and her mother was practically non-existent, which forces her to compensate for it at every step. He did not see his mother "except sometimes in the fields and once while she was working the indigo" (72). Nan, a one-armed nurse, tells Sethe about her and Sethe's mother's journey through the central passage and how her mother "threw them all away except you" (74). He killed all of his children who were of white fathers, but kept Sethe because she was… the center of the card… Sethe's past to resurface. The beloved knew what to say to make Sethe remember the bad experiences. Beloved's mere presence was a constant reminder of the terrible thing Sethe had done and what had driven her to do it. With Beloved's departure, Paul D will be able to help Sethe overcome her past. Together, Paul D and Sethe will be able to heal the scars of their past. Paul D begins his attempt to make her understand that she is not subhuman, not just a mother, but a human being when he tells her that "You are the best thing, Sethe. You are." (322). There is hope for Sethe as she doesn't completely deny what Paul D says, she simply asks, "Me? Me?" (322). With his support, Sethe will be able to overcome her fear of being an animal and at the same time she will also help Paul D overcome his fears. Works Cited Morrison, Toni. Beloved. 4th ed. New York: Vintage International, 2004. Print.