Finding freedom in the beloved, in secrets and liesWhat is freedom? Freedom is the ability of each individual to have complete control of their own life, the ability to make their own decisions. From the moment an individual wakes up in the morning until the moment he or she lies down to sleep in the evening, thousands, if not millions, of choices have been made. Some of these choices had negative consequences, some had positive consequences, but regardless of the outcome, the freedom of choice remained. Too often personal freedoms are invaded by someone or something else. This invasion can be both physical and emotional. Such circumstances can be very difficult to deal with and often lead to emotional difficulties and trauma. Sometimes you need an external force or personality to come forward to help you survive such cases. Such a scenario exists in both the novel Beloved by Toni Morrison and the film Secrets and Lies. In both stories, there is a family disturbed by circumstances from the past and in response a character "from the past" returns and helps repair the grim situation, helps free them from the past. In Beloved, a slave named Sethe escapes with her children from the dark and dreary environment of plantation life to the bright and carefree environment of freedom. From being chained and torn from her family, to having her breasts sucked clean of milk by white plantation owners, Sethe has survived too many horrific situations and witnessed too many inhumane acts towards her fellow human beings. To deal with so much pain and the bitterness that comes with it, she tries to forget, she tries to hide the memories deep inside herself. Sethe calls them “memories.” Living on a plantation and being a slave, Sethe had experienced firsthand what it was like to be deprived of almost all freedoms. Deprived of the opportunity to make her own choices and decisions, as well as the deprivation of love, it seems that the only thing Sethe was not deprived of was bitterness and hatred. So after escaping captivity, the only life she had ever known, freedom was heaven. For twenty-eight days she and her four children lived in a state of bliss. Unfortunately for them, this freedom was short-lived. On that twenty-eighth day, while Sethe and her children worked in the yard, the white plantation owner, known as the School Teacher, approached Sethe's house in search of his lost slaves..