Beloved

Toni Morrison gained inspiration for the character of Sethe from the Margaret Garner story (http://www.ohiohistoryhost.org/ohiomemory/archives/876).  She then expanded on that situation by developing an alteration of history dependent on what would have been the situation if the mother had lived and was not taken back to the South.

The mother is over wrought with guilt and regret for her actions that affected her relationship with her children and the community.  Since the community didn't know of her rationale and her past with one of the riders, they thought she had gone mad and was ostracized.  Based on her Post Traumatic Syndrome from her experiences and the loss of one of her children and the fact that she was willing to kill the rest as well, her relationship with children as they dealt with her personal issues with the past and the weight of concern if she had fulfilled her actions against the children effected their choices of staying with the family.  Her two sons leave as soon as they can, but the other daughter stayed behind based on another type of relationship she had with a significant unknown character. 

This book was interesting to read as the reader you gain insight in the characters' actions and interactions, slavery environment and how it effected those individuals, and how Northern communities developed as slaves ran from enslavement.  As with Toni Morrison's other novels, the characters also find their way to move on from traumatic situations by acknowledging them, accepting them as the past, and allowing themselves to move forward.