Question What judgments does Toni Morrison make on Sethe’s killing of her daughter? Response It’s very easy to recognize that all the characters in the novel "Beloved," by Toni Morrison, are very traumatized and have lived through a lot of pain. Some characters show behavior that could seem cruel or awful for a normal person. However, if we look deeper, we can see that the way the characters are is only due to all the horrible things they have been through. These pasts are filled with the traumas of slavery, and each character has suffered in their own way. The main character, Sethe, has caused a lot of pain to herself and to those around her. Her actions have caused others to react, complicating their lives along with hers. Morrison guides her readers through the pain of obtaining the memories that these characters have so long blocked, and the struggles they face to confront a past they can’t forget. Throughout the novel, Sethe suffers more psychological damage than any other character. Such tragedies are difficult to heal from and it is easy to see how locking away her memories would seem like the answer.   Toni Morrison doesn't exactly make a judgment on Sethe murdering her daughter. She just presents the information and leaves it up to the author to decide. Sethe's community doesn't approve. They, in a way, helped in the situation, because they didn't inform her of the men coming to her house. It scares Paul D when he finds out, and it's what gets him to leave her. He doesn't quite understand a mother's love, because he isn't a father himself. She tells him she loves her daughter too much as a result of the life she has experienced along with numerous other slaves. They can't put their whole heart into something, because it can be taken away at anytime. It's as if nothing is actually theirs to have, including their children. Sethe questions herself. At first, she convinces herself it was for the benefit of her child but th