The interplay between "new' and "old" ideas, methods, and forms in Gothic literature gave it the intrinsic contradictory nature it retains today. The definition of "Gothic" can never seemed to be agreed upon, the story within a Gothic novel still seems to lost track of itself occasionally, the conflict between the emotional effect of terror, and the desire for a logical explanation (science and reason gradually began to replace the supernatural as the driving force behind the horrific) all remain. Neither the ancient nor the modern can be removed from the Gothic without sacrificing something essential to the genre.


	Memories, in novels, often show how a character's personality, emotions, or thoughts change through their life. Memories, in literature, usually show important, or dramatic, events in a character's life, while allowing the reader to be removed from that very drama and focus instead on the characters present. Memories, in the novel Beloved, by Toni Morrison are a much more tangible part of the book. In her novel, memories take on a life of their own, and the main character, Sethe, spends much of the present attempting to "beat back the past," and escape from her memories. Seth also believes in rememory, that the past can come to life in the present, that one could become trapped there, that the past is alive. This past is something she wants to be able to move away from and forget. Sethe's avoidance of the past, and concept of memory as tangible thing, cause her present to become hollow, and prevent her from thinking of the future. Only when the past has been dealt with (with the help of Paul D and Denver) can she truly live in the present and look toward the future, though the terrible experiences in her past prevent her from being completely whole.
	Sethe has had many experiences in her past that have shaped her personality and her present life. Morrison shows these experiences through both Sethe's memory and through the stories that Seth and Denver tell to Beloved when she comes to their home. Seth believes that memory is a living thing, that powerful memories leave behind something very real, something that others can step into and become trapped within. This belief, and the frightening content of her past, have both hurt and fragmented her personality and strengthened her. Sethe's strength comes from her belief in herself, she has realized that she can cause or direct actions and those actions can greatly affect others, even the white people, who she sees as a constant threat to her life and family. Sethe is plagued by the guilt of killing her "crawling already?" daughter, while proud of having succeeded at her escape attempt while the others failed and haunted by her memories of the attack on her. The paradox of having saved her children, only to lose on at her own hand later, and with the impetus of the same threat (Schoolteacher), haunts Sethe. 