The Impact of Colonization or "Decolonization" Trauma as Explored in Toni Morrison's Beloved

This article examines how Toni Morrison's Beloved depicts the ongoing trauma of colonisation and the difficulties of decolonisation. Morrison addresses the psychological effects of slavery, a type of internal colonisation, and the fight for self-liberation through the persona of Sethe and the eerie presence of Beloved. The book challenges linear notions of freedom by demonstrating how historical violence endures in memory and identity. This essay makes the case that Beloved reimagines decolonisation as a continuous, embodied healing process, where recovering voice, history, and community becomes crucial to re-establishing humanity. It bases this assertion on postcolonial and psychoanalytic theory.