In Beloved by Toni Morrison the relationship between Sethe and Beloved shows the zombified characteristic in literature. Sethe is constantly haunted by the sacrifice she made in order to escape slavery. Her daughter’s ghostly presence consistently reminds her of her motherly failures. Sethe’s dead daughter, the one whose throat she cut, had come back to fix her. Sethe was worn down, speckled, dying, spinning,
changing shapes and generally bedeviled. That this daughter beat her, tied her to the bed and pulled out all her hair”(Morrison 484). Sethe is physically harmed by her past decisions. I think this shows how women are tortured or judged if they make a decision for themselves. Sethe chose to put herself first, and in return she is haunted by her daughter.
Although the way she killed her daughter is brutal, this was all Sethe felt she could do in order to escape. The zombie characteristic found in literature is illuminated through the ghostly presence of Beloved, but also through Sethe. She becomes “zombified” through her daughter because she is consumed by guilt, leaving her paralyzed. Women are overtaken by the guilt felt when they take action to protect themselves.
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