protect Denver from the past by keeping it from her. She tells Denver, Its when you bump into a rememory that belongs to someone else....So, Denver, you cant never go there. Never. Because even though its all over- over and done with- its going to always be there waiting for you (36). Sethe tries to keep Denver away from the expereince of slavery. So by keeping Denver from the reality of the past, Sethe is preventing her from experiencing the trauma of slavery. But eventually, Denver is awakened by the past as she is forced to take responsibility for saving her mother from the same past that her mother tried to save her from. Somebody had to be saved, but unless Denver got work, there would be no one to save, no one to come home to, and no Denver either. It was a new thought, having to look out for and preserve. And it might not have occurred to her if she hadnt met Nelson Lord leaving his grandmothers house as Denver entered it to pay a thank you for half a pie. All he did was smile and say, Take care of yourself, Denver, but she heard it as though it were what language was made for. The last time he spoke to her his words blocked up her ears. Now they opened her mind. (252) In the end of the novel when the mob of the townspeople visit 124 Bluestone road for the first time in ages, they fall into their own rememories, and see themselves as children in their own past. They are forced to return to the party that took place before the arrival of Schoolteacher. When they caught up with each other, all thirty, and arrived at 124, the first thing they saw was not Denver sitting on the steps, but themselves. Younger, stronger, even as little girls lying in the grass asleep. Catfish was popping grease in the pan and they saw themselves scoop German potato salad onto the plate. Cobbler oozing purple syrup colored their teeth. They sat on the porch, ran down to the creek, teased the men, hoisted children on their hips or, if they were the childr...
