In Beloved by Toni Morrison, the character of Sethe is concerned and intrigued by the power of memory and its effect on life. In a scene dealing with the themes of time, place and memory, Sethe explores the interconnections of these realities and what they represent to her. Sethe says, 

I was talking about time. It’s so hard for me to believe in it. Some things go. Pass on. Somethings just stay. I used to think it was my rememory…But it’s not. Places, places are still there…the picture of it—stays, and not just in my rememory (43).

Due to the quality of memory and its ability to keep a moment with you forever just as easily as it lets go of the little things, Sethe has a complicated relationship with time. She doesn’t see it as a set, continuing extension of reality but rather as a belief, a faith in how the world works, and she chooses not to subscribe to this belief. Instead, she views time through a lens of memory and the everlasting quality those powerful, traumatic memories can have. Moving on from memories relationship with time, Sethe connects memory more solidly with that of place. For Sethe, a memory becomes as much a part of the place where it occurred as the place is a part of the memory. For her memories are immortal and transcend human life and time. To Sethe memory is more than just a personal, individualistic experience, she comes to understand it as something that alters the very place a memory occurred at. She states, “even if I die, the picture of what I did, or knew, or saw is still there. Right where it happened” (43). Sethe believes memories are everlasting and something that becomes a shared experience. That by residing in the place of a powerful memory someone else can come to know the extent of that experience as well. Sethe doesn’t see time, place and memory as wholly separate entities but instead as concepts completely interwoven and inescapable from each other.