Timelessness

The concept of time, or the lack thereof, is very important in Morrison's Beloved.

On p. 217 of Beloved, Morrison says, "As Sethe walked to work, late for the first time in sixteen year and wrapped in a timeless present, Stamp Paid fought fatigue and the habit of a lifetime." This quote relates to the Igbo concept of time where the future means "no time". The Igbo put a large emphasis on the present versus the future.

This concept reminded me of a quote from the song Another Day from Rent. The song lyrics are, "There is no future, there is no past. I live this moment as my last." In Rent, a lot of the characters have AIDS. They do not know if they will wake up in the morning or what day is their last day. One of the characters even dies during the show. However, they attempt to not focus on the future, and just live one day at a time.