Life takes place in the first person. People have difficulty knowing the thoughts and desires of others because of our natural opacity. However, as we develop relationships, we learn about the personalities of others. In literature, authors attempt to create similar connections and bonds between readers and characters through their points of view and narrative techniques. This empathy and emotional connection helps the author convey the central meaning of the novel. A first-person point of view allows the reader to create a connection with the narrator, but a third-person omniscient makes connections with each of the characters. This connection deepens as the author outlines the characters' backgrounds. In Beloved, Toni Morrison tells the story primarily from a third-person omniscient point of view. However, because the narration begins in media res, or in the middle of the story, Morrison writes with frequent flashbacks so that readers can identify more deeply with the main characters. She also switches to stream-of-consciousness narration for a short section, allowing for a deeper exploration into the minds of Sethe, Denver, and Beloved. Morrison's variety of narrative techniques illuminates the minds of the novel's characters, slowly exposing their troubled, pain-filled pasts, and exploring their struggle to find their identity. Morrison writes Beloved in media res, so she must give enough background information about the characters to explain their current actions. However, in Beloved, much of the current action relies on the consequences of past experiences that a simple summary would not suffice. Because the novel relies heavily on the past events of Sweet Home or the early years in Ohio, Morrison breaks typical linear time...... middle of paper......free, content to possess each other, while their lives isolated in 124 caves around them. This illustrated closeness, along with the intense illumination in the minds of Sethe, Denver, and Beloved, establishes and solidifies their characters throughout the novel. Throughout Beloved, Morrison's varied narrative techniques open the reader's eyes to complex personalities and characteristics. of the black community, giving insight into their internal emotional struggles. Through this, she adds an unspoken emotional aspect to the reader's already intense experience, drawing them into the novel. As the characters become more complicated, Morrison complicates the novel, overwhelming the reader with a barrage of conflict and struggle to convey the slaves' struggle to find and solidify their existence, identity, and future.