In Beloved, we see Sethe make an impossibly difficult decision between killing her kids and letting them go back to slavery. Throughout the book, we see the impact of this event not just on Sethe and her family, but also strangers who learn about it - understandably so, of course. The idea of a mother killing her child is horrendous, and since they don't have the context we the readers do, it is understandable that they would find her actions repulsive. However, even with knowing what we do about Sethe and the terrible situation she was in, did she do the right thing? Outside of the story, this would come down to a multitude of factors. For one, which is more desirable, death or slavery? Another point would be does anyone have the right to choose that for you? Of course, this leads to messy ethics debates, so I will leave that up to your individual moral compasses to decide. What is more interesting is what the story says about Sethe's decision. Beloved, which has been pretty ...