Sethe is still a slave to her haunting past, she cannot break free of the tragedy that occurred in 124 and her guilt eats her alive.

            James Bennet (Mark Wahlberg) is also a slave in Rupert Wyatt’s recent movie The Gambler. He is a slave to a habit that he cannot control; he goes all in even when he is high. What sparks this addiction is the death of his grandfather, drawing a parallel to Beloved where the conflict begins with the death of Sethe’s baby girl. Bennet finds himself as a professor in a college where his life seems meaningless, not to mention he already owes big underground gambler/drugdealers. The death of a loved one can often times be the breaking point in ones life, where a new meaning of life is searched for and governing ideas are reinvented.

            The past comes back to haunt Bennet and Sethe. He already owes 240,000$ to a Chinatown casino, and he borrows 50,000 from another deadly man and is close to making the money back when he loses it all again. He borrows from friends, different big timers, and even his mother, but the cycle continues. He digs himself into a deeper hole, and soon it seems that everyone is against him.. much like the town that Sethe resides in. He is perceived as a lunatic, irrational, but cannot stop. Meanwhile ,Sethe’s past is stalking her like a ghost. She certainly has never forgotten about what she has done that night to protect her kids from the schoolteacher. Sethe has dwelled into a deep depression, becoming lifeless herself, much like a ghost.

            Both of these pieces seem to be about two completely different topics, but in reality they are both about a struggle for freedom.  Critic Harelquin writes that “The Gambler  is a stylish, thoughtful, well-photographed and noir-inflected fable about a man who is trying to be truly free in his life for once or die trying.” http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_gambler_2015/ He continues to emphasize that the  freedom, is  not just from debt,  but just as much his past. Much like Sethe who cannot continue with her life because she is manifested by an event that happened long ago. In her mind, this event replays over and over, her mind is a slave to these thoughts and a slave to a society that defiles her.

 If a lesson can be learned from either of these is that the past should not stop anyone from creating a future. Bennet is finally free when he calls all the bosses to the chinatown casino and risks it all. He hands the money to them when he wins and runs down the streets barefoot, finally enjoying the wind on his back. Sethe lives a life filled with remorse until Paul D says to her "You your best thing, Sethe. You are."
- Toni Morrison, Beloved, Ch. 27 and she begins to live her life once again for enjoyment and for herself rather than others. She breaks the chains she herself created. (Btw this Mark Wahlberg could totally be you if you were suicidal and a gambler)