Thoughts Often Repeated

Throughout the novel we seen this repetition of circles and reoccurring events used to signify that the past is repeating itself.
When Sethe first tells Paul D the truth about what happened in 124 she is "circling him the way she was circling the subject" (189). Sethe's circling signifies her unwillingness to forget the past--to return to it. Even her words, the way she describes the story seem to make a circle.
Other circles pop up in the novel. Sethe begins to grow weak once she realized who Beloved is and Beloved grows plump (whether with child or because of overeating it is uncertain) and this role reversal is similar to that of Sethe and Mrs. Garner. Sethe's transition from a strong independent woman to that of a bedridden woman who lies "under a quilt of merry colors" as though she is circling around to be Mrs. Garner (319).
The end of the novel is certainly the most poignant in terms of circles repeating. We see Sethe bedraggled and wasting away while Beloved seems to be pregnant. The 'schoolteacher' returns to 124 in the form of Mr. Bodwin and as before Sethe has to make a choice. Although this time she chooses to lash out at the manifestation of her fear and frustrations--Mr. Bodwin. Beloved runs away into the woods, pregnant--just like Sethe once ran when she was escaping from Sweet Home.
Denver also circles back to Lady Jones, the woman who once taught her how to read when she was a child. Lady Jones begins teaching Denver again--and so the circle repeats itself.
Morrison's language and used of circles seem to be trying to say that escaping the past is impossible. That history will inevitably repeat itself. Even the last lines of the novel seem to allude to this. The people of the town repress the memories of Beloved but still every so often something, "the rustle of a skirt hushes when they wake, and the knuckles brushing a cheek in sleep seem to belong to the sleeper" reminds them of Beloved so they cannot forget the past (324).