Even though Sethe committed the grave act of killing her own child, Morrison presents her as a character worthy of sympathy, highlighting the harsh and impossible choices that slavery forced upon individuals. Sethe's decision was rooted in love, and she continues to justify her actions years later: "But she had to be safe and I put her where she could be." A key theme in Morrison's work is the dehumanizing effect of slavery on moral choices. When the Schoolteacher comes to claim Sethe and her family under the Fugitive Slave Law, Sethe finds herself without viable options. Allowing them to be taken would mean returning to Sweet Home, where conditions had deteriorated and would become even more unbearable due to their escape. As she tells Beloved, returning would subject her and her children to the same abuses—sexual, physical, and psychological—that had driven Sethe's mother to rebel. Sethe's decision is undoubtedly horrific, and much of the novel examines the devastating impact of her guilt and Beloved's haunting presence in what was once a sanctuary on the path to freedom for her and her family.