The Past....

"Can the past ever truly die?
Or, is the past always with us?"

The past cannot die, however there are exceptions to that rule. When the event of the past are forgotten, unrecorded, and evidence obliterated, then the past can be killed, but even that is near to impossible to do.
People know there is a past because there is evidence of it's existence. For example, they say the Dark Ages are the worst time in human history because there is no written record of its existence and slight evidence of it existing. However, we do have evidence, so we know of it's existence, and that it was our past.
In "Beloved" the past never disappears either. It continues to exist, even if the physical proof is destroyed, the "rememory" of it from one person remains in that place to flow into the minds of others. Another way that the past cannot die is because it clings to people. For example, Sethe, from "Beloved," cannot escape her past because of the physical proof that it existed on her body. In fact the state of her body n itself is the proof of the existence of her past. What is worse is that Sethe, similar to Bernice, from The Piano Lesson, clings to the past. Here we can apply a little physics. A person drags their past behind them, because the past never lets go, but how can a person cling to something that is being dragged behind them? Dragging is the act of pulling. So clinging to that which the person is pulling requires the person to stop pulling and stand where they are and then cling to the past. Thus, a person is "stuck in the past," like Sethe and Berniece are. (This lesson of physics sounded better in my head.)  This shows how no matter how hard one tries, they cannot leave behind their past, but they can move toward the future, because the past cannot control that.
Recently I have been reading this manga called "Dengeki Daisy" in my leisure time. This manga is about a boy, names Kurosaki, Tasuku (last name, first name, as is customary of Japanese names) who's father died being called a traitor to the Japanese government. So, after learning this truth, the Kurosaki went on to become a criminal hacker who created the perfect virus to use against Japanese governments own secret code. Soon he was caught, but being a minor he couldn't be punished, and then was saved by a giant business and a friend of his father who pulled some strings to help out the Kurosaki, even though he had been the one to brand the Kurosaki's father a traitor. Throughout the manga the Kurosaki grows up and the story takes on a different plot, since he is not the main character of the story, but second to the main character. However, for the entirety of the manga, which is still continuing, Kurosaki cannot forget the crime he committed in his past. He lives in regret and in pain of having committed that crime. He blamed himself for the death of his best friend and the man who saved him from his past as well. They died to protect him, and he cannot forget that. On the other hand, Kurosaki lives on looking at his future and the road ahead. He realizes that dwelling in the past would bring him only sorry and pain. He cannot escape his past, but he sure can move forward. In conclusion, I repeat the the past cannot die, and will always be present, but it cannot affect the future.