“It was not a story to pass on”: An ambiguous sentence at the end of Toni Morrison’s “Beloved” (1987)

In the last section of Toni Morrison's novel "Beloved" (1987), a sentence is introduced, repeated ("It was not a story to pass on") and then varied ("This is not a story to pass on"). I have always read this as a parodoxical call to not retell the story that has