Manhood Evaluation (Final Essay)

In Toni Morrison’s novel Beloved, Paul D has had no father to teach him what it means to be a man. He must realize what that means for himself by evaluating the various definitions provided by others he encounters. At Sweet Home, Mr. Garner calls Paul D a man, but once schoolteacher takes Garner’s place, the applicability of that term is challenged. Paul D’s best understanding of the concept eventually comes from remembering his fellow “Sweet Home Men,” and recognizing what he feels for Sethe.

At Sweet Home, under the direction of Mr. Garner, Paul D firmly believes that he and his four fellow slaves are men, “so named and called by one who would know” (Morrison 147). According to Mr. Garner, their owner, manhood resides in the ability to make choices, and Garner provides options from which to choose. He encourages them, like paid labor, to think freely about how to best get the job done and to challenge him when they disagree with his methods. Paul D explains, “In their relationship with Garner was true metal: they were believed and trusted, but most of all they were listened to” (Morrison 147). At this stage in his life, Paul D’s feels manhood is not simply a definition from a higher authority, but the ability of that person to recognize value in his thoughts and feelings. He knows this is close but feels the need to investigate further.

        When schoolteacher takes Garner’s position as overseer, Paul D begins to doubt the validity of Garner’s label. Schoolteacher clips “Paul D. First his shotgun, then his thoughts, for schoolteacher didn’t take advice from Negroes” (Morrison 259). When offering input once valued by Garner, he is now punished for what schoolteacher calls “talking back.” Schoolteacher places more value in the money Paul D’s body can collect. Overhearing his slave value of $900, and with nothing to compare that number to, Paul D cannot grasp his worth even in these terms. Never believing that Schoolteacher’s assessment is correct, Paul D continues to remain strong, regardless of the humiliation he suffers when treated more like an animal than a man, forced to wear a collar, chains, leg irons and a bit.

Beloved is the one who makes Paul D question his manhood most. In an effort to make him leave, she moves him about the house like a rag doll, making “him wonder if schoolteacher was right” (Morrison 148). He recalls the times he has been a man, most honorably when he watched “another man, whom he loved better than his brothers, roast without a tear just so the roasters would know what a man was like. And it was he, that man… who could not go or stay put where he wanted in 124 – shame” (Morrison 148). Beloved’s manipulation of Paul D’s control, particularly in light of his ability to display the most stoic resolve, is the ultimate transgression for Paul D. This lack of ability to control his own will is more upsetting than Beloved’s seduction, a reminder of the shame he felt while abusing cows to spare Sethe from his sexual urges. More demeaning than likening him to an animal, his lack of control over his own will is the point where this girl defeats his perception of manhood.

Paul D, having been pushed out of Sethe’s house by Beloved, recalls Sixo’s thirty mile trip to see a woman, and thinks, “Now there was a man” (Morrison 26), understanding that his own lack of dedication to any one person does not compare. “Sixo, and even Halle; it was always clear to Paul D that those two were men whether Garner said so or not” (Morrison 260) Paul D is aware here that Halle and Sethe, Sixo and the Thirty-Mile Woman had become connected somehow. Paul D is stung by his lack of connection and questions his manhood, ashamed of the reasons surrounding his leaving the only woman who ever made him want to stay.

Paul D does eventually discover where his manhood comes from. First he remembers what Sixo says about the Thirty-Mile Woman, “She is a friend of my mind… The pieces I am, she gather them and give them back to me in all the right order.” (Morrison 321) Paul D offers this same kind of reconstruction to Sethe and she wonders, “If he bathes her in parts will the parts hold?” The two are so fractured, like their families and their shattered hearts, it takes one to piece the other together. Neither can do it for themselves. Sethe does this for Paul D when schoolteacher punishes his attempted escape. “She never mentioned or looked at it, so he did not have to feel the shame of being collared like a beast. Only this woman Sethe could have left him his manhood like that.” (Morrison 322) Paul D’s manhood is not defined by whitemen. It resides in the tenderness offered by Sethe when she looks past the shackles that bind him like an animal, seeing him for who he truly is.

Opening to the past, living in the present, and searching for a future is what makes a person whole. To deny any experience means part of that person dies with the memory or hope lost. While Paul D is unable to experience all three on his own, he learns to feel again along side Sethe, and she with him. “He wants to put his story next to hers” (Morrison 322) Together, they allow for the full experience of life by helping each other to digest the past, one holding the pain of the other when it is too much to bear. Through their reciprocal love, honor, respect and understanding, Paul D discovers that he always has been a true man. He simply couldn’t recognize it until Sethe showed him how to look beyond what bound him from the outside. Through her love, she helped him feel the strength to face all parts of himself like a whole man.

2 page analysis

Loneliness is a complex and usually unpleasant emotional response to isolation or lack of companionship. It like every emotion has its valley’s and peaks. Loneliness that can be rocked is what I would refer to as the valley of loneliness (“arms crossed, knees drawn up) its low level possible to maintain, but it’s capable of sending your mind off to another realm but yet easy to snap out of still capable of completing tasks and functioning a normal life, the down time is when it would sneak up on you the most. But Sethe’s choices could also reflect the loneliness that can be rocked, especially if you associate it with her decision to kill one of her own children and still have to live with the pain and images of her acts, true indeed she felt she had a reason but it still doesn’t justify her actions the vivid images still surface continuously and eats at the heart; and no one can relate so no one can ease the pain, only in due time. Loneliness that roams on the other hand is more dangerous depending on the situation, this form of loneliness causes one to go out and search for what he/she is missing its one that over powers the mind and body not realizing it may be possible consiquences just like beloved. She stumbled upon 124 in hopes to gain the love of her mother, which she feels was disposed by Sethe. Sad part is when your loneliness provokes you to search for what your soul is missing you don’t always get the answer your looking for.

 Beloved resembled a lost soul a soul that was able to grow, who was brought to life by her mother’s pain, and guilt. It’s just like speaking of something that hasn’t happened yet; if you speak something into existence it will come knocking at your front door. Sethe was speaking to the spirit of the baby at which she had killed. No one knew her name but everyone knew what she was called because all she wanted was to BE LOVED.

Remembering seemed unwise to those that knew beloved because the truths hurts, just like Paul D telling Sethe about Halle watching as she was being raped and held down unwillingly for her milk. Sethe was always curious as to what happen to Halle but never knew once she found out it hurt her to the point where she wished it hadn’t even been told to her. Facing the truth as a slave and even a free man or woman more than likely was negative there was no happy memories from sweet home neither was beloved. “Sometimes the photograph of a close friend or relative looked at too long shifts, and something more familiar than the dear face itself moves there. – Everything has its place in life and in ones heart good or bad, some things stick around for years before you’re able to let go, forgive and forget; Sethe made a bad decision and chose to let it eat her away which was her biggest mistake. 

Beloved Blog 4 (general thoughts)

The first thing that bothered me was Morrison’s style of writing. There are secrets whispering out of reach in every sentence and it is annoying (to say the least) to a reader to have to try and decipher every single sentence that falls beneath their eyes. As a writer, I do understand the value of keeping secrets in a novel to keep the reader interested, but Morrison uses this method to the extreme. A reader should not be forced to wonder at the meaning of every word in every sentence on every page. That is too much to ask. A reader has the right to understand at least one thread of the main plot without having to question it.

Another problem, which is related to the style, is Morrison’s tone. The tone of the novel is altogether dark and confusing. The plot is broken into fragments that the reader has to try to fit together, and this is very confusing and frustrating at times. On top of that, the fragments are all more or less the same dark color of the haunted past, which makes them like those especially aggravating pieces of a puzzle that are all nearly the same color. Morrison jumps between the present and memories of the past so often that the transitions are not always clear and it is often hard to determine at what time an event is occurring.

The three main characters (leaving Beloved aside for a moment) are intriguing, but they are so diverse in their similarities that it presents another difficulty for me as the reader. That is, they are all dealing with the same basic problem: trying to cope with their pasts while also trying to build a future that they can depend on. Yet while they are all dealing with the same problem, they are dealing with it in different ways and for different reasons. Denver’s reason for trying to cope with the past while trying to find someone she can love and depend on in the future is obviously different from Paul D’s and Sethe’s reasons because Denver was never a slave. Add to these three characters the wild card of Beloved’s character and that is quite another mess the reader has to deal with.

Beloved Blog 3 (relating favorite characters to todays society)

I sense this strong connection between Paul D and Sethe in todays society of young black men and women, of course it isn't as severe as their situation with being a slave and being completely lost mentally, and psychologically: but the fact that Paul D had a hard time figuring out how to love, express emotion, and didn't exactly know what it was to be a man reflects todays society. Nowadays that mentality is not only lost but it is embraced by some, particularly in the black community. I personally know alot of people who are grown, but don't know what it is to be a man either because they didn't have that leading example or they just don't care its more socially excepted to say "fuck that bitch" than "i love that woman" without being chastised. ironically those are the same things slaveholders would say to our women. To be a man or a woman now is to be of a certain age, at least thats what i see from the young adults i know and be around. Its not a matter of responsibility, or handling business when need be; certain items and experiences make you a man now. Paul D's mental state was crazy to me. I found it hard to believe that he honestly felt you had to be careful of loving so much it was like his heart was sectioned off and certain things went into a slot for the time being and some had a lifetime slot, but never had all of his heart. as i began to read more i realized it was a coping mechanism; at any given time all he had could be taken from him which i'm sure he had experienced on numerous occasions so in a sense to think that way back in slavery days was away to preserve your existence, if thats what you wanted.

Beloved Blog 2 (favorite character analysis)

Paul D is one of the most memorable men to be depicted in literature in my eyes. He wants to love big, but is constrained by slavery and its traumatizing effects. Although he is filled with passion and emotion, he has difficulty expressing his true feelings. Throughout his life, Paul D endures loss after loss of loved ones. He never even knows his parents. He longs for Sethe to be his wife during their days of slavery, but looses her to Halle. Then he watches as all of his friends perish after their escape from the plantation.

Throughout the book, Paul D struggles with the problem of defining his manhood. As a slave, he was treated as property that could be bought and sold at will, much live livestock. Mr. Garner, however, told him that he was a man, giving him hope. As a result, he believed that he would be able to protect and provide for loved ones and to have self-determination. Then Schoolteacher arrived to be his slaveholder and stripped Paul D of all human dignity. When he escapes from Sweet Home, he has no idea how to be a man and wanders aimlessly for years.

Paul D finds models in slave men who found ways to express themselves in ways that the slave owners could not take away. He cherishes the lessons he learned from Sixo, who was fortunate enough to retain the healing rituals of his African culture, who never accepted the slave holder's truth as reality, who refused to speak even the slave holder's language, and who loved a woman who was a friend of his mind. One of his strongest memories is the picture of Sixo laughing in the faces of his captors as they burned him to death. Paul D also admires Halle, who worked his heart out to free his mother.

Through eighteen years of wandering, Paul D never finds himself or anyone to truly love. Seeking to come to terms with his past, he arrives unannounced at 124 Bluestone, seeking Sethe. He wins her heart by exorcising the infant ghost. As a result, she asks him to stay with her permanently. When Paul D learns about Sethe murdering her daughter, he cannot accept the truth. After Sethe confirms what she has done and tries to explain why, Paul D chooses to leave her. His decision makes him miserable, and he drinks away the pain. In the end, he hears about Sethe's declining health and returns to help her. At the end of the novel, he convinces her that she is her own best thing. By loving and accepting her, he also heals himself. 


Beloved Blog 1 (favorite character analysis)

Sethe is a strong woman who lives under an oppressive cultural and social system that does not permit her to be nurtured or to nurture others reliably. Sethe was hurt severely by her mother's inability to care for her because of the slave environment in which they lived; taken from her mother as an infant, she only saw her a few times in her life. As a result, she has pitifully few bits and pieces of memory of her mother. As an adult, Sethe understands that her mother was constrained by slavery and, therefore, literally unable to tend to her. As a child, however, she could not understand the lack of attention she received from her mother. She felt only abandonment and loss. Even as an adult, Sethe still hurts from her lack of a true mother.

Sethe responded to her own mother's abandonment by wanting to be a reliable and nurturing mother herself. Unfortunately, slavery would not allow her to succeed. She could not nurture her children as infants because they were taken from her so that Sethe would be free to do slave labor. Additionally, Sethe was separated from other women who could have advised her on caring for her children. She knew, however, that her mother's milk was vitally important to her children; it was the one reliable source of nurturing for them. It was also the only thing that she could give her sons and daughters, for she had no money of her own to buy things for them. When her milk was brutally stolen by Schoolteacher's nephews, she felt robbed of her ability to be a mother and nurture her child.

Sethe understands the horrors of slavery in its most intimate violations, the violations of family trust between mother and child. She also understands the violation of being treated as an animal and is determined that her own children will not endure the treatment she has received at the hands of white slaveholders. Since she believed that the next world would be a safer place than this one, she tried to kill all her children rather than seeing them grow up in slavery. Even though she believed she was acting reasonably and in good faith, she also knew that she had no right to take her baby's life. As a result, she is haunted by guilt throughout the book.

Sethe's recovery involves her facing and dealing with the past. When she tries to leave it behind without confronting it, the past comes back to her as a real person and demanding in the form of Beloved. Even then, she tries to forget the past and make up for it, instead of grieving, accepting, and working through it. She tries to give up herself in order to give everything to the child she injured. In the end, she is able to accept herself and take a path toward wholeness.