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.
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.
