Beloved

In Beloved, by Toni Morrison, all of the characters desire a sense of normalcy after being permanently dejected by slavery and its institutions. As the white culture defines the social norms, it is difficult for free slaves to find their identities because they are unable to fit within the white world and its customs. Throughout the novel, Paul D constantly searches for his definition of “manliness”. As a social orphan, Paul D must find manhood’s meaning from his countless struggles as a slave. His definition of manliness was repeatedly dismantled by malicious forces like schoolteacher and Beloved. The only way for Paul D to successfully define what it means to be a man is to step away from society and define it alone. Paul D continuously uses his “rememories” of the Sweet Home men and how he and Sethe fit in a world full of discrimination.

Sweet Home was a refuge for Paul D and the “last of the Sweet Home men” who were owned by Mr. Garner (p 147). Under Mr. Garner’s ownership, Paul D believed that “of all the Blacks in Kentucky, only five of them were men,” all living on Sweet Home (p 147). On the plantation, Garner owns the title “men” and bestows it upon his slaves as if they are his equals. Mr. Garner would insist to other farmers that his “niggers is men every one of em” to see their fierce reactions to the title (p 12). Paul D was raised in a world, figuratively, by white parents that introduced him to the hierarchies of society. However, with a man doesn’t inherit his manhood from society. Mr. Garner believed that manhood rested on the ability to “handle guns,” the ability to “choose a horse or a wife,” and make decisions, even though the choices that he gives the Sweet Home men are rather limited (p 147). Paul D holds on ...

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... on a tub” (p 86). This makes him create a burly definition of manliness and create a compellingly gentle identity.

The connections between Paul D, Garner, and schoolteacher are pivotal parts of Paul D’s discovery of his new identity. Paul D needed someone to help him find balance in his exploration for manhood and his story isn’t valid without the other characters. Without each individual experience and emotion, a part of that journey disappears with the characteristic. H needs love and acceptance in order to find his manhood. He has the strength to face all parts of himself as his own man when his “tobacco tin” is “blown open” making him people’s “play and prey” (p 258). Humility and composure is a huge part of becoming a man. Morrison tells Paul D’s story with strong details about Garner and schoolteacher to expose the entire culture of slavery and white society.