Gabriela Quintero

Ms.Rabb
English 11
March 4, 2019

Slavery’s Destruction of identity and Story-Telling

Every experience from the moment anyone enters this world to the moment they leave

shapes whom they become as a person. Each one encountered is significant, but when one is

faced with brutal conditions that challenge their body and mind, it affects their sense of identity

and withers away at it as well as simultaneously stunting their ability to reflect on those

disturbing experiences afterward. Two characters in a piece by Toni Morrison experience lives

that have done such things to their spirits and souls. These characters, Sethe and Paul D, had

entered a world that showed them only pain and anger through slavery. In Toni Morrison’s

Beloved, Sethe and Paul D have endured the destruction of their identity through their lives

experiences that prohibit them from being able to share their stories, but the ability to face their

pasts is the only way they would be able to move into a brighter future of love.

Throughout the novel, deeper insight is given on how Sethe’s experience as a slave has

affected her sense of self, for her identity and knowledge of who she is and how she now

perceives the world has been significantly altered. In Sethe’s perception, the outside world and

everything in it awaken memories of how terrible the culture of slavery was. For instance, this

has affected her mind about how even a tree is “Not a tree, as she said. Maybe shaped like one,

but nothing like any tree he knew because trees were inviting; things you could trust and be

near”(Morrison 25). The effects of slavery have corrupted Sethe’s identity, and this passage is

one of the first signs. In the history of slavery, the enslaved people are often referred to in

comparison to animals, as if they were less than human, or incompetent. Slavery’s destruction of
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Ms.Rabb
English 11
March 4, 2019
identity has not only a dehumanizing effect on the slave but also the slaveholder. It eliminates

their human feelings of sympathy for another person, causing them to engage in unspeakable

actions towards the slaves. The development of this transformation starts at an early age, such as

when the slave-holding character, School Teacher, noticed his nephew overbeating a slave girl to

her breaking point, so in response, “School Teacher had chastised that nephew, telling him to

think- just think- what would his own horse do if you beat it beyond the point of education”

(Morrison 176). In this passage, the malleable mind of a child is being influenced by School

Teacher. This serves as a basis for the core values they will continue developing later in their

life. Their identity is lost even before it has been found. One could only imagine the depth of hurt

and confusion these ideas caused a human being in their everyday lives for a slave. Sethe

subconsciously internalizes these messages, “‘You got two feet, Sethe, not four.’ He said, and

right then a forest sprang up between them; trackless and quiet” (Morrison 194). In this

conversation with Paul D, Sethe is reminded by him that, she is human for she has two feet, not

four like an animal would have. Therefore, she can make thoughtful decisions and could have

found another option to save her baby from what destroyed her sense of identity. Although Paul

D reminds Sethe that she is human, it is also noted that Paul D had been battling with the same

dilemma for a long time as well, trying to figure out what it is that makes him human.

Paul D’s relationship with his own identity is looked into further and is shown to have

withered away from all the mistreatment and ways of slavery. School Teacher from Sweet Home

had a significant impact on this. His message to Mr. Garner is that he does not consider Paul D,
Gabriela Quintero
Ms.Rabb
English 11
March 4, 2019
or any other black man, to be an actual man when he replies to Garner’s statement, “ ‘Now at

Sweet Home, my niggers is men every one of em. Bought em thataway, raised em that away.

Men every one.’ ‘Beg to differ, Garner. Ain't no nigger men’ ” (Morrison, 12). With this mindset

which has dehumanized School Teacher, it gives background for his other actions and messages

he pushes on Paul D. The messages that were given to Paul D had the purpose to make sure he

did not have a clear grasp on his sense of self.

“If schoolteacher was right it explained how he had come to be a rag doll-

picked up and put back down anywhere any time by any girl young enough

to be his daughter… And it was that man, who had walked from Georgia to

Delaware, who could not go or stay put where he wanted to in 124- shame”

(Morrison, 149).

Here, Paul D ponders the possibility that these messages may be true, which would justify his

“unmanly” characteristics. Paul D thought that he was not a man anymore because a man has

control over his thoughts and body. This illustrates just how slavery had destroyed his identity,

even to the physical point where he compares himself to a ragdoll. On top of this challenge,

slaves were also labeled with a price, which also has a large impact on self-identity. Paul D

questions how much he is “worth,” “ ‘Tell me something, Stamp.’ Paul D’s eyes were rheumy.

‘Tell me this one thing. How much is a nigger supposed to take? Tell me. How much?’ ‘ All he

can,’ said Stamp Paid. ‘All he can.’ ‘Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?’ ” (Morrison, 277). A

sense of panic in an almost existential crisis- like fashion takes over Paul D when Stamp Paid

asks him this; he has to think about his value, not as a human, but as an object used for manual
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Ms.Rabb
English 11
March 4, 2019
labor. Later on in the story, the reconnection between Paul D and Sethe brings on the challenges

of remembering and eventually talking about these terrible experiences.

Within the enclosed space of 124, the pain of telling their pasts becomes more and more

prevalent, which helps the reader to understand how each character deals with this confrontation

between themselves and their ordeals. The difficulty is evident because of how unspeakable each

of their histories has been. Their identities have been lost through slavery, which makes talking

about what happened in the past extremely difficult, even if they had both been experiencing the

brutality of slavery on the body and mind together, “Saying more might push them both to a

place they couldn't get back. He would keep the rest where it belonged: in that tobacco tin buried

deep inside his chest where a red heart used to be” (Morrison 86). In this conversation between

Paul D and Sethe, they had only begun to discuss some of their experiences, but if they had

gotten further, they would have spiraled into a place from which they would never come back.

From what we are given in the novel, any mention of their past lives went unspoken, so this

passage was a surprise to the reader. Talking about their experiences with slavery could be like

reliving them, possibly bringing back the same feeling torture that the culture of slavery brought

to them all over again. As seen in the quote, Paul D’s coping mechanism with these feelings is to

bury them deep inside, out of reach. The idea of the tobacco tin plays a significant role at this

point in how he thinks about keeping his past out of mind. It represents privacy, secrecy, and

how he represses the pain and emotions of his memories. This gloomy image replaces what is

supposed to be a red heart; representing love, passion, and life. Love and passion intimidate Paul
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Ms.Rabb
English 11
March 4, 2019
D to the point where he can not stay at any place for an extended period for fear of attachment or

giving too much of his love away.

“Denver ran a mighty interference and on the third day flat-out asked Paul D

how long he was going to hang around. The phrase hurt him so much he missed

the table[...]‘Hang around?’ Paul D didn't even look at the mess he had made”

(Morrison 52)

Paul D was taken aback by Denver’s question, revealing his insecurities. Indicating how slavery

has taken away so much of his love, and that the little amount he has left has to be cautiously

maintained. Sethe’s way of dealing with the past was very similar to Paul D’s. With a daughter

of her own, Sethe felt as if she had found her new best thing that needed to be protected from all

the pain of her past. She felt the need to keep the stories of slavery away from Denver in order

to progress into a better life, “To Sethe, the future was a matter of keeping the past at bay. The

‘better life’ she believed she and Denver were living was simply not that other one “ (Morrison

51). This devotion to her child is what motivates her to try and murder her children in the act of,

what she thought to be maternal love and protection. Once Beloved appears into her life the

memory of this cruel act she did enslaves her once again, making her quickly capitulate to

Beloved’s every demand.

“It amazed Sethe (as much as it pleased Beloved) because every mention of

her past life hurt. Everything in it was painful or lost. She and Baby Suggs

had agreed without saying so that it was unspeakable; to Denver’s inquiries,

Sethe gives short replies or rambling incomplete reveries[…]the hurt was

always there” (Morrison 69).

Gabriela Quintero
Ms.Rabb
English 11
March 4, 2019
Sethe never got the strength to relieve that toxic relationship by telling Beloved her reason for

murdering her in the first place. This is because it would hurt her too much to tell her stories of

slavery. The only resolution for Sethe was to face her past head-on in order to reach a state of

happiness and relief.

Sethe finally gets on her way after all these challenges and comes to terms by telling not

only her experiences but keeping Beloved’s story alive as well. Paul D eventually accepts his

own identity and Sethe’s faults and can start to commit to her once and for all. The people in

124 endured many unsettling and scarring experiences, and with the healing support of each

other and the ability to convey their pasts, they start to learn that there is still hope for a

fulfilling life. Beloved gives a complex and intense truth about the effects of slavery, looking

deep into only a couple people’s experiences. There are still a multitude of other stories that live

on without being heard and that have ended in many different ways. Furthermore, Sethe and

Paul D’s stories may have ended on their way to a better life, but slavery still dramatically

impacted the ability to support or convey their pasts making their journeys on the path to love

much more difficult, even if they had made it in the end.

Gabriela Quintero
Ms.Rabb
English 11
March 4, 2019
Work Cited

Morrison, Toni. Beloved: a Novel. Vintage International, 2004.