The Relationship Between Paul D And Sethe

The memories also play a dual role as they make the man hopeful yet they also scare him because he is afraid that through remembering things again and again he might taint his memories of the good times forever. “He thought each memory recalled must do some violence to its origins. As in a party game. Say the word and pass it on. So be sparing. What you alter in the remembering has yet a reality, known or not.” (McCarthy 51). The boy although carries on hoping even though all he has are memories of the polluted grey ashes that have always been falling from the sky, the ashes that he was born into. The child has no memories of a past world that held beauty and color and so he relies on his father’s accounts and stories of the past to imagine a world that was anything but the bleakness that he is so accustomed to. But the father, although mostly indulges to the child’s wishes, sometimes cannot bring himself to tell him made up stories of the past because as much as he wants to he cannot remember a lot of it and when he does remember it, it reminds of a world that is no more and that he does not know will ever come back into existence or not. “What would you like? But he stopped making things up because those things were not true either and the telling made him feel bad.” (McCarthy 22). Where at first the child believes the father’s accounts of heroes and stories of courage

To begin with, Paul is counseling having flashbacks about his family and secrets that are untold. The author

Paul D is left in shock and denial claiming, “That ain’t her mouth,” attempting to obscure the reality where Sethe did indeed kill her baby (154). The once idealistic woman who Paul D had known and loved for years has turned to do something so evil, leaving him in dismay. He did not understand Sethe’s motives; no one truly did. No one could draw the line of connection between the idea of saving one’s children by killing them. As Stamp Paid continues to read the news clipping, Paul D goes into a frenzy, shaking his head in disbelief. The look on Paul D’s face was so full of terror that even Stamp Paid thought that “the stranger the lips in the drawing became” as Paul D continued to shake in apprehension, questioning if the event really did occur

Today I will be discussing the prevalent theme in the novel of Paul's journey to reach maturity, the importance other characters whom he interacts with played in the development of his character and

Before Paul was in the war, his obsession and passion was reading books. Throughout the book, the books remain to be Paul’s main hobby, he is unable to sit down and experience that happiness, taking a toll on his happiness. As Paul thinks about his childhood in comparison to what the front line has shown, Paul states “I want to to feel the same powerful,

Paul releases himself from the chains of his fear and has found the shining light that will lead him to greatness. For the longest time, Erik has controlled Paul with fear, chaining Paul’s emotions to the ground. Saying the truth was a simple statement. But that one simple statement has created a big difference in the community. On page 269, Antoine Thomas tells Paul, “The truth shall set you free”.

Their incompetence to draw line between their love and other ties can be said as a vital reason for their tragic end. The ingredients of family feud, immature teenage aspirations and the raging love between the

Paul D’s motivation fluctuates throughout the book, but his goal always ends up centering around finding his manhood. When Paul D resided at Sweet Home, he believed that he was a man, “so named and called by one who would know” (Morrison 147). Paul D understands manhood as a label that can be bestowed on him by another authoritative figure. Paul D lives almost as the child of Mr. Garner, and therefore he listens to what Mr. Garner says about being a man. Mr. Garner defines being a man as being able to use a gun and make choices.

To Paul D, the biggest violation is that they beat Sethe while she was pregnant. However, through physical contact he is able to learn her story and further understand what she has been through. "...he held his breasts in the palms of his hands. He rubbed his cheek on her back and learned that way her sorrow, the roots of it; its wide truck and intricate branches." Paul D found a way to learn what she had been through, and feel what she has felt, by physical connection with parts of her which had been damaged, and more specifically, her scars. In this way, scars fulfill not only a storytelling role, but serve also as a means of connection. In the passion of the moment, Paul D sees her scars as a beautiful part of Sethe's person, on page 20 he refers to her scars as a "wrought-iron maze" which he wants to explore and to know. "He saw the sculpture her back had become, like the decorative work of an ironsmith too passionate for display. " Paul D has no real words to express his emotions at that time except for "Aw, Lord, girl", but on page 18 he shows his desire to heal Sethe and make things better in another way. "He would have no peace until he had touched every ridge and leaf of it with his mouth, none of which Sethe could feel because her back skin had been dead for years. What she knew was that the responsibility for her breasts, at last, was in someone else's hands." Again, the true communication and interpersonal connection

Their stagnant relationship comes to a climax before returning to what it always has been. Throughout both of these stories, we are able

Having the sentences structured in a lengthy format helps the reader experience Sethe’s rhythm as it “circles around the subject”. Furthermore, the repetition of “close” and the idea of being “near” brings out the notion of being trapped as Paul D tries to accept the horrific fact that Sethe did and attempted to murder. The idea of circling is crucial in that we can see that Paul D and Sethe are going around the topic, steering clear from the truth and going in circles to avoid the subject. Yet, Sethe is very well aware of how she is telling the story as she “knew that the circle she was making around the room, him, the subject, would remain one.” This is also similar to how the novel is structured, manifesting how Sethe’s point of view is one with the novel.

To begin with, Paul D.’s difficult hardships and story made him into a broken down man but with a heart of gold. In Sethe’s view, “Not even trying, he had become the kind of man who could walk into a house and make the women cry. Because with him, in his presence, they could. There was something blessed in his manner” (11). This indicates that Paul D. wasn’t just an ordinary man, he possessed of a particular quality that most men didn’t, which is a big heart. This demonstrates Sethe’s comfortable state with Paul D. because it allows her to have a trustworthy individual of her own to fall back on. Another example of Paul D. is, “ By the time he got to 124 nothing in this world could pry it open” (66). Morrison’s point is this character’s heart is compared to a tobacco tin due to how little he loves and all the painful memories it consists of. This is important because he is a free slave, but without a home to stay in. Paul D has put his painful memories in the past in order to survive

“It was some time before he could put Alfred, Georgia, Sixo, Schoolteacher, Halle, his brothers, Sethe, minister, the taste of iron, the sight of butter, the smell of hickory, notebook paper, one by one, into the tobacco tin lodged in his chest. By the time he got to 124 nothing in this world could pry it open.” (Morrison 133) The tobacco tin represents privacy and his past. Paul D was locking up his past in this tin can. The tin can isn’t even something Paul D can open up himself. In this next quote, Paul D and Sethe were discussing the past but they decide not to go in too deep into their memories. “Saying more might push them both to a place they couldn't get back from. He would keep the rest where it belonged: in that tobacco tin buried in his chest where a red heart used to be. It's lid rusted shut. He would not pry it loose now in front of this sweet sturdy woman, for if she got a whiff of the contents it would shame him. And it would hurt her to know that there was no red heart as bright as Mister’s comb beating in him." (Morrison 86). This quote shows that both Sethe and Paul D were unwilling to dwell on the past too much due to their fear of reliving it. Paul D attempts to force his memories into that tobacco tin but they always found a way to leak back out once again. Next it is important to discuss how Emily holding onto her father represents the theme.

Sethe and he are both victims of their past; accepting their wounds is the only way to move forward. Paul D’s proclamation of hope saves them both “‘me and you, we got more yesterday than anybody. We need some kind of tomorrow’” (322). Paul D. and Sethe had to face their past and discover their individuality alone; yet, by sharing the pain of their past, living in the present, and looking to the future together, they gain a sense of

Paul D who had a horrible history at the home sweet home before coming to the house 124. He had a major role making the house to life again and stopping the baby ghost who had haunted the house for many years. Paul D left the house 124 after what happened between him and Beloved and hearing that Sethe was responsible for murdering her own baby. Remembering the past got him the courage to go back to Sethe because no can change the past but can use it as a weapon for future. His visit to Sethe viewed that she was lifeless without Beloved and she thinks that she is nothing with her. Indeed, he told her she is better without her and she was just a past to remember “you your best thing, Sethe. You are”. Paul D confronting Sethe for a better future and starting again and learn from the past. Perhaps it may also refer that the black people were their best thing and that her decision was the best thing she did to protect her children. Indeed, to remember the past of slavery and being their best thing to not forget the horrible past of their suffering because of their racial