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Tag Archives: Beloved
Nadine’s Video Presentation
Beloved
“Paul D made a few acquaintances; spoke to them about what work he might find. Sethe returned the smiles she got. Denver was swaying with delight. And on the way home, although leading them now, the shadows of three people still held hands.”
In this passage, we see that Paul D is trying to be apart of the community, and ultimately Sethe’s life. He is seen looking for work in the neighborhood and within the same chapter, he is being friendly to everyone he meets. Him being well acquainted with the community led to the community finally accepting Sethe and Denver.
One significant part of the passage I found was the relationship between Paul and Denver. Before the carnival, the community kind of ignored them. Denver didn’t have any friends, which led her to befriending the ghost at 124. Their ‘friendship’ came to an end when Paul D came to 124 and chased it away. This made Denver hate Paul D for taking away the only friend she had at the time. Fast forward to the night after the carnival, she seems to have found something likable in Paul, and doesn’t mind his company. Plus, him sort of ‘reintroducing’ the community to the family of 124 brought some attention to her and showed signs of her making friends in the future.
Sethe also got some positive feedback from everyone. The chapter ends with the three characters enjoying their company, which could have foreshadowed a bright future for the family, but that wasn’t the case, unfortunately, with the introduction to a girl named Beloved in the following chapter. It seems like this is the ‘feel-good’ moment, before the main conflict of the story.
Quoting Beloved
Introduce:
When a man named Paul D comes along, a series of events take place and changes the dynamics of the family at 124. Paul D escaping from the Georgia chain gang played a huge part in the novel. Paul D plays a significant role in the lives of Sethe and Denver. If he hadnât escaped, some of the major events of the story wouldnât have happened. Thereâs a lot of evidence that Paul D affected people’s lives through escaping, but I believe Paul D himself changed entirely after his escape and him being at 124.
Quote:
âBut this was not a normal woman in a normal house. As soon as he had stepped through the red light he knew that, compared to 124, the rest of the world was bald. After Alfred he had shut down a generous portion of his head, operating on the part that helped him walk, eat, sleep, sing. If he could do those things–with a little work and a little sex thrown in–he asked for no more, for more required him to dwell on Halle’s face and Sixo laughing. To recall trembling in a box built into the ground. Grateful for the daylight spent doing mule work in a quarry because he did not tremble when he had a hammer in his hands. The box had done what Sweet Home had not, what working like an ass and living like a dog had not: drove him crazy so he would not lose his mind.â
Interpret:
In other words, before coming to 124, he was living life very bland. He has no emotions caused by his days as a slave.
Analyze
“But this was not a normal woman in a normal house. As soon as he had stepped through the red light he knew that, compared to 124, the rest of the world was bald.”
In Paul D’s mind, you could say his life before meeting Sethe wasn’t worth living. It was bland. This also shows how much of an impact Sethe had on Paul D’s life, with Sethe being described as no normal woman.
“After Alfred he had shut down a generous portion of his head, operating on the part that helped him walk, eat, sleep, sing. If he could do those things–with a little work and a little sex thrown in–he asked for no more, for more required him to dwell on Halle’s face and Sixo laughing.”
His time as a slave removed his human features and reason to have emotions. He was basically running on auto-pilot.
Apply
Even with Paul D living life with this “walk, eat, sleep, sing” mentality, he seems to have eradicated it when he reunited with Sethe. Now, with a new outlook on life, he could now better the lives of the people around him, which he did with Sethe and Denver.
Reluctant
carmine
carmine (noun) – a vivid red
definition from Merriam-Webster (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/carmine)
From Beloved by Toni Morrison (page 94)
I’m a get to Boston and get myself some velvet. Carmine. You don’t even know about that, do you?
Amy tells Sethe that she is going to Boston to get some velvet, and the color of it is carmine, which is purplish-red.
 carmine
doggone
doggone (verb) is an expression used as a more polite form of damn
Definition from Merriam-Webster (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/doggone)
From Beloved by Toni Morrison ( page 94)
Sleeping with the sun in your face is the best old feeling. Two times I did it. Once when I was little. Didn’t nobody bother me then. Next time, in back of the wagon, it happened again and doggone if the chickens didn’t get loose.
Amy talks about taking a nap and how it feels. she says sleeping under the sun is the best feeling and she did it twice – once when she was young and the other time in the wagon. She says doggone if the chickens didn’t get loose in the back of the wagon she would have been able to sleep more under the sun.
chastise
chastise ( verb) : to criticize (someone) for doing something wrong
definition from Merriam-Webster (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/chastise)
From Beloved by Toni Morrison (page 101)
It was time to lay it all down. Before Paul D came and sat on her porch steps, words whispered in the keeping room had kept her going. Helped her endure the chastising ghost; refurbished the baby faces of Howard and Buglar and kept them whole in the world because in her dreams she saw only their parts in trees; and kept her husband shadowy but there-somewhere.
Before Paul D came to her house and talked about her husband Halle by the butter press, she was able to handle all other difficulties in her life even enduring the chastising baby ghost. The ghost (the daughter’s spirit) was punishing Sethe because she killed her.
Glen
Glen (n) – a narrow valley
definition from Merriam Webster (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/glen)
From Beloved by Toni Morrison (page 95)
“When the busy day is done
And my weary little one
Rocketh gently to and fro;
When the night winds softly blow,
And the crickets in the glen
Chirp and chirp and chirp again; …”
Amy was singing her mother’s song. The lyrics describe a night when winds softly blow and the crickets in the small valley chirp.
Paul D
Beloved  is a story about a former slave, Sethe, living with where daughter, Denver, in a house that is occupied by a ghost that is believed to be the soul of Setheâs dead daughter, Beloved. When a man named Paul D comes along, a series of events take place and changes the dynamics of the family at 124. Paul D escaping from the Georgia chain gang played a huge part in the novel. Paul D plays a significant role in the lives of Sethe and Denver. If he hadnât escaped, some of the major events of the story wouldnât have happened.
Thereâs a lot of evidence that Paul D affected people’s lives through escaping, but I believe Paul D himself changed entirely after his escape and him being at 124. âBut this was not a normal woman in a normal house. As soon as he had stepped through the red light he knew that, compared to 124, the rest of the world was bald. After Alfred he had shut down a generous portion of his head, operating on the part that helped him walk, eat, sleep, sing. If he could do those things–with a little work and a little sex thrown in–he asked for no more, for more required him to dwell on Halle’s face and Sixo laughing. To recall trembling in a box built into the ground. Grateful for the daylight spent doing mule work in a quarry because he did not tremble when he had a hammer in his hands. The box had done what Sweet Home had not, what working like an ass and living like a dog had not: drove him crazy so he would not lose his mind.â Â During his time in slavery, he had a âwalk, eat, sleep, singâ mentality. The state that he was in seemed robotic and nonhuman. Paul D leaving the plantation and reuniting with Sethe gave him a reason to live life and to better the lives close to him, which he did.
Before Paul D came, Sethe and Denver never had a good relationship with the community. Ever since word got around that there was a ghost at 124, they kept their distance from the family. This is one of the reasons that Denver befriended the ghost. Because no one in town would talk to her. Paul D used his social skils to change the way people viewed the family. âSoothed by sugar, surrounded by a crowd of people who did not find her the main attraction, who, in fact, said, “Hey, Denver,” every now and then, pleased her enough to consider the possibility that Paul D wasn’t all that bad. In fact there was something about him– when the three of them stood together watching Midget dance–that made the stares of other Negroes kind, gentle, something Denver did not remember seeing in their faces. Several even nodded and smiled at her mother, no one, apparently, able to withstand sharing the pleasure Paul D. was having. He slapped his knees when Giant danced with Midget; when Two-Headed Man talked to himself. He bought everything Denver asked for and much she did not. He teased Sethe into tents she was reluctant to enter. Stuck pieces of candy she didn’t want between her lips. When Wild African Savage shook his bars and said wa wa, Paul D told everybody he knew him back in Roanoke. Paul D made a few acquaintances; spoke to them about what work he might find. Sethe returned the smiles she got. Denver was swaying with delight. And on the way home, although leading them now, the shadows of three people still held hands.â Paul D sort of reintroduced the community to Denver and Sethe.
In conclusion, Paul D played a significant role in the novel and the lives of Denver, Sethe and Beloved. If this one event in the book, Paul D escaping from slavery, were to changed, the dynamic of the story would change greatly.
