Tag Archives: “Beloved” Glossay

Faggot

Faggot is a noun

According to the Urban dictionary online Faggot means: A bundle of sticks or wood.

The term faggot is used in chapter 23 of my reading of Beloved.  This is the section where Paul D, Sixo and the thirty mile woman is trying to escape into the cornfield to meet with the woman who would help them to escape from Sweet Home and slavery.   Sixo is captured and School Teacher gives his men the order to  burn him alive.  In their quest for wood to make a fire the narrator stated, ” dry faggots are scarce and the grass is slick with dew.”  My understanding is that the men had difficulty building a fire because of lack of dry wood and the wet grass made it harder to start the fire.