Manhood:
Noun: the state or period of being a man rather than a child (or child-like individual); men, especially those of a country, regarded collectively.
“The restraint they had exercised possible only because they were Sweet Home men - the ones Mr. Garner bragged about while other farmers shook their heads in warning at the phrase. ‘Y’all got boys,’ he told them. ‘Young boys, old boys, picky boys, stroppin boys. Now at Sweet Home, my niggers is men every one of them. Bought em thataway, raised em thataway. Men every one.’ ‘Beg to differ Garner. Ain’t no nigger men.’ ‘Not if you scared, they ain’t.’ Garner’s smile was wide. ‘But if you a man yourself, you’ll want niggers to be men too" (Morrison 12).
- While Gardner boasts about his civil treatment of his "Sweet Home" men, he treats his slaves in this manner in order to feel more manly himself. He sees his good treatment of African Americans as a way to elevate himself above other slaves owners, who he believes are too "afraid" to treat their slaves as such.
- Schoolteacher, seeing Garner's approach as too docile, implements rigid rules on the plantation and studies each slave like a scientist testing out an experiment: he categorizes their personality traits, outbursts, and remarks and separates them into animalistic characteristics or marginally more humanistic ones. In this way, schoolteacher diminishes the human value of the Sweet Home men and their perceived worth under Garner.
The Dehumanization of Paul D's Manhood
Dehumanization
Noun: the psychological process of demonizing the enemy, making them seem less than human and hence not worthy of humane treatment; the process of undermining individuality and human attributes.
- Paul D's vision of "manhood" depends largely on a sense of freedom and possession. He sees a rooster, an animal with less intellectual capacity than himself, take his freedom for granted. For Paul D, it's shocking that even a rooster can possess more than he can. Mister will always have a name and the power to roam the land and admire its beauty. On the other hand, Paul D, even his name, will always be owned by something, be it his past, his future, his owner, or even his vision of himself and his identity.
- This quote enforces the idea that in order for Paul D to feel like a man, he needs to possess some control over his existence. He fears attachment because he's never been allowed to love anything for too long. Paul D is inclined to protect the very few things he has and neglects to love the things that could leave him stranded.
Protective Nature and Family
As a man, Paul D is expected to be the leader of his family, the one who doesn't blink even in the worst of times despite everything that has happened. However, Paul D has never had a family to call his own. Because slave life involves been sold and resold, Paul D has never felt what it means to belong. How is he expected to make others feel safe when he has never felt assured in his position? Paul D constantly questions his manhood in the presence of other men, like Halle, Sixo, and Stamp Paid, men who have people and causes they can count on. He feels the need to possess a family, rather than have a rotating group of people continually making claims to him.
Besides his own self-doubt, Sethe keeps Paul D from feeling included in her family, a sign of her own fears of letting people in. While both individuals could use the support of one another, they both recognize the unstable nature of their lives and the uncertainty in relying on others.
Conceal, Don't Feel.
“There’s a way to put it in there...
... and there's a way to take it out. I know em both and I haven't figured out yet which is worse" (Morrison 84).
“It was some time before he could put Alfred, Georgia, Sixo, schoolteacher, Halle, his brothers, Sethe, Mister, 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 the world could pry it open” (Morrison 133).
- Another male stereotype illustrates that instead of talking about their emotions and letting them be known, men suppress their feelings and "bottle them up." Paul D accomplishes this by encasing all of his past memories into a tobacco tin heart. In a way, this is one of the only parts of Paul D's life he manages to control. With his feelings secured, he finally possess something that no one can take away from him (that is, until Beloved draws him back into the past and reopens the tin).
Self-Worth:
Noun: confidence in one's own worth, value, or abilities; self-respect; opinions of one's value.
“Remembering his own price, down to the cent, that schoolteacher was able to get for him, he wondered what Sethe’s would’ve been. What had Baby Suggs’ been? How much did Halle owe, still, besides his labor? What did Mrs. Garner get for Paul F? More than nine hundred dollars? How much more? Ten dollars? Twenty? Schoolteacher would know. He knew the worth of everything” (Morrison 269).
- One of Paul D's most defining moments is when he finds out about his monetary value according to schoolteacher. This seems to affirm his opinions on his lack of success and abilities as a man. Money is an objective, tangible way to declare the overall value of something. This example is yet another way that Paul D is dehumanized throughout the narrative and forced to adhere to the white man's view of black slaves as intellectually inferior.
Credits:
Created with images by PDGR - "deco heart romantic" • Maaark - "chain industry production" • jackmac34 - "farmer plantation manual work" • Unsplash - "woman carrying basket" • dtroyka - "Oaklawn Plantation" • Kumaravel - "Tea Plantations" • rightee - "Tea plantations" • Eduard V. Kurganov - "They Live, We Sleep" • Boesmantjie - "teacher word bible" • Marc Brüneke - "Evolution" • neico - "sunset landscape no" • Taken - "jail prison ruin" • Maaark - "wire prison the depth of the" • the_kid_cl - "jail" • Skitterphoto - "barbwire barbed wire wire" • Freeimages9 - "agriculture asia autumn" • jhusemannde - "handcuffs 8 black silver" • Editor B - "White Privilege" • jhusemannde - "handcuffs 8 black silver" • Sponchia - "gorilla silverback ape" • stock.photos - "caged" • Aske Holst - "Rooster" • ulleo - "hahn poultry gockel" • ruffin_ready - "marble and wood checkers" • Billy Rowlinson - "Rag doll" • Enkhtuvshin's 5DmkII - "self4" • katgrigg - "Family" • 445693 - "mother child sculpture" • EarlRShumaker - "124" • EarlRShumaker - "124" • Wokandapix - "donkey farm animal" • girochantal - "plow former flea market" • giesje - "connected together 1child" • darkday. - "Tobacco Tin" • pumpkinmook - "tin man heart 2" • Hans - "coins cent specie" • jordandemuth - "pounds gibraltar money" • jaychoi2770 - "cellphone slave shackles" • missy & the universe - "Zanzibar: Memory of Slaves" • klimkin - "money coins heart" • victorgeere - "Fields of wheat"