Taylor Pagel

IB English / Period 1

Mrs. Balka

7 February 2020

Slavery is the ultimate paradoxical situation in a land of the free. This is the precise

situation that divided the United States nation and brought pain onto the many hearts of

Americans for centuries to come. However, the sensitivity of the subject renders the topic to be

extremely difficult to discuss; allowing the burden to have a hold over people’s lives for

generations to come. Within her novel, ​Beloved​, Toni Morrison brings light to this burden of

silence and repression of memory that has consumed many American’s lives, along with

peoples’ lives all around the world, through her usage of animalistic imagery, ellipses, and

symbolism of trapping the past.

To begin with, the comparison of human beings to animals, implying that the African

Americans were subhuman, provides the shame which many slaves held, leaving them unwilling

to speak of the past. While Paul D was explaining his past to Sethe, specifically the instance in

which he had an iron bit in his mouth, he describes the rooster as having more importance than

him, that Paul D was “something less than a chicken sitting in the sun on a tub” (Morrison 86).

This juxtaposition of Paul D to a rooster reveals how slavery dehumanzed people and the idea

that Paul D was lower than that of a chicken, a sterotyped dumb and simple animal, depicts how

his humanity and human dignity was stripped away. Comparatively, it is revealed when Paul D

stops relaying his traumatic past that “it would shame him” if Sethe a “sweet, sturdy woman” got

a “whiff of the contents'' of his dark past (Morrison 86). Moreover, this ironic statement that Paul
D would be the one who held shame for his past, rather than the slave owners, reveals how this

idea of sharing his burden and accepting love, compassion was too daunting for someone who’d

only experienced disappointment and pain. Shame and self resentment is a common consequence

of toxic and traumatic experiences; when one is sexually abused they tend to blame themselves

rather than placing the blame on the perpetrator. Although this situation is not identical to

slavery, the concept of dehumnization and self-hatred still applies. Paul D requires love and

needs someone to tell him his value in order for him to begin his process of healing.

Furthermore, Morrison utilizes ellipses to emphasize specific words that hold too much

power over people and to reveal the fear that Paul D held in releasing the power of these words.

For instance, Paul D describes the rooster, Mister, as “[looking] so… free” and “stronger,

tougher” than himself (Morrison 86). This break in the structure of the sentence, separating the

rest of the sentence from the word ‘free’ emphasizes the sensitivity of the word. The ultimate

desire of slaves around the country is released with this word, ‘freedom’. The power this one

word held instilled terror in Paul D’s heart because he understood that if he allowed himself to

hope for freedom he would be sorely disappointed. Therefore, rather than risking the pain of

disappointment, he allows his memories to be repressed along with his hopes, lowering this risk

for disappointment and pain. Unfortunately, this never allows him to alleviate the ache in his

heart. Additionally, he described Mister as being a “king” while “[he] was…” (Morrison 86).

Leaving the word ‘slave’ out of his description is due to the pain and fear that the word holds.

This word holds the utmost power of Paul D; he has had to abide to it’s beck and call the

majority of his life. Nevertheless, Morrison reveals that the only way for one to escape the grips
of this dark power is to have uncomfortable conversations in which one relives the past; this will

enable them to be able to start the process of growth and healing.

In the end, this shame and power of the past forces the memories of Paul D, and others

with a past parallel to his, to be repressed; this is revealed with the symbolism of the tin can. Paul

D no longer held a heart, full of love and tenderness, inside of him; rather in its place a “tobacco

tin [was] buried in his chest where a red heart used to be” (Morrison 86). The motif of color is

evident in this passage in which red is indicative of love and passion, yet also pain, suffering, and

blood. Evidently, Paul D feels alone in his world believing that the lid of his heart was “rusted

shut” never again to be opened; never allowing him to love someone again (Morrison 86).

Foreshadowing his heart being forced open by Beloved, who is a representation of the past, this

state of loneliness in which Paul D has forced himself in to protect those around him, only results

in more suffering for him. These burdens that suffocate him could be lessened and Paul D

relieved of his duty to carry them, if only he was willing to speak about his past and someone

was willing to listen. Moreover, this idea of ‘beating back the past’ was centralized in almost all

African American’s lives and continues to be an issue for the lives of Americans and people

around the world.

Consequently, Morrison reveals that in order for the community to move past the pain of

the past, whether that be from events in contemporary times, or the pain that is still carried in

people’s hearts from events such as slavery from centuries back, victims must be willing to open

up to start the process of healing. If humans never discuss the past, including all the horrors that

took place, it is impossible for countries to move past the events that divide them, for people to

outlive their burdens, and for healing to occur. People may continue to repress these memories;
however, they will discover this will leave them in a perpetual state of anguish. If one cannot

even speak of these tragic events, forgiveness, for themselves and for others, will never arise.

Revision Paragraph

In my revision of my essay I primarily focused on the syntactical structure of my essay and the

analysis. I had many, many, many long complex sentences in which I attempted to express all

my ideas and conclusions I had drawn. Unfortunately, this leads any reader of my essay to

become easily lost in the multitude of seemingly never ending sentences. Therefore, in any

sentence I saw appropriate for this, I broke in into simple sentences to allow my message to have

a more profound impact on my readers. This is comparable to how Toni Morrison used short

sentences to express her ideas in a more powerful and influential way. Furthermore, although my

passage was not the passage desired, I attempted to add and fix my analysis to reach a deeper

level of understanding in each of my paragraphs.