Dehumanization In Toni Morrison's Beloved

Tied up, and tossed in the mud. An unpalatable metallic taste envelops one’s senses as they are left squirming in the dark and damp sheds. Herds of people chained together, guided by a man acting as if he were a shepherd guiding his sheep. Naked bodies on display as men raise their hands with auction bets. Slavery is America’s darkest place in history.as it dehumanized African- Americans to the point where those who were once enslaved were left with both physical and emotional scars that kept them from moving forward. In Beloved by Toni Morrison, one character, Paul D, faces the struggle of having his humanity destroyed and struggling to reach for the future when everything one could value in life has been taken away. Throughout his life, Paul

When Paul D learns that Sethe killed her own child, he scolds her stating that she has “two feet … not four,” as due to the dehumanization he faced in the past, he truly wants to believe that every slave is a human over an animal. This realization by Paul D, allows him a first step to regaining his manhood, as he begins to recognize that even though slaves have had a past of terrible events, they all have a right to live like a human. With Paul D’s heart now open with “spilled contents” of the past scattered through his mind making him his own “prey,” Paul D is able to come to terms with his own past (Morrison 258). His heart being open allows himself to think for himself, and unleash his own trapped emotions to freedom With the realization that all slaves have “two feet” and thus are human, Paul D is able to transcend his dehumanization and the fact that he was worth only a mere “$900” with the recognition that he, as a human, still has value (Morrison 267). This virtue is finally displayed when Paul D confronts Sethe after Beloved’s departure. Owning up to the fact that both of them were scared by their pasts, Paul exclaims that Sethe is her own “best thing” and that she needs “some kind of tomorrow” (Morrison 322). Paul D’s realization that everyone’s own life holds precedence over others as each are their own “best thing[s],” prompts him to finally regain his manhood, as he takes the step needed to bring himself and Sethe both into a future where they are not bound by their horrible pasts. Paul D, realizes that he himself is a human with more worth waiting for him in the future that in the