Close Reading 2

"I want you to touch me on the inside part and call me my name."

Paul D never worried about his little tobacco tin anymore. It was rusted shut. So, while she hoisted her skirts and turned her head over her shoulder the way the turtles had, he just looked at the lard can, silvery in moonlight, and spoke quietly.

"When good people take you in and treat you good, you ought to try to be good back. You don't... Sethe loves you. Much as her own daughter. You know that."

Beloved dropped her skirts as he spoke and looked at him with empty eyes. She took a step he could not hear and stood close behind him.

"She don't love me like I love her. I don't love nobody but her."

"Then what you come in here for?"

"I want you to touch me on the inside part."68 "Go on back in that house and get to bed."

"You have to touch me. On the inside part. And you have to call me my name."

As long as his eyes were locked on the silver of the lard can he was safe. If he trembled like Lot's wife and felt some womanish need to see the nature of the sin behind him; feel a sympathy, perhaps, for the cursing cursed, or want to hold it in his arms out of respect for the connection between them, he too would be lost.

"Call me my name."

"No."

"Please call it. I'll go if you call it."

"Beloved." He said it, but she did not go. She moved closer with a footfall he didn't hear and he didn't hear the whisper that the flakes of rust made either as they fell away from the seams of his tobacco tin. So when the lid gave he didn't know it. What he knew was that when he reached the inside part he was saying, "Red heart. Red heart," over and over again. Softly and then so loud it woke Denver, then Paul D himself. "Red heart. Red heart. Red heart."

page 137-138

This passage represents the stereotype of women in the time period. Women were seen only as objects, often used (or abused) for sex. Given this time period, where women could barely vote, it’s impressive to see how far we've gotten as a society. Moreover, it appears that Beloved controls Paul D through sexual encounters. It’s debatable that women were seen as slaves, not only to their owners, but also to men; women such as Sethe were under the control of their husbands. This idea of control also relates to the general idea of superiority, where women (and in some countries, still are) were seen as inferiors, and weaker than men.

In several parts of the passage above, we see the theories of feminism in action. When Morrison describes Beloved “turn[ing]her head over her shoulder the way the turtles had”, she applies the theory that women were seen as animals. Secondly, when Beloved tells Paul D that “When good people take you in and treat you good, you ought to try to be good back”, this represents Beloved’s long bottled anger, that she finally releases. I believe she speaks for all women at the time; not only should men and women be treated and living as equal, but when Paul D disliked Beloved for living in their house, Beloved saw this as an emotional threat. She felt uncomfortable, since her father figure essentially disowned and looked down upon her.

In general, Beloved leaks several themes of feminism, and gender inequality. Toni Morrison shows us that society is broken, and to unite it: we need to be equal.

In modern society, we have feminists who make sure that such inferiority dissolves and disappears. Feminism allows society to break away from the past, and see a gender-equal future. This raises several questions in modern society. We’re in 2015. Why aren't men and women equal? Feminism doesn’t push men down, it puts women side by men.