Let's talk about Paul D,
shall we?
When Paul D
first entered the novel, I was naturally inclined to like him because he seemed
to be helping Sethe in getting out of the house more and was giving her some
attention. He is also a character that has suffered through slavery and all the
horrors that go along with that and so I feel like he deserves sympathy as well
as respect and admiration (especially considering his time as a prisoner and
his escape.)
At the same
time, Paul D irritates me in the manner that he treats Sethe and her children. He
doesn't have much care for Denver and Beloved as one of the first fights he has
with Sethe is about Denver. He is also so overprotective of Sethe and selfish
in the sense that he doesn't want Beloved to get close to her and he just wants
Beloved to go away (even though she has the same, if not more, rights to be
there in 124.) His want to have Sethe alone is demonstrated when he asks to
have a baby with her. His whole plan is that having the baby will get at least
Beloved to back off.
And that
brings me to a whole other issue: his affair with Beloved. I couldn't tell if
it was a one time thing or if it was reoccurring but either way it was
extremely disturbing to read the shed scene, especially after realizing that
Beloved was killed in that very shed. That scene makes me so queasy about Paul
D and I just can't read about him in the same way. So now I have very mixed
feelings about Paul D. On one hand, I want to be thankful that he is there for
Sethe for a period of time but on the other hand I sort of strongly dislike him
because he is disloyal and just walks away after Sethe tells him how Beloved
died. What do y'all think? Where do you stand on the matter of Paul D's
character?
I feel that Paul D is a kind of ignorant character. He is trying to do what he feels is "best" by Sethe, and still feels uncomfortable around Beloved, but his sheer lack of knowledge makes him blunder in ways we the reader (with more knowledge) severely dislike. I also think his attitude towards Denver is there because she is a child of the woman he loves, but from a different man, and he could therefore be jealous.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with everything you said and also with Harmen that he is ignorant. He showed up knowing that Sethe had kids but expecting that he could just spend time with Sethe and not her kids. At the same time, Sethe does like him and I hope he comes back for her because she deserves to have someone who cares about her and she likes him.
ReplyDeleteI have my misgivings about Paul D's over-protective-ness of Sethe, mainly because she managed well enough without him before he came to live with them, and she's more of the head of household than he is. He also dismisses her narrative of why she attempted to kill her children and isn't every empathetic to her in that moment. I don't understand why he has sex with Beloved, and I really don't know how to handle it at all, I know she was trying to bring him down somehow but that scene irks me deeply :/
ReplyDeleteI agree. Paul D had his own trauma and scars, but I felt that because of his ignorance he pushed Sethes trauma and her scars to the side, thinking he could solve everything. But that's not the case, and I think Paul still has a lot of growing to do.
ReplyDelete