Essay on Toni Morrison's Beloved - The Character of Mr. Garner

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The Character of Mr. Garner in Beloved

In the book Beloved, Toni Morrison uses the Character Mr. Garner to convey the different forms of slave owners. Although some seem that they are more considerate than others, they are all are still slave owners, and they are all cruel. Mr. Garner is a very insecure man with a lot of power. As a result of his insecurity, he feels that he has to prove his intelligence by the misuse of superiority. He proves his superiority by making the slaves feel that he is the superior to them. Due to Mr. Garners insecurity he makes his slaves believe that he is the most powerful man, and that they can not survive with out him. Mr. Garner compensates for his insecurities about his manliness by treating his slaves less than men.

Garner tries to convince everyone in the town including himself, that he has the most valued slaves because he is the one who raised them. When he is town, talking to some other slave owners he was bragging about how, “y’all got boys…Now at sweet home, my niggers is men every one of em. Bought em that away, raised em thataway. Men every one” (Morrison p.10). To make up for his insecurities, he has to go around proving to everyone that he is the best at what he does, and that is why his slaves are men. The others slave owners believe that since the slaves are black, that is why they are not men. Garner believes since he raised his slaves, and since they only did what he allowed them to do, that are men. He considers himself the smart man of the group. But, by controlling his slaves, he makes them less like men. He thought that if you could call you own niggers men that, it makes you more of a man, “But if you a man yourself, you’ll want your niggers to be men too”(Morrison p.10). He does everything to prove to himself, that he in fact, is the man that is in control of the whole situation. Actually he is trying to make up for his insecurities by bragging to the other slave owners.

In Garners mind, to have his niggers to be considered men, he believes that he has to orchestrate all of their decisions. Pertaining to what they are allowed to do and what they are not allowed to do in daily matters.

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