Response To Sethe

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After being confronted with the newspaper article about her arrest by Paul D, Sethe begins to try to explain her reasoning behind her terrible and disturbing actions. While she had not explained herself to anyone, Sethe feels encouraged to stop “dancing around the subject” and openly speak to Paul D, specifically stating that, “Perhaps it was the smile, or maybe the ever-ready love she saw in his eyes…that made her go ahead and tell him what she had not told Baby Suggs” (Morrison 190). However, this decision to open up to Paul D does not go as Sethe planned, for she is not met with the “ever-ready love” she thought existed but rather judgement and fear. For Sethe, she felt that the look in Paul D’s eyes meant that he would understand the reasoning …show more content…

In fact, after hearing Sethe’s story, Paul D realized that, “This here Sethe was new” (Morrison 193), signifying that Sethe had lost the one person she thought would understand her for once because Paul D did not know who she was anymore, thus creating tension between the two that results in Paul D’s departure. Additionally, Paul D’s response to Sethe’s story is also surprising, considering the fact that the man who had suffered at the hands of the schoolteacher did not support the actions taken to prevent others from experiencing the same abuse. Perhaps the only reason why Sethe chose to try to kill all of her children was to prevent them from being dragged back to Sweet Home and having to endure the schoolteacher’s tyranny, which both Sethe and Paul D were all too familiar with. However, despite experiencing exactly what Sethe was trying to prevent for her children, Paul D was not sympathetic or accepting of Sethe’s reasoning, which is shocking on behalf of the fact that he knew just how terrible of a life slavery entailed. Instead of taking her side, Paul D is shocked that the woman he once knew and loved would do such a thing, thus making him side with the perspective of the bystanders when it comes to Beloved’s murder. That is, Paul D felt that there was no

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