How Is Sethe Presented In Beloved

Morrison also provides the emotions that enslaved black men and women have felt after their assault. Sethe repeatedly uses the words “they took my milk” to describe how schoolteacher and his nephews raped her(19). The readers could clearly see how Sethe is traumatized from the robbing of her milk. It was not just milk that was robbed from her but also nurturing substance that her children need to grow. Sethe disregards the pain that she felt during her rape because she believes that ability to nurture her children is more important than her body itself. Sethe could also try to repress her own trauma of the rape by focusing solely on the theft of the milk rather than the feeling or experience. After Sethe expresses her raw emotion as she recalls …show more content…
Because they develop their relationship from their haunted past, Sethe and Paul D’s intimate moment is disappointing. Morrison cleverly demonstrates how the past constantly intrudes into the present lives of the slave characters. Due to the inability to let go of the past, Sethe and Paul D’s intimate moment is violated by the oppression they experienced back at Sweet Home and Virginia. Furthermore, Beloved possesses a supernatural power that allows her to force Paul D out of Sethe’s bed and eventually out the house entirely, leaving him to sleep in the shed. While Paul D is in the shed Beloved demands that he has to touch her “on the inside part [and call her name]” (137). Ultimately, Paul D is seduced by the temptation despite not wanting to have sex. If readers are aware of the significance of Beloved, they would know that Beloved is the embodiment of the entire slave population in the Middle Passage and when they arrived in America. Beloved rape of Paul D represents his past raping