Ironically, Sethe tries to shelter Denver in the world of 124, a world that the girl must break away from if she is ever to grow up because she must be exposed to the “real world,” the one in which she must ultimately thrive without guidance. When Paul D, a slave who had worked at Sweet Home and who is a possible love interest of Sethe’s, questions the latter’s decision to let Denver off the hook for her childlike behavior, Sethe explains that she feels obliged to fulfill her duty to harbor Denver, who in essence is still her “baby.” Sethe response to Paul D’s objection is: “‘I don’t care what she is. Grown don’t’ mean nothing to a mother. A child is a child. They get bigger, older, but grown? What’s that supposed to mean? In my heart it don’t
