The Beloved Style Essay

This passage from Beloved is from one of Paul D’s sections, particularly when he was sitting in the tub, trying to avoid the past memories to come out, worrying that he could put Sethe and him back in the past they can’t escape. Although this is a rather short excerpt, the elements of style are evident and has an impact throughout the entire novel. The three most significant aspects of style in the passage are the use of metaphors, symbolism, and switches in point of view.
The most noticeable literary device evident while reading the novel, is Morrison’s utilization of metaphors as a method to describe a feeling or a thought without making the character think about it logically. In this passage particularly, Paul D’s “red heart” that is replaced by a “tobacco tin” box, “buried in his chest,” delineates and describes what kind of man he says he is, that he is cold, without feeling, and detached. The tin box that is used as a metaphor for his weakness and self-containment doesn’t only act as an object that describes his feelings but also relates back to Morrison’s theme of loss of identity through slavery. Morrison provides a specific image of Paul D being defined as a rusty tin box, that is useless and that is just identified as an object. Paul D thinks that’s who he is because at Sweet Home, he was only …show more content…
Later in the novel, the significance of the tin box is uncovered after Paul D admits that he’s willing to risk his emotional safety to open up to someone else, which is Sethe. Although the cause of his decision started off with deplorable actions such as having sex with Beloved, he finally realized that it was time to open up to others. Most readers would not accept such behaviors as to be involuntary and without fault but Morrison uses the “tobacco tin box” as a way to sympathize with Paul D and his past that caused him to be a certain