“The next evening he did it again and then again. He was accustomed to sex with Sethe just about every day, and to avoid the confusion Beloved's shining caused him he still made it his business to take her back upstairs in the morning or lie down with her after supper” (135).
In this passage, when Paul D is with Sethe almost everyday, he cannot pay attention to Sethe. Almost everyday he spends his time with Sethe and avoiding Beloved. He tried to keep his mind off Beloved, because something about her that is making Paul D to keep thinking about her. He avoids her by spending more time with Sethe, in her room. He does not tell Sethe what’s going on in the house, because there might be tension with him and Sethe.
This shows feminist, because Paul D sees something with Beloved and does not know what to do with it. He spends most of his time with Sethe, but he does not tell her anything about Beloved. Paul D is trying to avoid Beloved, “Beloved's shining caused him he still made it his business…” In this part of the passage, he tells us that he would look at Beloved differently than Sethe. Something about Beloved’s femininity is making him think more about Beloved being a little girl.
The relationship with Beloved and Paul D are portrayed different here. I feel like Paul D is treating Beloved different because of her gender. Besides Sethe and Denver, something about Beloved is making Paul D confuse about her. How he says “shining,” makes me think that he looks at her as a feminist way, and wanting to get away from her, because something happens to her.
Paul D did not like looking at Beloved because of her “shining” to him. He felt like he was being seduced from Beloved, but he is looking at Beloved as a “sex object” of how he describes Beloved as “shining”. Paul D looks at Beloved differently, than to Sethe and Denver, because he sees something in Beloved that is different from Sethe and Denver. Even though Paul D feels uncomfortable towards Beloved, because of her “shining,” he kept getting Sethe to her room and start to have sex with Sethe, so he would be able to avoid Beloved. This is disturbing to me, because the only way that Paul D could avoid Beloved, was to bring Sethe in a room.
I think it's very interesting to see you analyse the interactions between Paul D. and Sethe as well as the interactions between Paul D. and Beloved.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with what you say about his interactions with Beloved-- something about her unabashed femininity makes him uncomfortable, as well as how she does not seem to be interested in any sort of relationship (romantic, platonic, or otherwise) with anyone other than Sethe. The femininity she wields is not really "for" anyone, which makes him uncomfortable, because what else would a woman be pretty for?
Thank you for this, it was really interesting!