“‘What you come in here for?’
‘I want you to touch me on the inside part.’
‘Go back on in that house and get to bed.’
‘You have to touch me. On the inside part. And you have to call my name.’
‘Call me my name.’
‘No.’
‘Please call it. I’ll go if you call it.’
‘Beloved.’ He said it, but she did not go. She moved closer with a footfall he didn’t hear and he didn’t hear the whisper that the flakes of rust made either as they fell away from the seams of his tobacco tin. So when the lid gave he didn’t know it. What he knew was that when he reached the inside part he was saying, ‘Red heart. Red heart,’ over and over again” (138).
Beloved and Paul D have just had sex. With the power of her body, she seduces him. He falls into her trap and is weakened by her touch. In fact, he is so weak that he enters his own world and becomes unaware of reality. His unawareness is shown through his constant, mindless uttering of the phrase “Red heart.”
During this sexual interaction, power is in the hands of Beloved. She is dominant throughout the event. She forces him to do something he does not want to, and this is considered to be rape. When the word rape is mentioned, a man forcing a woman to act out a sexual activity automatically comes to mind. Men are normally the rapist because of the popular belief that they are strong, and women are the victim because of the popular belief that they are weak. However, in Beloved, it is the opposite- the woman is the rapist and has the upper hand while the man is the victim and has no say in what is going to be done. Beloved’s raping of Paul D goes against the stereotype regarding rape. It is rare that women are powerful in certain situations, especially sex. Morrison chooses to display women as tough and powerful, and we see this in this event.
In addition, we see another stereotype in Paul D’s weakness. Beloved’s ability to easily compel Paul D into having sex with her makes visible his lack of masculinity. Again, power is not in the hands of the man but in the hands of the woman which is very rare. Readers are shocked by this because society has craved this image that men are greater than women and will always have control. However, Morrison breaks this standard image and has placed women on a higher status.
I really like how you connect this to why the author chooses to portray the scene in this way and how it has a greater purpose. Although I wouldn't beat around the bush by saying, "considered to be rape" because it seems very clear that he is being coerced against his will. Excellent job nevertheless, The picture is really fitting for this blog!
ReplyDeleteThis is very powerful, but also disturbing because we usually hear about men raping women and not the other way around. This is very thoughtfully laid out and you did a good job explaining the role of the women. Excellent!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading about the stereotypes being presented in this part of the book. When we think of rape we visualize a men forcing a women to have sex intercourse, but in Beloved it is forcing Paul D in this situation.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with Abby, this is such a profound and powerful analysis of the scene between Paul D and Beloved, but extremely disturbing. Rape in any context is disturbing, but a woman forcing a man to have sex is a foreign, uncommon idea that society just isn't used to hearing about.
ReplyDeleteI like how you tackled the stereotype of just men raping women while it is also the other way around as well. Like Laurel said, society isn't ready to hear about the other side of rape and Morrison did a good job at trying to start that conversation.
ReplyDeleteDang! This is so true how Beloved controls Paul D! Beloved is controlling of all of the characters of the book, but her control over Paul D is surprising.
ReplyDeleteI understand what your saying. I totally agree and find it almost like a reverse of social norms that the guy is not in power. Love it
ReplyDeletethats pretty interesting and something I did not think of. I think it's also pretty interesting how Toni Morrison chooses to make women stronger than men in a time period where women were inferior to men just seen as housewifes.
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