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3.5

Ashley Lopez

Professor O’brien

American Studies 2

11 April 2018

Beloved timed writing

Looking back in history, slavery impacted many African Americans. Reading the book,

Beloved​ by Toni Morrison, we learn the hardships many African Americans encountered as

slaves through the characters' personal experiences. Throughout the novel, she highlights the

theme of slavery and trauma.

For example, the author illustrates Paul D’s sentence in prison, “Occasionally a kneeling

man chose gunshot in his head as the price, maybe, of taking a bit foreskin with him to jesus.

Paul D did not know that then. He was looking at his palsied hands, smelling the guard, listening

to his soft grunts so like the doves’, as he stood before the man kneeling in mist on his right.

Convinced he was next, Paul D retched - vomiting up nothing at all. An observing guard

smashed his shoulder with the rifle and the engaged one decided to skip the new man for the

time being lest his pants and shoes got soiled by the nigger puke” ( Morrison 127). Brandy

Whine was Paul D’s new slave owner. Paul D and a group of other slaves attempted to kill

Brandy Whine. Paul D goes to jail and suffers from the horrors. In prison, Paul D along with

other inmates would be forced to perform oral sex to each other. White men had control over

their body and they couldn’t do anything because a small rebellion act could get them killed.

Through this, it is clear that slaves had to face many of these intolerable acts. White men had

no obligation to objectify African American prisoners, yet they took these actions to demonstrate
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white supremacy. Due to these cruel and unjust treatment, slaves are left with this trauma,

which will leave them with the inability to forget.

In addition, African American slave women had to sacrifice their body to have sex with

other men. Baby Suggs describes her experience as a slave, “And he didn’t stud his boys.

Never brought them to her cabin with directions to “lay down with her”, like they did in California,

or rented their sex out on other farms. It surprised and pleased her, but worried her too”

(Morrison 165). Baby Suggs was owned by the Garners. The Garners studded Baby Suggs as a

way to receive paid labor. Baby Suggs was forced to have sexual intercorse with these men. As

a result, Baby Suggs had many kids that were taken away from her. This quote reveals how

slave women were dehumanized. We can see this when Baby Suggs was studded. Studding is

only applied to horses. Not only was Baby Suggs treated similarly to an animal, on the other

hand she was denied the chance of being a mother. Baby Suggs experience as a slave shows

how women had no possession over their body. They were viewed as an object for sex in the

the eyes of white men.

Lastly, white men believed that Slavery was an exceptional thing. After witnessing Sethe

murder her kids, the narrator illustrates, “All testimony on the results of a little so-called freedom

imposed on people who needed every care and guidance in the world to keep them from the

cannibal life they preferred” (Morrison 177). Schoolteacher, his nephew, a slave catcher, and

the sheriff arrived at the house in Bluestone Road to bring back his fugitive slaves. Due to

sethe’s past experience as a slave, she didn’t want her children to be tortured the way she was

so she made the decision to kill her children in order to keep them protected. This is important

because it demonstrates how the horrors of slavery impacted many slaves. This event led white

men to believe that slavery was a method to putting slaves on check, given the argument that

slaves will go wild and kill their children.

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In conclusion, Toni Morrison emphasized the theme of slavery and trauma in ​Beloved ​to

indicate how slavery shaped the world today. The image of African Americans are viewed as a

threat to society and are portrayed as animals. Slaves suffered from many inhuman acts and

are left with this trauma. These events impacted the lives of African Americans in today’s world.

History is repeating itself. All along, African Americans were portrayed as frightful and violent

people, however in reality white men were the ones committing these cruel acts.