Elizabeth Pustinger1 Elizabeth Pustinger Ms. Gomez Period 6 3 April 2014 Impetus to Animalism In Toni Morrison’s Beloved, the concept of humanity is conceptualized into two divided boundaries: that of white and that of black. The right to live and act as a human being with natural desires, commonplace attributes, and general livelihood is denied to those with darker skin, not because they were disallowed the right to be alive, but because they inherently take it away from themselves. Morrison’s characters struggle to achieve the vision of humanity and essence of normality, because of their previous lives in slavery where they were treated as subhuman and animalistic. An element of Beloved that defies class distinction is the relationship between a giving mother and a receiving child through the theme of motherhood. Both black and white woman can have children; neither is denied that right despite the extreme imbalance in social status. That’s where the line is drawn though, as when a slave woman gives birth, the child becomes property of the white owner. Nursing is a distinguishing facet of being a mother that facilitates the strengthening of the relationship between mother and child, as elaborated upon in “Spitting Out the Seed”: The mother is producer and provider of the milk from her body; the child is communicant, eagerly taking nourishment her body provides. The primeval forces of biological nature interact with emotional and psychological bonding. Breast and because of this she has to follow her instincts. nearly every other character also faces problems in differentiating between animal and human. It is the abstract made material. (Mocke 1) For Sethe when this is taken away from her.Elizabeth Pustinger 2 feeding is the ultimate expression of maternal love. struggles to open himself up . After slavery. specifically when she murders her daughter in an attempt to protect her. what belonged to her was taken away both physically and conceptually. Not even just that. she fails to achieve the vision of a mother that her children seek and need. she attempts to kill them in a way to prevent them from going into the life that she was living. She is the only woman in her vicinity capable of having children. by the men that took away her milk. suffering in the process because she doesn’t know when to draw that line between protecting out of love and hurting out of fear. as if she were a cow being milked. but when Sethe gives birth to her first child. milk is symbolized as mother's love. As an expression of love. Instead of confronting the possibility that her children might be sold into slavery. Although the focus of the novel’s conflict in visualization of humanity comes in the form of Sethe. she is hit with the realization that she has no idea what she’s doing. What made her a mother was dragged out of her and caused her to transcend into the realm of animalism. because she lets her animalistic nature get the best of her and replace the motherly love that is natural in human society. She has to assume certain characteristics of motherly love and attribute them to her children. Paul D. In this example. which tend to become borderline beastlike. Her vision of motherhood is complex because she has never had that figure in her life. it is a concrete and viable product of that love. even though he is no longer a slave. he inherently does the same with life in general. in slavery. because. They couldn’t have sex with Sethe. being chained to 46 other men. Mister. because he’s never been treated as apart of humanity. one by one. notebook paper. He can’t disconnect from this animalistic part of himself. Being at Sweet Home. The biggest comparison between Paul D and a wild animal is when him and the other men at Sweet Home would engage in bestiality by having sex with calves on the plantation. Even when it came to the natural. Halle. into the tobacco tin lodged in his chest” (Morrison 113). further enabling the idea that he wasn’t just subhuman. Georgia. his brothers. and being used to forcing himself on goats. The slaves’ sexual frustration was at such a high that engaging in these acts was a normal response to their deprivation. per say. hormonal desire for sex. and afterwards. the taste of iron. but that he was an animal in nature. Paul D and the other slaves had to choose animals to act upon. the smell of hickory. the sight of butter.Elizabeth Pustinger 3 emotionally and chooses instead to “put Alfred. And. their ankles attached to one another. both when attempting to kill her children and in . These past acts of bestiality have stayed with Paul D for most of his life. He was chained with other men as if they were cattle lining up to get slaughtered. it’s not even that they had to settle. Denver herself is isolated from the rest of humanity because of her mothers actions that crossed into beastlike. his actions had to morph themselves into whatever he needed to do to survive. Sixo. Sethe. He can’t allow himself to become this vision of normality. moving at a slow pace. has set in stone to Paul D that this is how he will always be. but they welcomed it. so they lay with baby cows so they could imagine they were with a woman. schoolteacher. dragged them through the veil. he would reply. pushed. kept from the outside where there are people like schoolteacher that could take her and kept from a society that could either harm or comfort her. She just flew. that her actions are comparable to how animals become aggressively protective of their territory. It is precisely the invocation of a protection against dissolution which is finally a dissolution of the self and nation.’ In the words of Huey P. but this desire to shelter her daughter prevents Denver from reaching normality in a nonslave environment. Newton. It is the body manifesting the local articulation and location of the Black nation fixed within a narrowly constructed but nevertheless ‘self motivated consciousness. Sethe protects Denver so passionately. Sethe doesn’t want her daughter to go through what she went through when she was a slave. With no sense of the outside world. Although Sethe’s attempts to allow Denver the right to a normal life are prominent. she’s caged in 124. all the parts of her that were precious and fine and beautiful. ‘If you met an African in ancient times and asked him who he was. she latches on to the newcomer.Elizabeth Pustinger 4 confining Denver from the outside world. away. that when Beloved comes. consuming up this interaction as if she were a predator consuming it’s prey. they end up being futile because of their extremity. ‘Selfdetermination’ in Black nationalist discourse then becomes the promise of the possibility of individuallymotivated but collectively manifested completion. Collected every bit of life she had made. and carried. Denver loses her concept of humanity. and becomes so used to her isolation. I . over there where no one could hurt them (Morrison 163) Instead. out. and I mean "schizophrenic" in the most literal sense. Each child. we. This is revolutionary suicide: I.Elizabeth Pustinger 5 am we. Baby Suggs has had nine children. Although this is the reality of her life. Baby Suggs begins to create a habit of forgetting the physical attributes of her children. They belonged to the white slave owners. in need of being kept away from society. To be a Black American is in some ways . except for Halle is taken away from her. As explained in “We Are Family”: One of the dangers of being a Black American is being schizophrenic. Denver loses any type of concept of togetherness that she might have had with her brothers or possibly even with her sister. she could have “held a little foot. as if she were a wild animal.’ (Ongiri 5) Without a person by her side to relate to. has forced her to attempt and keep her daughter safe by caging her up. This further amplifies the fact that the former slaves weren’t just treated as subhuman. because. If she were born white. that were from different men. Because of this. with Halle. This parallels Sethe’s milk being taken away from her. Minor characters in the novel are also used for emphasis on how they struggle to accomplish this perception on being human. all of us are the one and the multitude. as if they were equivalent to the offspring of livestock. examined the fat fingertips with her own fingers” (Morrison 139). but they themselves act subhuman. Her mother’s past in being treated as an animal. she would’ve had this privilege. so that she won’t become attached to them. like Sethe. she wishes that. including Denver’s father. Baby Suggs’ children did not belong to her. When she runs away to 124. He gives into his instinctive nature in leaving Sethe and letting himself survive on his own. (Ongiri 1) Even when Baby Suggs attempts to preach to her community on staying strong. The child of hers that makes the biggest impact in Beloved is Halle. therefore adhering to Morrison’s characters natural inhibition of former slaves animalistic nature. After this. she naturally treats herself as beneath whites. because he can no longer act as a husband to her. When Halle catches Sethe getting her milk taken. Sethe’s “husband” and Denver’s father. he freezes up and loses control of his actions.Elizabeth Pustinger 6 to be born with a desire to be white. as retold by Paul D. he fails to meet up with her and fails to protect her in her time of need. and it affects every Black person here. This is before he marries Sethe and consummates their marriage by having sex with her “in the tiny corn field Mr. Halle himself also engages in the bestial acts that Paul D partook in. because she disallows herself the right to become attached to her children. Garner kept because it was a crop animals could use as well as humans” (Morrison 26). It's a part of the price you pay for being born here. . his connection with Sethe is eliminated. much like a deer in the headlights. 31 Mar. . Black Masculinity. Breasts. 2014.Elizabeth Pustinger 7 Works Cited Ongiri. Milk. "Spitting out the Seed: Ownership of Mother. EBSCOhost.3 (1996): 11727.1 (1997): 280-95. EBSCOhost." College Literature 23. Child. 2014. and Voice in Toni Morrison's Beloved. Mock. and the Black Gay Cultural Imagination. Web." College Literature 24. Web. Michele. "We Are Family: Black Nationalism. Amy Abugo. 3 Apr.