Sex Doesn't Mean Romance

Throughout Beloved, Toni Morrison shows us a number of methods used to contain and control the enslaved, including but not limited to: guns, whips, chains, cages, law, restriction of education, and naming. Above all other tools of subjugation, however, is a methodology so intimate by our perspective that it is easy to shut our eyes to it: sex. Morrison’s use of sex, rather than any other device, serves as the most dynamic tool used by and against the characters depicted in the novel. The act doubles as a symbol for something outside that which a modern audience would normally expect, representing dominance, triumph, and slavery as well as occasional love and tenderness.

The first time we see sex in the book is immediately after Paul D chases away the baby ghost. He and Sethe go up the stairs to her bedroom, where their enjoyment is so fast that “it was over before they could get their clothes off” (24). At first glance, this encounter seems to be well within the limits of what a modern audience might expect. Yet, Paul D’s thoughts reveal a subconscious second purpose. When he follows Sethe up the stairs, he thinks back to the times on Sweet Home, when Sethe was Baby Sugg’s replacement and all the Sweet Home men lusted after her in silence. As Paul D follows Sethe up the stairs, he thinks not of their joint pleasure, but that he has beaten back the ghost, and that “now he would do more” (24). Thus, sex becomes the spoils of the winner. A trophy waved over the heads of the slewn. Finally, Paul D has won over the baby ghost, over Halle, and over Sethe’s original refusal of him in choosing Halle.

Later, after Beloved’s arrival, Sethe tells the story about her crystal earrings. She and Halle “marry” in the cornfield with the blessing of their owners. Sethe relates her sadness at there being no ceremony before the consummation of her marriage. Later on, Sethe realizes that “marrying” Halle was not just the consummation of her love for a man. After being around Schoolteacher, Sethe comes to learn that her marriage to Halle produced marketable product for her owners (232). Thus, sex becomes a tool for the proliferation of profit for the benefit of white masters – a tool of subjugation and continued slavery. At the same time, Halle and Sethe are happy being together, producing four children out of their shared happiness.

Conversely, Sixo discovers in his dying moments that his own sex was a sort of weapon against his captors. As he faces his death, he cries out “Seven-O!” In being with his thirty-mile girl, Sixo left a legacy despite his owners. Despite all, a part of him still would escape. He has his epiphany on death’s doorstep, and in his joy, he proclaims his triumph over the white men who had bound him and was preparing to burn him alive. He leaves proof in the world that he was a man, and the white men lost in failing to stop him from doing so (267). Women, too, are used and use sex themselves to a greater purpose.

First, the abuse by masters. Ella, Sethe, and Baby Suggs, and Sethe’s mother all suffered sexual abuse at the hands of owners. Ella was kept in a locked room and used by a father and son, her captivity so horrible that she refers to them as “the lowest yet,” even in the face of all the rest of the world’s atrocities (301). Sethe was raped, abused, and beaten just before her escape from Sweet Home (19).  Baby Suggs and Sethe’s mother both seem to have been used to breed more slaves for their owners, judging from Sethe’s memories of their stories. We know that they each had many children and only seemed to be able to make memories with one respectively. Both, it seems, were subjected to enforced breeding (165). According to Wyatt, the practice of forced breeding was common during the days in which America allowed slavery. It was further encouraged by laws enacted after the Revolution to ban the import of slaves from Africa, thus creating a culture in which breeding was necessary in order to maintain profit on plantations (National Humanities Center). Furthermore, the act of rape, the enforcing of breeding, also served as a psychological weapon against the victims. Being treated as an animal even when engaging in the most intimate of activities further bound the enslaved of the time (Davis).

Conversely, women in Beloved also used sex to their advantage. Beloved seduces Paul D for the purpose of distracting him from Sethe and driving him out of the house (137). Sethe pays for Beloved’s headstone by giving the engraver “ten minutes” between her legs (5).

If we take into account all the mentions of sex within Beloved and account for their motivations, circumstances, and benefitting parties, it is impossible to claim that they were anything close to simple. Someone always benefitted above the general pleasure/intimacy/romance dynamic. Someone always lost.

That’s my line of thought just now, anyway. I’m still sticky-noting and looking for the strongest evidence, while pulling together historical accounts about sexual abuse in slavery. What do y’all think? Any suggestions to improve the quality of my argument? I’m having a little trouble focusing my thesis into something amazing. Hoping the discussion will help me pin it down just right.

Works Cited:

Davis, Adrienne D. "Slavery and the Roots of Sexual Harassment." Diss. Ed. Catherine MacKinnon and Reva Siegel. Yale University, n.d. Slavery and the Roots of Sexual Harassment. Yale University Press. Web. 17 Nov. 2012. <http://www.law.berkeley.edu/faculty/abramsk/Davis_UNCCH/davis.v4.title.pdf>.

Morrison, Toni. Beloved: A Novel. New York: Vintage International, 2004. Print.

National Humanities Center, comp. "On Slaveholders' Sexual Abuse of Slaves." The Making of African American Identity: 1500-1865 1 (n.d.): n. pag. Web. 17 Nov. 2012. <http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/maai/enslavement/text6/masterslavesexualabuse.pdf>.

Wyatt, Gail Elizabeth. "The Sociocultural Context of African American and White American Women's Rape." Journal of Social Issues 48.1 (1992): 77-91. Print.