Morrison Beloved response

     A passage in this reading that really interested me was Paul D's realization that he was practically defenseless and weak against Beloved's "hold" on the house. I found it interesting how, regardless of all he has been through, he cannot escape her influence. Morrison writes how Paul D has, "eaten raw meat barely dead, who under plum trees bursting with blossoms had crunched through a dove's breast before its heart stop beating." However, he can't bring himself to fight against Beloved's control over him. He tries to deny this at first, even begins to hate her as a result of his weakness. Beloved seems to have directly targeted Paul D for the sole reason that he may be the one to drive Sethe further away from her. Beloved is threatened by the thought of losing Sethe to this man, and so as a "counterattack," she gives him opportunities to leave the house, one step at a time. Finally Morrison writes, "and it was he, that man, who had walked from Georgia to Delaware, who could not go or stay put where he wanted to in I24-Shame." (Pg. 126) After reading this, I liked the fact that Paul D refuses to give in and chooses to fight instead of taking to the road again, like he has always seemed to do in the past.