Metal In Toni Morrison's Beloved
Metal Through the course of Beloved, metal has a powerful role in describing the slave experience: the slaves are chained, beaten, and repeatedly dehumanized by different forms of metal. Morrison utilizes metal in the novel as a dehumanizing factor, symbol of tenacity, and a vessel of memory to illustrate emotional and physical repression of the characters.
Paul D refers to his heart as a “tin tobacco box,” where he shuts away his memories and emotions generated from past brutalities. Through the imagery of the tobacco tin, it is shown that repressing his memories takes much effort as “it was some time before he could put Alfred, Georgia, Sixo, schoolteacher, Halle, his brothers, Sethe, Mister, the taste of iron, the sight of butter, the …show more content…
Metal is used in the mode of bits, chains, shackles, and guns to dehumanize and humble the slaves. During Paul D’s experience in Alfred, Georgia, steel guns were used by the guards to exhibit total control: if the slaves did not wholly submit to the guards, they would be shot. The metal guns and bullets served to instill fear just as much as they served as weapons of murder. Chains functioned as relentless physical barriers between the slaves and freedom. The guards in Georgia "fastened the iron around Paul D's ankles and clamped the wrists as well." Thus, the slaves were not only restrained, but bound together, connected by “one thousand feet of the best hand-forged chain in Georgia” (Beloved 107) and restricted by it as they …show more content…
The metal of the chain binds the prisoners but it also gives them strength they are achieving through combined effort. Sethe is also attributed with metallic qualities as a way to exhibit her strength. In Part One, she is described as "Halle's girl-the one with iron eyes and a backbone to match” (Beloved. 9). The “tree" on her back is described as "the work of an ironsmith too passionate for display" (17) and as a "wrought-iron maze" (21), characterizations for a woman who despite enduring beatings, rapes, loss of family and friends stands tall.
In Beloved, metal continually shames and subdues the characters. Morrison uses metal throughout the novel as a symbol of the brutality of slavery and uses it to delineate the physical and emotional repression the characters suffer. Metal binds the characters, while at the same time acts as a vessel of memory and a symbol of
Paul D refers to his heart as a “tin tobacco box,” where he shuts away his memories and emotions generated from past brutalities. Through the imagery of the tobacco tin, it is shown that repressing his memories takes much effort as “it was some time before he could put Alfred, Georgia, Sixo, schoolteacher, Halle, his brothers, Sethe, Mister, the taste of iron, the sight of butter, the …show more content…
Metal is used in the mode of bits, chains, shackles, and guns to dehumanize and humble the slaves. During Paul D’s experience in Alfred, Georgia, steel guns were used by the guards to exhibit total control: if the slaves did not wholly submit to the guards, they would be shot. The metal guns and bullets served to instill fear just as much as they served as weapons of murder. Chains functioned as relentless physical barriers between the slaves and freedom. The guards in Georgia "fastened the iron around Paul D's ankles and clamped the wrists as well." Thus, the slaves were not only restrained, but bound together, connected by “one thousand feet of the best hand-forged chain in Georgia” (Beloved 107) and restricted by it as they …show more content…
The metal of the chain binds the prisoners but it also gives them strength they are achieving through combined effort. Sethe is also attributed with metallic qualities as a way to exhibit her strength. In Part One, she is described as "Halle's girl-the one with iron eyes and a backbone to match” (Beloved. 9). The “tree" on her back is described as "the work of an ironsmith too passionate for display" (17) and as a "wrought-iron maze" (21), characterizations for a woman who despite enduring beatings, rapes, loss of family and friends stands tall.
In Beloved, metal continually shames and subdues the characters. Morrison uses metal throughout the novel as a symbol of the brutality of slavery and uses it to delineate the physical and emotional repression the characters suffer. Metal binds the characters, while at the same time acts as a vessel of memory and a symbol of