“The jump, thought Paul D, from a calf to a girl wasn’t all that mighty. Not the leap Halle believed it would be. And taking her in the corn rather than her quarters, a yard away from those who had lost out, was a gesture of tenderness. Halle wanted privacy for her and got public display. Who could miss a ripple in a cornfield on a quiet cloudless day? He, Sixo and both of the Pauls sat under Brother pouring water from a gourd over their heads, and through eyes streaming with well water, they watched the confusion of tassels in the field below. It had been hard, hard, hard sitting their erect as dogs, watching corn stalks dance at the moon. The water running over their heads made it worse.” (Morrison 32)
“The jump… from a calf to a girl wasn’t all that mighty,” begins a passage that, as a whole, addresses the role gender had at Sweet Home among the slaves. This one phrase sets up the tone and theme for the rest of the passage, one that stood out strongly as I read through the feminist lens.
As Paul D lies next to Sethe after having sex with her, he remembers when she was all of the Sweet Home men’s greatest desire. In the first line of the passage, “calf” and “girl” are described as almost being equal. The men at Sweet Home resorted to beastiality so they would not be tempted to rape Sethe, but both of these options would dehumanize them. Their choice to have sex with cows, as disgusting and disturbing as it might be, is the decision they made out of respect for Sethe.
To continue on the theme of dehumanization, Halle brings Sethe out into the cornfield for “privacy” but instead gets her “public display”. While this move from Sethe’s room to the cornfield may have been out of kindness to his friends who were also yearning for Sethe, it is yet another way that Halle dehumanizes both himself and Sethe. They go out into the field to escape the eyes of their friends, but in this action make animals out of themselves once again. The “jump from calf to a girl” wasn’t that great because the girl they dreamt about and wanted for so long was treated like an animal when they did have the chance to sleep with her.
While he and the other men sat watching Halle and Sethe in the field, Paul D remembers that “it had been hard, hard, hard sitting there erect as dogs.” This phrase towards the end of this passage is the final dehumanizing factor that is revealed. Paul D compares himself to an animal, in this case a dog, which furthers the dehumanizing tendency this passage reveals that these men have. He is comparing himself and the other men to an animal that cannot control its sexual desires; they hump anything in sight. This comparison may actually be valid because the men have such a need to have intercourse that they resort to sex with an animal to satisfy themselves.
As I finished reading this passage one question stands out in my mind: Why would these men degrade themselves to something less than human? The dynamics at the plantation with five men vying for one woman is one factor I believe may have gone into them constantly comparing themselves to and acting like animals. With competition between all the men and only one to be chosen by Sethe, the only way for the men to feel “masculine-enough” is if they have sex with something, even if that something is a cow.
Great passage! Really strong question and would be great to use in a Socratic. I was thinking over your question and I believe that it could be quiet natural. Weird to say, but there have been cases where animals have cross bred (just not extremes as humans and cows). In this current time, society has created the idea that only a man of color should be with a woman of color and vise versa for those who are Caucasian.
ReplyDeleteI think this passage and your analysis begins to wrestle with the conflicting differences between desire for love and tenderness and simple sexual arousal. It plays into not only gender roles, but human condition. It is hard to believe that any person would act so profane and repulsive in a matter that should be acted upon with trust and vulnerability. But I think we can begin to understand what is instinctively shocking once we acknowledge and credit the terrors that have molded these men into having little more than human characteristics. We must see and try to understand the emasculation of black men under slavery. And although it does not validate or make their ill-bred behavior acceptable, it enlightens towards realizing what lead to said actions.
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