Paul D’s statement that Sethe is her best thing because she doesn’t need Beloved to experience happiness. In Sethe’s view, Beloved was thought to be the gate open to contentment and happiness. Paul D believes that Sethe is her own best thing. From the dialogue on pg 7,”Sethe smiled. This is the way they were-had been” demonstrates that Sethe was feeling positive without the aid of Beloved. Sethe was smiling …show more content…
For example,” It amazed Sethe ( as much as it pleased Beloved) because every mention of her past life (pg 58).” Sethe’s past life at Sweet Home was tough because of the events caused by schoolteacher such as Sixo’s burning and the tender part inside Sethe’s mouth that was a result of wearing a bit. This quote demonstrates that Sethe is strong person because she was able to make it through her rough experiences at Sweet Home. Sethe is her own best thing because she has lots of strong qualities about her. At Sweet Home Sethe had a brutal experience with schoolteacher’s nephews. As Sethe quotes,They used cowhide on you?" "And they took my milk." Sethe had to go through molest and whippings which definitely shows that Sethe is strong and is her own best thing because of that strength. A last example of Sethe demonstrating her strength was during her visit with Amy. From Denver’s words,”It's a tree, Lu. A chokecherry tree. See, here's the trunk--it's red and split wide open, full of sap, and this here's the parting for the branches.” Sethe’s back was all bloody and full of half healed scars from her treatment by schoolteacher and his boys. Sethe was also on the run carrying her unborn baby, Denver with at the same time. This feat demonstrates great strength because Sethe ran away pregnant and her back was in terrible …show more content…
From Paul D’s view,”For a used-to-be slave woman to love anything that much was dangerous, especially if it was her children she had settled on to love (pg 45).” Sethe’s love for Denver was so strong that it was dangerous for Sethe because she is a black woman. Sethe defended Denver when Paul D made fun of Denver by saying, “If you can call whatever’s in her head a mind, that is.” Sethe told Paul D to leave Denver alone because Sethe cared and loved Denver very greatly. This supports the claim that is her own best thing due to her big heart. Sethe was able to stand up for her daughter and tell Paul D, a close friend from the past, to leave Denver alone. Another example of Sethe’s love was said by Denver,”She likes him here (pg 133).” Sethe shows love for Paul D because she enjoys his company at 124 and Paul D brings happiness to Sethe’s life in which Sethe responds with love for him. For the final test of Sethe’s love, Sethe was willing to kill her own children so that they wouldn’t have to go through the hardships of slavery just because she loved them that much. As Sethe said, “ I took and put my babies where they’d be safe (pg 164).” Everyone thought Sethe was insane for trying to attempt that bloody act, but that shows how big Sethe’s love is. Paul D said to Sethe, ”Your love is too thick (pg 164).” He thought that is was so great that Sethe would end up doing very risky actions for her children.