Manhood+Motif+and+Theme

= As the motif of Manhood emerges, record moments when the theme is developed interestingly. Add your ideas about what Morrison is trying to say and how she explores the theme. See Motherhood Motif and Themes for an example =


 * Theme
 * Book 1, Section 1, p. 1 "Howard and Buglar, had run away by the time they were thirteen years old." Howard and Buglar are driven from there home and family by evil at a young age. This is symbolic of slaves having to grow up faster than average children and how the conditions that they lived in caused them to flee their loved ones in order to escape and were ultimately thrust into manhood.
 * In the eyes of women, men are petty, but those who care about their mothers are much more that that.
 * Section 1.2, p. 27 "'A man ain't nothing but a man,' said Baby Suggs. 'But a son? Well now, that's //somebody//."
 * Men were considered polite and worthy of being called men.
 * Book 1, Section 1.1, pg. 11, "Young boys, old boys, picky boys, stroppin boys. Now at Sweet home, my n** is men every one of em. Bought em thataway, raised em thataway. Men every one."
 * While Paul D was in prison, many men where stripped of their manhood by being sexually assaulted.
 * Pg. 127 hardcover. "Occasionally a kneeling man chose gunshot in his head as the price, of taking a bit of foreskin with him to Jesus."
 * Paul D recalls his days at sweet home and the opportunities he had there that made him feel like a man.
 * Book 1, Section 13, p.147 "He grew up thinking that, of all the Blacks in Kentucky, only the five of them were men. Allowed, encouraged to correct Garner, even defy him. To invent ways of doing things; to see what was needed and attack it without permission."
 * Paul D feels stripped of his manhood because of what he did with Beloved.
 * Section 1.13, page 151 hardcover, "I am not a man." - Paul D


 * Manhood is created by having children.
 * Book 1, Section 13, page 151 hardcover, "And suddenly it was a solution: a way to hold on to her, document his manhood and break out of the girl's spell - all at one.
 * Sethe believes her strong relationship with Denver and Beloved makes Paul D feel as though he is seperate from their "family" and that that must be hard for him to handle.
 * Section 1.13, page 132 paperback "Hearing the three of them laughing at something he wasn't in on. The code they used among themselves that he could not break. Maybe even the time spent on their needs and not his. They were a family somehow and he as not the head of it."

As Paul D reflects on his time at Sweet Home and his relationship with Mr. Garner, he questions the meaning of manhood and refers to himself and the other Sweet Home men as the only true black men. Even though Paul D and the other men were owned by Mr. Garner, they were respected and treated as human beings. Procreating and making babies is seen as a manhood rite. section 13, pg. 151 HC - "A way to hold on to her, document his manhood and break out of the girl's spell - all at one."
 * Section 1.13, pg. 125 "Was that it? Is that where the manhood lay? In the naming done by a whiteman who was supposed to know? Who gave them the privilege not of working but of deciding how to? No. In their relationship with Garner was true metal: they were believed and trusted, but most of all they were listened to."

In addition, fighting is a manhood rite in which power is a show. pg. 191 HC - "Little men, some of them, big men too, each one of whom he could snap like a twig if he wanted to."

In chapter 2.6, we find Paul D sitting of the steps of the church contemplating his manhood. He wonders what Garner's motive was in calling the Sweet Home Men men. Paul D's continual fixation on his manhood shows us that he is not confident about himself, and therefore he is not able to be the man that Sethe needs. It is this realization that made him leave Sethe, not her past.
 * Section 2.6, pg. 220 "It troubled him that, concerning his own manhood, he could not satisfy himself on that point. Oh, he did manly things, but was that Garner's gift or his own will? What would he have been anyway -- before Sweet Home -- without Garner?... Did a whiteman saying it make it so? Suppose Garner woke up one day and changed his mind? Took the word away."