The Theme of Sexuality and Power in Toni Morrison’s Beloved

The Theme of Sexuality and Power in Toni Morrison’s Beloved

P.SubbiahSenthi Kumar M.A.,M.Phil.

Assistant Professor Dept. OF English

Arumugam Pillai SeethaiAmmal College

Tiruppattur

Sex functions as a powerful magnet between men and women.  Sex is also used as an instrument of exploitation in unequal societies.  Sex can also be used as a tool to get what one wants, whether the person concerned is a male or female.  People in authority are frequently seen seeking sexual favours from the vulnerable women in exchange for employment or other monetary benefits.

Tony Morrison deeply understands the dynamics of sexual relationships, particularly in Afro-American societies.  The while masters is a slave-owning society inevitably seek sexual gratification from the black slave-girls.  They don’t spare even poor white girls.  Demanding sex as a matter of right is considered to be a prerogative of the rich and powerful.

In several repressive and hypocritical societies sex is equated with sinfulness, guilt, crime and wickedness.  Morrison, however, takes a more realistic view of sex in African societies, where there is a more open, realistic and liberal attitude to its prevalence in natural human relationships.  Slavery, however, distorts the natural relationships and turns sex into a monstrous, dehumanizing instrument of rape, torture and violence.

Sexuality recurs as atheme throughout Beloved.  Sexual relations can signal love, yet they are most often related to power.  When Paul D first arrives he and Sethe start their relationship by having intercourse, in which sexuality is expressed as a loving relationship.  Similarly, when Sethe and Halle have their first time together in the corn, they are also beginning a tender and loving relationship.  However, most of the time, for slaves and ex-slaves, sexuality is controlled by power and carries a tarnished connotation.

Beloved is angered when she sees Sethe and Paul D being intimate.  She uses her own sexuality to come between them.  She moves Paul out of Sethe’s room and then comes to him and seduces him.  Paul is humiliated, both because he is convinced he does not want to have relations with her and because he is “being moved, placed where she wanted him, and there was nothing he was able to do about it”.  Beloved’s sexuality is a powerful force that comes between Sethe and Paul D.

Of course, in most instances in this text, it is white men’s sexuality that is asserted over black women.  Sethe’s mother was raped by many white men, Stamp’s wife was forced to be a mistress to her white master and another woman describes being used by a father and a son.  Because these men have absolute power over these women, they are able to use them in whatever ways they wish.

Works Cited:

Primary Source:

            Morrison, Toni. Beloved. Vintage Publication, 1988. Print..

Secondary Sources:

      Kubitsehek Missy. Toni Morrison : A Critical Companion.Delhi:Vikas Publishing                                     Housse, 1998. Print.

      Nellie Mc Kay.Approaches to Teaching the Novels of Toni Morrison.Bombay: Jaico                                Publishing House, 1998. Print.