234). Her house was haunted by the angry spirit of Beloved, who resented being separated from her mother and buried in the ground (88-89). The other members of the community knew about her past and were terrified of her haunted home, and no one would associate with her. However, Paul D. reminded Sethe of her humanity. First, he exorcised the house of its baby ghost (22) and then he took her to the carnival (55), which was her first social outing in eighteen years. At that point Paul was as yet unaware that she had killed her baby girl. As the story progresses, the truth emerges. In the conversation between Sethe and Paul D (194-195), Sethe tells Paul the story of how she killed her baby girl when Schoolteacher and the other men arrived to take her and her children back to Sweet Home. Paul, horrified, tells Sethe as he leaves, "you got two feet, Sethe, not four" (p....

194). Again, Paul D. is reminding Sethe that she is free, human and has the rationale to make choices.
Stamp Paid and Paul D. differ in their viewpoints regarding the jungle that the suffering has built up in each of them. Stamp Paid felt that the jungle was imposed on them by their traumatic experiences as slaves and accepted it as a fact of life. Paul D, however, chose to not to dwell in the past, but to seek out what little happiness he could find in life. He encouraged Sethe to do the same. He attempted to free her of the jungle in which she had been imprisoned. In the end, he tells her, "Me and you, we got more yesterday than anybody. We need some kind of tomorrow" (322). Paul D. reminds Sethe that despite the horrors of the past, they could still move forward and build a future together.

Works Cited

Morrison, Toni. Beloved.…