Slave's liberties at Sweet Home

Paying attention to the different relationships between characters within the novel, Beloved presents a clashing perspective of kindliness from the masters of the slaves. During the time period of slavery within America, the color of skin and status of wealth had an immense impact on the interactions and relationships people would encounter. An intriguing relationship in Beloved was Sethe’s relationship with the other slave men. During a flashback by Paul D while gazing at Sethe, Sethe remembers her marriage with Halle and through this relationship I was able to interpret the respect the slaves have for each other. American slavery used to entail rape and abuse between masters and slaves but at Sweet Home, the slaves respect their master and their fellow slaves, male and female. This is unlike the rest of agricultural slavery because of the respect and compassion for the slaves to produce the highest quality and quantity of corn. Sweet Home’s master, Mr. Garner treated his slaves as “men, every one of em(12)”, which enabled them to be adults and respect the women of the farm. When Sethe informs the masters of the farm of her request to marry Halle, Mrs. Garner ask if she is “already expecting” and notifies Sethe that she will be anticipating a child in order to display compassion for the new family but instigates because women slaves were used to produce more slaves (31). Although Sethe is free to marry Halle and have a children with him, masters would often separate families to strip the African Americans spirits. Sweet Home represents the possible dawn of civil rights because they identify their slaves as “men” and that for “men” to cultivate efficiently, the masters must treat their slaves with respect. Sethe asks for a formal wedding to congeal her relationship with Halle but only receives laughter from Mrs. Garner. Although Mrs. Garner recognizes her liberty to marry, she chuckles at her request to have a marriage ceremony. The master’s compassion extends farther than many of the slave owners during this time period, but Sethe and Halle arrange for their own private wedding, but still a “public display” for the other men on the farm to emphasize Halle’s ownership of his wife, Sethe(32). 

Rummaging through the cornfields after the marriage, the slaves picked the corn to munch on but Sethe stopped to admire the texture of the corn. While observing the corn she illustrates its “silk” hairs and how they are “fine”, “loose” and “free”. The depiction of the “loose” and “free” corn represent and embody the freedoms allowed on Sweet Home(33). The “fine” and “silk”y corn hairs exemplify the outcome of quality agriculture when respect and consideration is exhibited between masters and slaves(33). Learning about Sethe’s past relationship with Halle and how the other men present respect for the females on the farm portray their manners and demonstrate the functionality of slavery when empathy is present. However, the infrastructure from cruel and inhumane masters illustrate the dispossessed humanity to concede the terrible actions they are committing by abusing and owning humans.