Throughout Beloved and Uncle Tom’s Cabin, the dehumanization of slaves leads to issues with how they carry themselves after escaping and the underlying psychological problems that follow them through life. Dehumanization ultimately shows how large of an effect slavery had on African Americans and how it could haunt them for their whole life. This is represented by various events in both of the books, some of these examples in Beloved include when Sethe had her milk stolen and was severely beaten and when Paul D, along with the rest of the slaves, had less freedom than a rooster on the plantation. Some of the examples in Uncle Tom’s Cabin are similar to what I previously stated in the first part of the project, which was when George Harris was taken away from working at a job he was really good at and when Tom was practically beaten to death. Each novel depicts dehumanization in a different way, but each shows the similar consequences it has on society.
One of the most eye-opening ways dehumanization was displayed in Beloved was when Sethe had her milk stole and was severely beaten by Schoolteacher’s nephews. This had a large effect on the main character considering how often it’s brought up in the novel and how it was one of the main factors that caused her to run away. Sethe described what happened as, “I am full God damn it of two boys with mossy teeth, one sucking on my breast and the other holding me down, their book-reading teacher watching and writing it up,” (Morrison, 83). Then after this happened, Sethe went to Mrs. Garner to tell on them, and as soon as the boys found out, they beat Sethe with cowhide and made a scar the shape of a tree on her back. On top of it all, her husband, Halle, watched it happen from the loft above and wasn’t able to do anything about it. This is dehumanizing on so many levels because Sethe was treated more like an animal than a human having her milk sucked out of her breasts and then being whipped so hard that she had a huge scar, no woman should be unable to take care of their child because of such a traumatic event like this. Then the fact that Halle had to sit and watch because there was nothing he could do about it made everything worse. It’s wrong that Halle was deprived of the right to speak up while something like this was going on.
Another huge example of dehumanization in Beloved was when the book talked about how Paul D, along with the other slaves, had less freedom than a rooster on the plantation. When Mr. Garner was in control, the men had some freedom. Mr. Garner had stated, “Y’all got boys. Now at Sweet Home, my niggers is men everyone of em. Bought em thataway, raised em thataway. Men every one,” (Morrison, 12). Then after Garner’s death, Schoolteacher took over and took away every freedom from the slaves. He introduced whipping, torture, and humiliation. He often made them feel less than human. At one point he stated, “Mister, he looked so.. Free. Better than me. He was allowed to be and stay what he was. But I wasn’t allowed to be and stay what I was. Even if you cooked him you’d be cooking a rooster named Mister,” (Morrison, 86). In the book, the rooster represented masculinity to the Sweet Home men because even as a rooster, whose name was Mister, he had more power than them. Schoolteacher changed them for eternity by beating them down and making them feel less important and ultimately less than a human. This was one of the events that made Paul D long for freedom more than ever before. It’s sad to think that a person would ever feel that a rooster had more importance and more freedom than oneself, this is dehumanizing on so many levels because no animal should ever be freer than a human is.
The example in Uncle Tom’s Cabin that I have previously used took place after George Harris was hired out to a bagging factory. George was promoted very fast and became one of the best workers; he even invented a machine for cleaning hemp. Word eventually got out that George created such a machine and “All these superior qualifications were subject to the control of a vulgar, narrow-minded, tyrannical master” (Stowe, 11). His master hated the idea that George might be better at something than he is and didn’t like the idea of his slave “holding up his head among gentlemen” (Stowe, 11). Mr. Harris ended up demanding George’s wages and declared that he was going to take him home. He immediately ended George’s career at the factory and returned to the plantation for a life of hoeing and digging. He also restricted George from seeing his family on a normal basis. This portrays the theme of dehumanization because it took away George's right to a rather normal life, including the little bit of freedom he had while working at this job. It also took away his right to see his family on a regular basis.
Another obvious example of dehumanization in the novel I also previously mentioned is when Tom was beaten practically to death for not abiding by what Master Legree wanted. After Cassy and Emmeline escape, Legree was unable to take his wrath out on them and directed his anger towards Tom. He suspected that Tom knew something about the girl’s escape and after Tom’s refusal to speak about the subject he went mad trying to get information from him. The book stated, “‘Well Tom!’ said Legree, walking up, and seizing him grimly by the collar of his coat, and speaking through his teeth, in a paroxysm of determined rage, ‘do you know I’ve made up my mind to KILL you’” (Stowe, 375). Tom, the religious man that he had come to be told Legree that he’d rather die than tell him any information he may have known, which made Legree’s temper flare-up even more. He ended up beating poor Tom through the night and then ordered Sambo and Quimbo to continue the beating. Tom remained righteous through the end and hoped for salvation. This depicts dehumanization because it was restricting Tom from living free from cruel and unusual punishment.
When comparing the two novels, Beloved has a very different way of showing the negative effects of slavery than Uncle Tom’s Cabin. In Beloved, Morrison went about it by showing that the effects of slavery will always come back to haunt anyone that was apart of it. In Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Stowe went about it by displaying how the whole system of slavery never lead to anything positive.
Dehumanization is very significant in these two novels and is ultimately the driving force between both of them. Morrison and Stowe both made a significant contribution to history by writing novels that could change a ton of people’s perspective on such a large topic.
Works Cited:
Morrison, Toni. Beloved. New York: Vintage Books, 2004. Print.
Stowe, Harriet Beecher. Uncle Tom's Cabin. Ed. Elizabeth Ammons. New York: Norton, 2010. Print.
I agree with what you're saying. The dehumanization of these slaves, as well as in real life, must have had an impact even long after they were free. Like the example you gave, Paul D. often talked about how he felt less than a rooster. Also, like you said, we can look at what Schoolteacher did to Sethe. It messed her up mentally for the rest of her life, she never forgot about what they did to her.
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