Close Reading Post Colonial Lens

“During, before and after the War he had seen Negroes so stunned, or hungry, or tired or bereft it was a wonder they recalled or said anything. Who, like him, had hidden in caves and fought owls for food; who, like him, stole from pigs, who, like him, had buried trees in the day and walked by night; who like him, had buried themselves in slop and jumped in wells to avoid regulators, raiders, patrollers, veterans, hill men, posses, and merry-makers. Once he met a Negro about fourteen years old who lived by himself in the woods and said he couldn't remember living anywhere else. He saw a witless colored woman jailed and hanged for stealing ducks she believed were her own babies. Move. Walk. Run. Hide. Steal and move on”(78).

In this passage, Paul D is comparing Beloved to other African Americans, and their experiences. He believes that Beloved doesn't seem hurt enough, and this causes him to be suspicious of her. He describes the suffrage many others went through, and how traumatized they now seem. This passage depicts the struggle and the inferiority African Americans felt, as a consequence of slavery. Looking at it through the post colonial lens, it is another way to view “colonizing” an entire race of people, in the sense that they treated African Americans like they were less than them, and dehumanized them, and took away their rights as human beings.  The author uses Paul D’s personal experiences to illustrate how an entire race was affected by slavery. Paul D’s wording shown throughout this passage, illustrates the suffering millions of people went through, shows the effects of slavery, even today.

As Paul D describes his experiences he uses certain words to portray the emotional impact of slavery that he and others around him went through. When describing his experiences, he portrays himself as less than human and more animalistic stating slaves like him, “fought owls for food”. This is a very powerful statement, because illustrates the horrible ways in which African Americans were treated at this time, and how demeaning it must have felt. The impacts of slavery has caused him to view himself  as a savage or an animal when he thinks about what he has done to survive like “stole from pigs”.

When he thinks about his encounters with other African Americans he describes a women as “witless” and that she would steal “ducks she believed were her own babies.” The way he views other African Americans is more degrading, as a result of whites treatment towards African Americans, objectifying them, and viewing them as something to “own” instead of a human being who deserve the same fundamental rights. His attitude towards them shows that he feels empathetic towards them because he himself has experienced the same traumatic experiences at the “meanest places for Negroes” in Kentucky, however he describes others as “witless”, “stunned”, and “bereft” which depicts them as struggling to survive, even though they are now free.

Years after slavery is abolished we still reap the consequences of discrimination on a daily basis. How many times are we going to have to hear about another police brutality incident, based on racial prejudice. Recently in South Carolina, an unarmed African American man was shot eight times while running away from a cop, because he feared for his life. Being shot eight times for no reason, is an example of dehumanizing someone, and just seeing them as a “stereotype” as opposed to a human life. This seems unbelievable as a society we still fight against discrimination and prejudice this many years after slavery. Though times are different since the time period Beloved is based on, it’s just a different form of racism. The consequences of slavery has caused our modern day society to still have inequality and discrimination.