Sethe and Paul D's Redeeming Love

Follows the long-delayed romance between Sethe and Paul D from their Sweet Home youth to the brief carnival happiness and the final return.

increasingBearing stren­gth in each eventdecreasing

The Girl They Let Choose

The Girl They Let Choose The five Sweet Home men, starving for women, agree to let the iron-eyed new girl choose among them. They have no competing; they wait. Sethe sees them every day, feels their desire, and is protected by their restraint. The Bride of Halle She eventually chooses Halle, partly because he bought his mother's freedom. The other men, including Paul D, accept the choice. Paul D will spend twenty-five years imagining the sex he never had with her. A Brotherly Love Their early attachment is brotherly flirtation, subtle and easy. It is not until decades later, when they meet as ghosts of themselves, that it becomes romance.

The Kiss on the Scarred Back

The Kiss on the Scarred Back The Chokecherry Tree When Sethe tells Paul D about the tree on her back, he does not flinch. He follows her to the stove, presses his cheek against the scars, and kisses every ridge. He cannot feel his touch through the dead skin, but she feels the weight of his care. The Relief of Surrender Sethe lets herself be held at last, thinking: the responsibility for her breasts, for once, is in somebody else's hands. The pleasure of baking bread and smelling stolen milk returns to her. The Beginning of Trust Paul D's tenderness opens a space in Sethe's fortress. She begins to trust and remember, because the last of the Sweet Home men is there to catch her if she sinks.

The Shadows That Held Hands

The Shadows That Held Hands A Public Happiness At the carnival, Sethe is embarrassed to be dressed for church. Paul D laughs, spends his two dollars, and makes the crowd smile. Denver begins to think he is not so bad. The Sign of the Shadows On the road home, their three shadows hold hands. Sethe watches them and decides it is a good sign. She permits herself to imagine "a life," a future with Paul D. The Hope That Comes First The carnival is the high point of their love story, before Beloved arrives and before the newspaper clipping. The image of the hand-holding shadows becomes the emblem of what could have been.

The Burden of Halle's Fate

The Burden of Halle's Fate The Loft and the Butter Paul D tells Sethe that Halle saw the nephews take her milk, and that he broke from watching. The image of Halle smearing butter over his face replaces the shadowy memory she had kept alive. The Intimacy of Sharing Telling Sethe about Halle is an act of trust. Paul D also reveals his own iron bit and his shame about the rooster Mister. The sharing of worst memories deepens their bond. The Price of His Story Sethe is grateful for the truth, but the truth also wounds her. She knows now that Halle is probably dead, and that the gentle man she loved was broken by the same violence that marked her own back.

The Return and the New Beginning

The Return and the New Beginning A Man Who Comes Back Paul D returns after Beloved is gone and finds Sethe in her mother-in-law's bed. He does not run from her history; he sits down, asks to heat water, and tells her he will take care of her. The Feet That Counted Sethe mocks him with the memory of "counting my feet," but he answers, "Rub your feet." The difference between judgment and tenderness is the whole arc of their relationship. A Life of Their Own He wants to put his story next to hers. The love that began on Sweet Home, was interrupted by slavery, shame, and a ghost, and finally is rekindled not as perfection but as companionship. They are not fixed; they are beginning.

Sethe's first year at Sweet Home

Paul D's first evening in the kitchen of 124

the carnival day, walking home

the night Paul D tells Sethe what happened to Halle

the final scene at 124