From the beginning of the book, we are introduced to the father of Sethe's children and the son of Baby Suggs, Halle. Although we never directly meet him, we begin to get a sense of who he his from flashbacks from Sethe and later on Paul D. For a while it is a question to Sethe and the reader as to where did Halle go? Is he dead? Did he escape but end up going somewhere else? Where could he be?
As the years went on, Sethe seemed to give up on him in a way, coming to the conclusion that Halle just left her and their children all alone. But with the appearance of Paul D., we get some closure from this looming question in all of our heads. Sethe responded to Paul's question as to why she did not consider Halle to be a good man because "he did worse; he left his children". Paul D. reveals to Sethe that Halle saw what happened at the loft in the barn. For Halle, witnessing the incident broke what little humanity he had as a slave. As a result of the incident, Halle broke, he realized that he was just a powerless slave, the whole thing "'broke him like a twig'" (81). He then went arguably insane, he could no longer stand himself and the life he was forced to live. The last time Paul D. saw Halle, he was sitting by the butter churn with butter all over his face. Sethe goes on to say that the reason as to why Halle had the butter all over his face was "because the milk they took is on his mind" (83). Because of this one incident, Halle's life, family, and whole world in shattered having no real way to cope with what just happened, Halle reverted to anything he could. Slavery reveals its true self to Halle in showing him that it's not just about the lack of freedom and deference for a "master" but as a complete lack of power in life, stripping away any and everything that makes a human a human being.
Ironically, learning that Halle had rubbed butter all over his face after witnessing what happened to Sethe completely changed Sethe's view of who and what Halle was. Same goes for Halle, just after witnessing what happened in the loft, his perspective of who he was changed. Sethe learns at the end of the day that she will do anything to keep her children from the life of slavery, and she learns that Halle was a good husband after all but he could not handle the feeling of powerlessness. The event that destroys Halle eventually empowers Sethe to defy the schoolteacher.
I think that Halle is one of the most interesting characters in the novel because we never see much of his perspective, more of other's thoughts about him or when/how they saw him. I like how you compared Sethe's change of mind to Halle's. I think that one of the biggest questions in the novel is 'where is Halle?' and I hope that we find out eventually. I agree with Sethe would do anything for her children to keep them from the life of slavery and I like how you connected it to Halle breaking, in a sense, because of his time enslaved. I think that Halle was a good husband because he took care of his entire family the best that he could and Sethe did as well. I also liked your statement that Halle's downfall actually became Sethe's uprising.
ReplyDeleteI think Halle is the most interesting person in the book because he's the only one who lost. He wasn't able to escape either physical or mental constraints of slavery and paid the ultimate price for it. I think it's interesting that we, as a society, only talk about those who managed to free themselves and not those like Halle who perished.
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