The True Power of Morrison's White Point of View Chapter

Throughout the novel of Beloved, we as readers are only exposed to a certain point of view. That point of view is from the enslaved point of view. Protagonists such as Sethe, Paul D, Halle, and Denver who were either enslaved or have a family history of oppression are the protagonists for this novel. Although, in the passage my group had from pages 174-176, the point of view changes to the white race.

Through the white point of view, it is quite easy to see how they viewed Blacks during this specific time period. For instance, on page 176 the schoolteacher thinks to himself about Sethe,"besides having at least ten breeding years left." The diction in this specific line is outstanding, Morrison conveys that Whites thought African Americans more like animals and property then they did as actual human beings. I found the words "breeding years" especially significant. Something about those words hits you hard. I noticed that that one sentence in the entire passage explained the entire White mindset about African Americans. Having read lots of readings and history textbooks about the history of slavery, you become blocked from the emotional side of slavery. Morrison opens these doors back up with ease, showing the true dehumanization of African Americans put in place by Whites.

A few other instances caught my eye. On page 175 from the Sheriff's point of view, he thinks,"A crazy old nigger was standing in the woodpile with an ax. You could he was crazy right off...". The sad part about this quotation is the audience knows that the "crazy black man" is actually a kind and genuine man, Stamp Paid. This further demonstrates the butchered white point of view and they had no emotional feelings toward slaves. Slaves were not even considered human enough to care for, but it was easy for them to make assumptions based on how they looked or acted.

What do you guys think of this? Do you agree with my quotes and how they support that the white point of view illuminates just how dehumanizing Whites were to Blacks?