"He could feel both Sethe and Denver pulling in, hold their stomach muscles, sending out sticky spiderwebs to touch one another. He decided to force it anyway.
‘I asked you who brought you here?’
‘I walked here,’ she said. ‘A long, long, long, long way. Nobody bring me. Nobody help me.’
‘You had new shoes. If you walked so long why don’t your shoes show it?’
‘Paul D, stop picking on her’" (77)
Toni Morrison writes this in the beginning of chapter 7. In which we first see Paul D idolize Beloved because of her physical appearance, something about Beloved really stood out to Paul D - he even describes her as “shining”. However, as Paul D continues to debrief his own internal conflict his ego takes action when Paul D begins to question this newly arrived lady who identifies herself as Beloved. This name is in particularly pondering to the reader because we Sethe herself has a baby that died whose name was also Beloved. Not only that but Beloved was described by Morrison to have risen from a nearby river and walk towards 124 - hinting at the idea of resurrection. Whether she is a physical character and is who she claims to be, or possibly a demon or ghost of baby Beloved in a physical body. Paul D and Sethe seems to have very different perspectives to first meeting Beloved. For instance, on chapter we can see as Morrison writes “Paul D wondered at the newness of her shoes” (63). Paul D’s ego takes into effect here, which is described by Saul McLeod in his article Id, Ego and Superego to be , "concerned with devising a realistic strategy to obtain pleasure". As a result since Paul D has previously been growing suspicious of Beloved he questions to her about her shoes to force an answer that would suit Paul D’s ego. For instance Paul D expects for her to admit that she just rose from the water and isn’t who she says she is, this is what Paul D’s ego wants. However Beloved simply replies that “I [Beloved] walked here” (77), which was not what Paul D wanted to hear. On the other hand, after Paul D asks about Beloved’s shoes we see how Sethe quickly reacts to try and defend her and Paul D and consequently becomes frustrated in response by saying “If you walked so far why don’t your shoes show it” (77).
This interaction, however, triggers the id of Sethe who goes onto react to the consistent questioning of Paul. Sethe instinctively reacts to try and protect Beloved, because like any mother she wouldn’t want her baby being hurt or put in a uncomfortable situation, such as the scene being described on page 77. So Sethe’s id quickly reacts to tell her Paul D to stop harassing Beloved about her shoes. Additionally, we see how Sethe more noticeably is depicted during this trialogue because of her id. For instance, she is described to be “pulling in, hold their stomach muscles” as Paul D is about to question Beloved almost as if sensing something bad is happening or if she is about to get punched and she is instinctively feeling bad without having any rationale much like a baby. This is also particularly surprising because we see how early on, she is remind and almost flattered by knowing Beloved’s name quickly correlating her with Sethe’s own dead daughter. This shows a lot as to why Sethe possibly decides to defend Beloved. She unconsciously wants to be a better mom or be the mom she could not have been. Sethe might be more inclined to be more caring towards Beloved as she might feel that she needs to become a better person. She tries to do this by trying to help Beloved as much as she possibly could. Ideally, while Sethe throughout the most part suffers internally from memories of her baby Beloved, this new Beloved helps her heal these thoughts and give her almost a second chance to help her almost redeem herself from her mistakes.
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