In Toni Morrison’s Beloved, Paul D, a black slave, encounters a chicken, Mister, running around the yard while Paul is tied up to a bit and has his hands tied behind his back. Paul D feels inferior to a mere chicken due to its freedom and state of free being.
As Mister walks by Paul D, Paul is even more worthless than a mere rooster. Morrison’s choice of name, “Mister” for the rooster accurately describes the level of freedom between Paul and Mister. Mister normally is used for calling a plantation owner by slaves or anyone in higher power. In this situation, Mister, even without the ability to climb away from the tub, had more freedom physically and mentally than Paul.
In this moment, Paul realizes that he’s forever trapped by his born circumstances, both denotatively and connotatively. Paul is physically trapped with a bit in his mouth and hands tied behind him, but he is also naturally trapped simply because he is black. Even when slaves are set free, they aren’t necessarily “free” because of the ways that whites treated blacks, regardless of their freedom. This changes Paul D forever because he recognizes that his race will forever put him in a position even lower than that of a mere rooster.
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Mister behaved badly and usually destroyed everything in the yard, all with a sly smile on his face. He was free to be mischievous and elude punishment and consequences. In a plantation, a rooster can be evil and roam freely, but a human being with a kind soul is locked up and chained simply because of his skin color. This constant state of racial claustrophobia affects Paul D, as it makes him fully aware of the true unfairness in the world. When talking to Sethe about these flashbacks, Paul D simply smiles. He does so to push and block the memories from Sweet Home out. He keeps a happy face, but the incident with Mister changed him and damaged him.
Morrison uses the rhetorical device of parallelism to illustrate how damaged Paul D is after the incident. Paul D says that Mister is “allowed to be and stay what he is,” but he is not “allowed to be and stay where he is.” By employing this parallel structure, the audience can see the contrast and juxtaposition between Paul and the rooster, and their differing levels of power. Paul describes that Mister can be who he is without hesitation and stay who he is, but Paul cannot stay where he is because of this state of slavery.
Paul D truly realizes that to Schoolteacher, he is nothing better than a destructive, evil chicken. The entire incident makes him feel worthless that he will ever be treated with respect again. From that point on, Paul tries desperately to block his memories of Sweet Home, a memory of hopelessness.
