Degrading Language

Spencer Jordan

Kody Partridge

AP Lang/Comp, Period 3

22 March 2013

Slave Catching

In Beloved, Toni Morrison emphasizes whites’ racism towards African Americans through degrading language and narration from the point of view of whites. Baby Suggs and Sethe settle down at the house of 143 and life appears to be on the upswing until Baby Suggs senses an ominous scent. Her premonition becomes a reality as slave catchers arrive at the house to retrieve Sethe and her fugitive slave-children. One of the slave catchers describes that when looking for fugitive slaves, “you could find them folded up somewhere” (174). The impersonal pronoun “them” distances whites from blacks and generalizes slaves as one group of people who follow the same pattern of living. By generalizing and distancing blacks, whites allow for an ease in finding and detain fugitive slaves. The phrase “folded up” further pushes the idea of slaves as inanimate objects or subhuman. This common characterization allows for the moniker of “slave catching,” which seems like the hunting of an animal. The slave catcher takes satisfaction in the way that fugitives realize “they would recognize the futility of outsmarting a whiteman” (174). Morrison employs pompous language from the perspective of a white man to demonstrate the sense of superiority whites felt. Also, the impersonal pronoun “they” contrasts with “whiteman.” Morrison uses language that distinctly humanizes whites. The word “futility” can also be seen as descriptive of fugitive, free slaves; whites viewed blacks that weren’t subjected to slavery as useless or pointless. A fugitive slave, when apprehended, would have a “jelly-jar smile on his face that could turn into “a roar, like a bull” (174). Morrison uses the epithet “jelly-jar smile” to show emphasize the degrading language whites used to describe slaves. The epithet refers to children who are caught stealing; this epithet directly compares slaves to children, who are generally characterized as unsophisticated and undisciplined. The simile “like a bull” depicts fugitive slaves as not only sub-human, but also wild, reckless, and violent. A bull typifies violent, unbridled anger. Morrison, by narrating from the point of view of a slave catcher, uses belittling diction to dehumanize slaves and justify their mistreatment.