with his identity is because of his loss of freedom. When slaves were bought and sold, society was stripping them of their identity as people and treating them as commodities. We can see the impact this has on Paul D’s sense of self in many ways, particularly how he relates himself to Mister the rooster. For example, Paul D says,

Mister was allowed to be and stay what he was. But I wasn’t allowed to be and stay what I was. Even if you cooked him you’d be cooking a rooster named Mister. But wasn’t no way I’d ever be Paul D again, living or dead (86).

Here we see that Paul D feels he has lost his sense of self with his loss of autonomy as a slave. The involvement of other males in his enslavement also complicated his understanding of his masculinity. He was being told that he was a man by another man who claimed to own him. This led him to question if he was really a true man.

There are many specific examples of experiences that made Paul D feel dehumanized. These examples highlight Paul D’s struggle to feel like a man. For example, while enslaved, he had a metal bit forced into his mouth, something that is typically done to animals. He also was raped by male prison guards. These traumatic experiences made Paul D feel emasculated.

Paul D also struggled with the intense social pressures for men to be strong and not show emotion. We see him grappling with this when he says,

Let me tell you something. A man ain’t an ax. Chopping, hacking, busting every minute of the day. Things get to him. Things he can’t chop down because they’re inside (69).

Here we see that Paul D is frustrated with the pressure for men to come across as strong all the time. We also see that these social pressures are inhibiting his ability to process the trauma he endured. The use of the phrase “can’t chop down” shows how the expectation that men are meant to focus their energy on physical labor does not teach them how to confront complex emotions.

Overall, Paul D’s traumatic experiences in slavery led him to spend years chasing a concrete sense of manhood. He even says he wants to have a baby with Sethe as a means of “documenting his manhood” (128). His story prompts the reader to reflect on definitions and expectations of masculinity, particularly African American masculinity.