Stamp Paid By Toni Morrison

In the excerpt given, Toni Morrison provides Stamp Paid’s point of view as he shows Paul D the newspaper clipping covering the story of Sethe harming her children to protect them from Sweethome. The clipping includes a picture of Sethe, and though Paul D cannot read, he knows the article must be something extreme, as Black people were not considered newsworthy, even in cases of violence, as it was seen as common. Upon this realization of the significance of Sethe’s image in the paper, Paul D refuses to accept it is her and fixates on the fact that it “ain’t her mouth”. In the passage, Morrison uses minimal dialogue featuring only Paul D with repetition and short sentences juxtaposed with a dense narration of Stamp Paid’s recollection of the past to emphasize Paul D’s frantic reaction to this newfound knowledge. Breaking up the large chunks of narration for Stamp Paid’s perspective are Paul D’s expressions of denial that it is truly Sethe depicted in the clipping. In every interjection, he repeats that it “ain’t her mouth” that he sees. His sentences are clipped and blunt, and many are five words or below, such as when he reminds Stamp Paid he has known Sethe for a while, from “back in Kentucky. When she was

There are multiple times where it is referenced how he was going to tell Paul D his story of that day, and how he knows for certain that it is Sethe in the picture because he was there, but Paul D speaks before he can do so. Instead, the one time he speaks in the passage is when he read the article out loud-- dialogue that isn’t written out. Though the excerpt is from Stamp Paid’s point of view, this imbalance of speaking time within the dialogue itself reflects the way in which Paul D is completely opposed to hearing Stamp Paid out and how he refuses to accept Sethe’s