In Chapter 13, the images of dismemberment that permeate the novel become more prominent and more ominous as Sethe scatters animal bones, skins, heads, and innards outside the restaurant for dogs to eat. Her forces seem equally scattered as she considers the possibilities of Paul D leaving her with another child to raise, Buglar and Howard returning home, and Beloved remaining in her life in place of the infant she killed.
Meanwhile, Paul D contemplates what it means to be a man and compares his sense of powerlessness in 124 with the powerlessness he felt as a slave. In 124, he feels alienated from the intimacy of three women who speak their own code. Sethe even acknowledges to herself that "They were a family somehow and he was not the head of it." When Paul D meets Sethe at her work, he is attempting to regain his sense of manhood and his place in the family by taking control of his situation. If he reveals the secret of his relationship with Beloved, he feels he will break free from Beloved's power over him.
When the opportunity comes to be honest with Sethe, though, he is unable to tell her that he is not man enough to fend off a young woman's advances. Instead he asserts his manhood by declaring that he wants Sethe to have his baby. Getting Sethe pregnant would prove his manhood and would also serve to create his own family. Paul D's attempt to reinstate himself in Sethe's life seems to have worked when she invites him to share her bed. However, despite her affection for Paul D, Sethe is determined to resist his attempts to alter the dynamics of her family.
