Anthology of Ideas

The scene begins with Paul D asking Sethe why she did not consider Halle a good man, Sethe says that Halle abandoned her and her children, and for that reason she did not consider him a good husband or father any longer. Paul D reveals to her that Halle witnessed what had happened to her in the barn shortly before she left and it had broken him. In response, Sethe tells Paul D about what happened in the barn and the treatment she received at the hands of the schoolmaster and his nephews, a decade before on the Sweet Home plantation.
For Halle witnessing the incident, broke what little humanity he had as a slave. As a result of the incident, he realized that he was just a powerless slave and it shattered his entire life’s view; although his action could have stopped that specific incident he would not have been able to stop it the next time or the time after that.