The Bluest Eye - 1329 Words

Throughout Toni Morrison’s controversial debut The Bluest Eye, several characters are entangled with the extremes of human cruelty and desire. A once innocent Pecola arguably receives the most appalling treatment, as not only is she exposed to unrelenting racism and severe domestic abuse, she is also raped and impregnated by her own father, Cholly. By all accounts, Cholly should be detestable and unworthy of any kind of sympathy. However, over the course of the novel, as Cholly’s character and life are slowly brought into the light and out of the self-hatred veil, the reader comes to partially understand why Cholly did what he did and what really drives him. By painting this severely flawed yet completely human picture of Cholly,†¦show more content†¦In many ways, Cholly is deserving of this treatment and hatred towards him. Considering how drunk he was when he found Pecola in the kitchen, his actions could not have been completely his own, which is more t han enough to convict him of villainy. However, Cholly had endured what was arguably the most senseless psychological abuse present in the novel. The hunters in the woods had ingrained bristled, thorny weeds into Cholly’s mind that deeply emasculated him and would later â€Å"stir him into flights of depravity that surprised himself† (32). In addition to this, Cholly had only known one person who could be seen as a father figure type, Blue, and this figure had been drinking too often and too much to have been any help to Cholly, which may have later influenced Cholly to do the same (119). Due to Cholly’s upbringing and his lack of a stable, healthy relationship between himself and someone else, he did not possess the knowledge to be able to raise children of his own, let alone have â€Å"felt a stable connection between himself and [his] children† (127). This had led Cholly to â€Å"react† to his children, and these reactions were stemmed from â€Å"what he felt at the moment† (127). While it is apparent that Morrison is showing some of the ugliness of sexual abuse with Cholly and Pecola, and how unjustifiable it is, she is also showing that sexual abuse has its origins deeplyShow MoreRelatedThe Bluest Eye Analysis921 Words   |  4 Pagesâ€Å"The Bluest Eye† â€Å"The Bluest Eye† by Toni Morrison is a very complex story. While not being a novel of great length is very long on complexity. It tells the story of Pecola Breedlove, a young African American girl immersed in poverty and made â€Å"ugly† by the Society of the early 1940’s that defines beauty in terms of blonde haired white skinned , and in this case specifically Shirley Temple. The novel opens in the fall of 1941, just after the Great Depression, in Lorain, Ohio. Nine-year-old ClaudiaRead MoreEssay on Bluest eye1102 Words   |  5 Pages Toni Morrison’s novel, The Bluest Eye, presents the lives of several impoverished black families in the 1940’s in a rather unconventional and painful manner. Ms. Morrison leads the reader through the lives of select children and adults, describing a few powerful incidents, thoughts and experiences that lend insight into the motivation and. behavior of these characters. In a somewhat unconventional manner, the young lives of Pauline Williams Breedlove and Charles (Cholly) Breedlove are presentedRead MoreAnalysis Of The Bluest Eye 818 Words   |  4 PagesIn The Bluest Eye, Pecola the protagonist is taken under the Macteer family’s wing much like â€Å"The African family is community-based and the nurturing quality is not contained within the nuclear family, but is rather the responsibility of the entire community† (Ranstrà ¶m). In traditional Africa each child has a place and is welcome in the community. The act of parenting another child was not odd because every adult that lived in each community believed that any child is welcome in anyone’s home. ThisRead MoreEssay On The Bluest Eye1562 Words   |  7 PagesHowever, in the book, â€Å"The Bluest Eye† by Toni Morrison, they live up to their reputations for how they view themselves. Specifically, being focused on women like Pecola, and Claudia. They are often questioning their worth from society’s judgement of beauty. Though one character, Frieda embraces it despite being black. With having everything temporary, the desire of grasping and having something permanent increases. The women desires to be of a lighter skin tone with blue eyes, but will being privilegedRead MoreThe Bluest Eye By Toni Morrison1587 Words   |  7 Pagesâ€Å"We were born to die and we die to live.† Toni Morrison correlates to Nelson’s quote in her Nobel Lecture of 1993, â€Å"We die. That may be the meaning of life. But we do language. That may be the measure of our lives.† In Toni Morrison’s novel, The Bluest Eye, she uses language to examine the concepts of racism, lack of self-identity, gender roles, and socioeconomic hardships as they factor into a misinterpretation of the American Dream. Morrison illustrates problems that these issues provoke throughRead MoreThe Character of Cholly in The Bluest Eye1317 Words   |  6 Pages The Character of Cholly in The Bluest Eye nbsp; Morrison has divided her portrayal of a fictional town of blacks, which suffers from alienation and subjugation, into four seasons.nbsp; I believe that her underlying message is to illustrate the reality of lifes travails: the certain rhythms of blessings and tragedies.nbsp; Some blacks understand and acccept this philosophy and Morrisons use of the seasons portrays and echoes the bible verse, To every thing there is a season, andRead MoreThe Bluest Eye By Toni Morrison1598 Words   |  7 Pages in The Bluest Eye, racism has been approached in a very exceptional way. The characters in Morrison’s novel are subjected to adopt a set of values that are separated by the complexion of their skin. The black community in the novel has accepted white standards of beauty, judging Maureen’s light frail skin to be beautiful and that of Pecola’s dark skin to be ugly. These standards arise to Pecola’s desire to have â€Å"the bluest eyes.†. During the 1940’s, Toni Morrison’s novel The Bluest Eye examinesRead MoreThe Bluest Eye By Toni Morrison992 Words   |  4 PagesSet in the 1940s, during the Great Depression, the novel The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison, illustrates in the inner struggles of African-American criticism. The Breedloves, the family the story revolves around a poor, black and ugly family. They live in a two-room store front, which is open, showing that they have nothing. In the family there is a girl named Pecola Breedlove, she is a black and thinks that she is ugly because she is not white. Pecola’s father, Cholly Breedlove, goes through humiliatedRead MoreAnalysis Of The Book The Bluest Eye 1115 Words   |  5 Pagesbeliefs. However, in The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, the topic of racism is approached in a very unique way. The characters within the novel are subjected to internalizing a set of beliefs that are extremely fragmented. In accepting white standards of beauty, the com munity compromises their children’s upbringing, their economic means, and social standings. Proving furthermore that the novel has more to do with these factors than actual ethnicity at all. In The Bluest Eye, characters experience aRead MoreThe Bluest Eyes By Toni Morrison1118 Words   |  5 PagesFood and appetite is a relatable experience for everyone. Many believe food is strictly just for enjoying while you eat, however within Toni Morrison’s novel â€Å"The Bluest Eyes† she makes many distinct references to food. Through these means, she creates each individual personality of the characters. She goes on to use this association for most food references within her novel. The result enables the reader to have a more relatable experience with each of her characters regardless of color. Overall