Being a Burden Every blessing is a burden. Toni Morrison illustrates children as burdens throughout the novel, The Bluest Eye. Some of the adults characters are often agitated by their children’s actions. Claudia MacTeer, Pecola Breedlove, and Cholly Breedlove experience the tension from their guardians the most. Their parents seem to not have any patience or tolerance for things that they perceive as foolish. Mrs. MacTeer, Claudia’s mother, and Samson Fuller, Cholly's father, are extremely aggressive, when they feel like their children are being a bother. A recurring theme in this novel is ‘children being a burden’ because of how Mrs. MacTeer reacts when Claudia is sick, how alarmed Mrs. MacTeer is by Pecola drinking too much milk, and how …show more content…
MacTeer doesn’t tolerate sickness. She is really rough with Claudia, when Claudia is sick. Claudia explains that, “Her hands are large and rough, and when she rubs the vicks salve on my chest, I am rigid with pain” (11). Mrs. MacTeer makes Claudia feel bad because she is sick. She believes sickness is a form of weakness. Because Mrs. MacTeer is angry at Claudia for allowing herself to get sick, she takes the anger out on Claudia. Claudia says, “My mother’s anger humiliates me; her words chafe my cheeks, and I am crying” (11). Mrs. MacTeer takes care of Claudia while she is sick, but at the same time let’s Claudia know how disgusted she is. The way that Mrs. MacTeer is treating Claudia, makes Claudia feel worst. The fact that Mrs. MacTeer has to tend to Claudia’s needs, makes Claudia a burden to Mrs. …show more content…
Samson doesn’t want the responsibility of being a father to Cholly. Samson states, “Something wrong with your head? Who told you to come after me?”(156). Cholly introduces himself to Samson for the first time, and Samson didn’t want anything to do with Cholly. Samson doesn’t have any patience for Cholly’s presence. Samson states, “Tell that bitch she get her money. Now, get the fuck outta my face!” (156). Samson doesn’t care that Cholly is his child and is repeatedly being rude and verbally aggressive towards Cholly. Cholly is a burden to Samson so much that he doesn’t want anything to do with
Katie Nolan, Francie’s mother, is the main reason that Francie is able to survive her arduous childhood and succeed in life. Food, heat and protection are always available to the Nolan children even if it means that Katie has to work multiple jobs or even sacrifice some of her own needs. Katie gives all she can to provide for her children and Francie truly values her mother’s hard work. Francie appreciates her mother’s thougtful acts, but still, Francie develops
However, Cholly does not exist for comedy or exploitation. He constantly abuses not only his wife, but his children as well. “He leapt from the bed…knocked her down with the back of his hand” (Morrison 38). In this scene, he is depicted to be cold and callous, harming his wife and emphasizing his desensitization towards his family. Truly evil villains are often shown to have little emotion, and even a sadistic facet to their personalities. The fact that Cholly abuses his family, the people one would assume he’d be closest to, reinforces just how cold and vile he is. Cholly, aside from physically abusing his wife, causes much psychological abuse to Pecola after he rapes her and leaves her lying unconscious on the kitchen floor (Morrison 128). It is obvious how little Cholly respects his daughter, as he does not show remorse for his deed, and leaves Pecola in a shameful position she did not deserve to be
This happens because she has a character strong enough to fight back. This shows that Cholly in a way is acting like Stanley with his wife. But he isn’t verbally aggressive with the women he knows but also with all the weakest he encounters. Stanley is violent with the woman he loves and with her sister because he feels like she is a threat but Cholly perceives everyone as a threat and that’s why he is always on the defensive trying to protect himself. Therefore it demonstrates that Cholly is afraid and insecure. He uses the only thing he master: violence. He doesn’t know about anything else than hatred which shows how broken he is too. This is because he has been forced to be watched having sex for the first time with his girlfriend by two white men. It destroyed him and made him what he is now: an insecure and violent man too afraid that he prefers to avenge himself on the
“The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison, is a story about the life of a young black girl, Pecola Breedlove, who is growing up during post World War I. She prays for the bluest eyes, which will “make her beautiful” and in turn make her accepted by her family and peers. The major issue in the book, the idea of ugliness, was the belief that “blackness” was not valuable or beautiful. This view, handed down to them at birth, was a cultural hindrance to the black race.
The narrator has a sense of meanness toward this family until right after the accident and then it changes tone to compassion. These subtle details can form the reader’s thoughts toward the family. O’Connor’s view on this family is realistic instead of a romantic view of a family. A romantic view of a family might be a perfect respectful loving family of five with their grandmother that helps around the house. O’Connor shows her view on a realistic view of a family; the children are disrespectful, Baily barely tolerates his mother, and the grandmother is over bearing. This take on realism using this family is amplified by the narrator. O’Connor’s narrator makes her character development and roles maximize the realism of her
In The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison strongly ties the contents of her novel to its structure and style through the presentation of chapter titles, dialogue, and the use of changing narrators. These structural assets highlight details and themes of the novel while eliciting strong responses and interpretations from readers. The structure of the novel also allows for creative and powerful presentations of information. Morrison is clever in her style, forcing readers to think deeply about the novel’s heavy content without using the structure to allow for vagueness.
and there is no harm in doing that, but Cholly was getting angry with her about it. It didn’t matter that she got a job to pay for the things she wanted. Cholly stilled fought and argued with Pauline about it. When Pauline got pregnant with Pecolia and Sammy, Cholly went back to his nice and caring self but it didn’t last forever. Cholly went back to coming home drunk every night and hurting his family either emotionally or
Many people can think back to their childhood and be reminded of many happy memories. They lived a life full of innocence and purity; however, in The Bluest Eye the young girls did not get that same experience. Children lead different lives, some of which deal with rape and abuse. The young black girls that Toni Morrison writes about face many hardships that no young child should encounter. These hardships take away the innocence of their childhood.
For a child to witness such a tragedy, as Pecola did, it would destroy a part of them in some way. For Pecola, it destroyed her trust, which we can see by her timid nature. Being “put outdoors” is described in depth to show the importance it has in foreshadowing the events leading up to Pecola living with Claudia and her family. Morrison required to place “the outdoors” in
Toni Morrison’s book The Bluest Eye tells the story of Pecola Breedlove, an eleven-year-old black girl who desperately wants blue eyes because she thinks they’ll make her beautiful. Because of her father, she becomes the epicenter of town gossip and a scapegoat that the people use to make themselves feel superior. Pecola feels hated and ugly in her community because she’s black and seems convinced that if she had blue eyes, all her problems would go away. Morrison’s novel is a timeless work of art that explores and develops many themes such as the idea that being white is equivalent to being beautiful. Like many incredible pieces of literature, the novel continues to inspire people.
In a way they might have thought they were helping her by breaking her down and destroying her hope. Cholly failed her as a parent by raping her and society had failed her by shunning her and not acknowledging that she was
They treat Claudia and Frieda as pieces of furniture, which are inconvenient, but necessary to care for. Mrs.MacTeer treats them with rough care, but care nonetheless. She dispenses punishment arbitrarily and too swiftly, not recognizing their physical or moral integrity, but she stops short of abusing them for the mere sake of releasing her own pent up
He has had a rough upbringing and is one of the antagonists because of his aggressive behavior and alcoholism. Furthermore, Morrison develops Cholly Breedlove as a psychologically damaged character. Throughout the novel, Cholly has a strong hatred for women. Cholly and his wife Pauline are constantly fighting.
Claudia MacTeer lives in a steady, cherishing home. In her portrayal, she utilizes as a state of differentiation to the Breedloves'. Frequently discussed by Claudia are the whipping. A type of teach in the MacTeer
Claudia expresses again and again how marginalized she and her sister perceived themselves to be, "Adults do not talk to us - they give us directions" (10). When Claudia thinks back to a childhood illness she suffered, she remembers her mother's irritation at finding her sick in bed. Claudia questions the reliability of her perceptions of pain and confusion, "But was it really like that? As painful as I remember? Only mildly. Love...eased up into that cracked window" (12). Claudia's mother's irritation is tempered with compassion; she coats Claudia's phlegmy chest with salve and "hands repinned the flannel, readjusted the