The Bluest Eye Research Paper

The first example of cruelty is through Cholly, being a perpetrator towards Pecola, but after being victimized by his parents. In the beginning of the novel, Cholly refuses to get the coal for the fire, as ordered by Mrs. Breedlove. The Coal symbolizes the love in the family, which he is failing to bring into the household. This relationship between Pecola’s parents is paralleled to Cholly’s parents. His parents “Wrapped [Cholly] in two blankets and one newspaper and placed him on a junk heap by the railroad” (132). He was recovered by his aunt,

Cholly Breedlove is the Husband of Pauline Breedlove, and father to Pecola and Sammy Breedlove. He is an alcoholic who doesn’t care for his family, and abuses of his wife. This behavior can be traced back to when Cholly was young. His mother abandoned him and was then raised by his aunt, who eventually died. This lead Cholly to go after his father who when found disrespected him, and didn't even know who his mother was. This hindered Cholly’s feeling of being alone, forgotten, and mistreated. Cholly eventually found love with Pauline and married her; they had two children. Morrison writes, “But the aspect of married life that dumbfounded him and rendered him totally dysfunctional was the appearance of children... Having no idea of how to raise children, and having never watched a parent raise himself, he could not even comprehend what such a relationship should be.” (160) The absence of no parental figures in the life of Cholly immensely impacted him when it was time to raise his own. He didn’t know the proper way to raise them or even love them. He didn’t even know how to approach them, but nevertheless he still wanted to. With this being said, the only way he was able to approach Pecola was by having sex with her-- which was the only form of affection he knew of. This also lead to Pecola having a disturbed

In the aftermath, there is a dialogue presented between Pecola and an imaginary friend. The dialogue includes conflicted feelings of Pecola’s rape, and her deluded thoughts of her wish for blue eyes has been granted. She believes that the changes in behavior of the people around her are because of her new eyes, and not the news of her rape. Claudia speaks for a final time, and describes the recent phenomenon of pecola’s insanity. She also suggests that Cholly, (who had since died), may have shown Pecola the only affection he could by raping her. Claudia believed that the whole community, herself included, have used Pecola as a way to make themselves feel beautiful and happier.

“Cholly was free. Dangerously Free. Feel to free whatever he felt---fear, guilt, shame, love, grief, pity. Free to knock her [a woman] in the head…free to live his fantasies, and free even to die…Abandoned in a junk heap by his mother, rejected for a crap game by his father, there was nothing more to lose. He was alone with his own perceptions and appetites, and they alone interested him.” [This quote shows the catharsis Cholly Breedlove’s peers and the readers have towards him. Although Cholly is an impulsive character who is abusive towards his wife and daughter, the people surrounding him and the readers would have a difficult time hating him because of his past. Cholly has been through numerous situations in his life where he has been tormented, so for that reason, every harsh thing he has done in his life is acceptable and his tragic past is the one to be blamed for.] (159)

In the third chapter of The Bluest Eye, entitled "Autumn", Toni Morrison focuses on Pecola's family, the Breedloves. Morrison goes in depth about the family dynamic of the Breedloves and how it affects Pecola and her self-image. The passage starts after one of many arguments between Cholly and Mrs. Breedlove, Pecola's parents, turns violent. Mrs. Breedlove wants Cholly to fetch some coal from the outside shed. Cholly spent the last night drinking and does not want to get out of bed. The passage begins with the children becoming aware of the argument. Mrs. Breedlove starts to hit him with cooking pans while Cholly mostly used his feet and teeth. After the fight is over Mrs. Breedlove just lets Cholly lie on the ground and she goes about her

After she meets Pecola, her concerns go to Pecola. She explains about each and every incident that occurs to Pecola and the reasons behind leading to those incidents. According to Claudia, the narrator of the story, not just Pecola but it was the Breedlove family members who treated themselves the uglier rather than the society. Only the difference is that they make a different mindset deal with it. The narrator vividly mentions by saying, “Then you realized that it came from conviction, their conviction/And they took the ugliness in their hands, threw it as a mantle over them, and went about the world with it” (Morrison 39). This explains more of what they were dealing with. It is impossible to make them believe that they aren’t relentlessly and aggressively ugly (38). Being young, vulnerable and more importantly, female, Pecola is the one who gets abused frequently and endures the damage in greater

If Pecola acquired blue eyes she believes she would no longer be an outcast. She believes her peers will accept her. After seeing how the new girl, Maureen Peal, with “sloe green eyes” and white skin “enchanted the entire school,” Pecola makes the hypothesis that having blue eyes would make her popular amongst her classmates (62). She believes that to have blue-green eyes and white skin earns her acceptance. Pecola wants everyone to look at her the same way they look at Maureen. She desires to be the girl that enchants the school. Though Pecola seeks admiration from all of her peers, Pecola ultimately seeks Maureen’s approval and acceptance. Pecola wants the prettiest girl in the class to view her as beautiful. However, after a dispute with Pecola, Maureen exclaims, “I am cute! And you are ugly! Black and ugly e mos. I am cute!” (73). Pecola, after hearing this proclamation, comes to the realization that the most beautiful girl in school believes that being black means being ugly. Therefore, Maureen proclaims that being white must be what leads to beauty and popularity. In fact, at the end of the novel when Pecola is conversing with herself she asks, “What does Maureen think about your eyes?” (196). This question further proves that if Maureen admired Pecola in the same manner everyone admired her, Pecola would feel beautiful. She would be beautiful like Maureen, and everyone will accept her.

At an early age, Cholly learns that his life would be extremely difficult. When he was four years old his parents abandoned him. The two people that were supposed to love him unconditionally and teach him life lessons had turned their back on him and created emotional damage. This marks the beginning of Cholly’s problematic life. Aunt Jimmy created a glimmer of hope for the future when she took on the role of his guardian.

Cholly Breedlove the father of Pecola is an alcoholic bastard. He was born to an unwed mother that abandoned him three days after his birth; and his father ran away once he was born. This eventually is the main cause why he had acted like he acted towards his family and especially towards Pecola. After his legal guardian, his aunt, dies, Cholly decided that as an inner mission he needs to find his father to find himself. This long search ends in an extremely disappointing - crushing- experience. As Cholly tries to explain his identity to his father, his (father's) face changes as he begins to understand, avoiding the fact that he is Cholly’s biological father. This extremely embarrassing encounter with his father scars him for life. His only image of a father figure is one who brings pain. Another cause of his eventual downfall was the way the community perceived him. They treated him disrespectfully, talked about him behind his back, and made a mockery of his name. After Cholly attempts to burn

Another powerful incident, Cholly’s first sexual experience, gives insight into the rage, confusion and tenderness he feels towards women in his adult life. The narrator describes the incident with Darlene and the white men through Cholly's eyes. The reader understands the initial excitement of young sexual energy, and the later humiliation of being caught by the cruel white men. Cholly directs his anger towards Darlene rather than towards the white men

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

“Ugly,” “dirty” —both words with the intention of nothing more than an attack—are the primary characteristics members of society see within her. Being forcefully raped by her father and having a still-birth from it as well as being physically unattractive are circumstances that were the ball and chain around Pecola’s ankle that enabled her to sink in the ocean of hatred. The whites or the “leaders” within society also bring her down to a level of pity by excessively making cruel comments towards both her uncontrolled circumstances of being raped and unattractive—Bay Boy and the gang of boys that grouped around Pecola and insulted her is a prime example—. When people hear of the story of Pecola and her father Cholly’s inhumane deed, they do not frown upon her misfortune, but rather shake their heads in disgust at the bother of them—she is not deemed to be the victim of abuse, but rather a convict. Toni Morrison’s outlook on the “outcast” in society is filled with melancholy emotions and pity that saddens the eye making them blue with

Cholly is an alcoholic and abuser. Cholly growing up got physical and mental abused and after that incident he turned to being angry at girls. So with him becoming in love with Pauline but not because she was pretty but because she had a disformed foot and he liked the weak. So Cholly liked going after victims that didn’t have a back bone. Well one-day Pecola was home and washing dishes and he came in

Morrison uses word choice and sentence structure during the scene where Pecola is raped to emphasize the disturbing nature of the action. Morrison gives the reader a window into Cholly’s thoughts right before he penetrates her. Morrison writes, “He wanted to fuck her-- tenderly” (Pp. 162-3). The juxtaposition of the words “fuck” and “tenderly create a striking and disgusting image that helps to convey the true horror of the rape. “Fuck” is related to violence and cruelty while

After Pauline and Cholly move to Lorain, Ohio, Pauline finds the people unkind and describes her time as 'the lonesomest time of my life." (Morrison, p. 117) She comes to rely heavily on