The title of the novel refers to Pecola Breedlove’s intense desire for blue eyes. She believes herself ugly and unworthy of love and respect, but is convinced that her life would be magically transformed if she possessed blue eyes. How does racial self-loathing corrode the lives of Pecola and her parents, Cholly and Pauline Breedlove? How does racial self-hatred manifest itself in characters like Maureen Peal, Geraldine, and Soaphead Church?
[source: Oprah's Book Club Discussion Questions]
3 comments
Geryll says:
Jan 17, 2013
I have so much to say as this story cuts straight to the heart of much of our collective post slavery/patriarchy/colonial wounding. Let me just begin… I am reading Ms.Morrison’s books with an eye to healing. I feel she left us a guideline for healing our socio-racial woundedness as it mani/femmi/tranni fests itself in self hatred that gets acted out in family, work, corporate, community structures. This story illuminaes the pervasive fog of shame that drives people into a constant state of defensiveness and mania around the vulnerable truths that accompany intimate relationships (be they parental, sibling, friend, employer…). When Pecola spills the blueberry pie at her mothers workplace and gets burned by the sweet dark berry juice as it splatters her legs, her mother beats and yanks her out of the way without seeming to care at all for Pecola’s wellbeing. A true act of self hatred and defeat in the face of the demanding little yellow haired mistress baby that calls her Polly. Pauline’s inner child (Polly) has taken refuge in this apartheid comfort. Her “employers” infantalize her and praise her for her virtue – they even have something no family member of hers ever had for her – a nickname. Polly. Rhymes with dolly. Polly is willing to participate in the fantasy that this altered state of reality brings to her. A child who gives her affection and trusts her, a kitchen to clean and organize and “call her own” – a way to return to her time alone at home in Kentucky – A time when she still had hope for her bright future, for her daughter, a time before her spirit began to immolate her soul. Our inner children show us where the first fatal wound happened and remind us that we were once vulnerable, trusting and hopeful. That the loss of hope has created the kind of barriers that look like self hatred, spouse hatred, child abuse, and acting out in all sorts of “irrational” ways. Geraldine raised her son Junior in such a void of intimacy that he was blazing with jealousy and hatred by the time he lured Pecola into his home with the promise of kittens. Who could he share his desperation and tragic self hatred witth but a little defenseless “black e mo”. Somebody who represents his desires (his right to be black) and fears/hates (the societal interpretation of blackness aka the indescribable injustice of being born black) – she could be his witness and scapegoat for the ultimate act of revenge -for blackness – for being shunned neglected and seemingly hated by his mother Geraldine – — harming the only thing he ever saw her love.
Ambata Kazi-Nance says:
Jan 24, 2013
This question makes me think of something Toni Morrison said in an interview some years ago. She said all her novels are essentially about love: getting it, giving it, losing it, finding it, etc. Love being the essence and mercy being the “grace note,” as Morrison put it. Pecola’s question seems to be: “How can I love myself if the world doesn’t love me because I am black?” How can she ever look at herself and think she is beautiful when no one has ever told her she was? Pecola is definitely a product of her parents’ dead love. It isn’t just that Cholly and Pauline no longer love each other, it’s that love has shriveled up and died in their hearts. Not even the births of their children are capable of stirring any love within them. The few times in the novel when Pecola is seen in any real sense of the word, she is violated: the scene Geryll mentions with her mother and the blueberry pie, later with Geraldine’s son, and when Cholly rapes her. How can she be seen and loved? Pecola’s desire/obsession for blue eyes, something unnatural for her black skin, something that would surely be unattractive on her face, is the sad last bit of hope in her heart. Blue eyes become the answer to all her life’s problems. She wants blue eyes because blue eyes symbolize white beauty, and white beauty guarantees love and admiration, like the images of Shirley Temple and the white dolls Claudia dismembers in attempts to discover the source of their supposed beauty.
For characters like Maureen Peal, Geraldine, and Soaphead Church, self-hatred is evident in their encounters with Pecola. Maureen pities Pecola her blackness and her “mantle” of ugliness (39). Her attitude towards Pecola is like that of a somewhat kind but ultimately self-centered person’s reaction to a sad little stray dog, as if to say: “It isn’t her fault she was born black and ugly, I’ll let her bask in the sunshine of my yellow skin and pretty face for a little while.” She doesn’t feel at all connected with Pecola. For Geraldine, discovering Pecola in her house is like coming face to face with the devil himself. Pecola may as well be a rat that needs to be exterminated; she has no place in Geraldine’s home or life. Her very presence contaminates Geraldine’s home. Soaphead Church seems to genuinely sympathize with Pecola, although he takes advantage of her naiveté as well. Pecola is proof of God’s ineffectiveness as a creator according to Soaphead. He associates blackness, the “pit” as he calls it, with the evil and dirt of the world, the imperfections. He finds Pecola deserving of her wish for blue eyes, because he too sees them as a symbol of beauty.
Marla says:
Apr 11, 2013
While I think that the apt descriptions and numerous examples of shame, self-loathing, and sorrow above are quite profuse, I do want to re-emphasize Toni’s uses of color to create contrasts in views of self-identity and projections of existensionalism. Color used in language holds emotional weight and poignancy. Clearly blue is contrasted with black to distinguish ugly from pretty. More importantly are the connotations these colors are meant to convey not only in this book, but in the larger vocabulary of American society. How often do we encounter “dark” words inferred as undesirable, even foreboding while “lighter” words are meant to conjure up sentimentality and safety. This idea was further explored in the movie Malcolm X when the character, played by Denzel Washington, experiences revelations about the biases and dualities of language while in jail. Finally, I’ll just add the Toni went to great lengths to fully and clearly describe the disheveled, if unkempt, living quarters and conditions to reflect the inner psyche. Our outer, domestic spheres (the ones that others see) are really manifestations of our inner thoughts and self-perceptions.