The Bluest Eye Analysis Essay
The Bluest Eye is a complex novel written by Toni Morrison, an African American literary theorist. Morrison evokes a society still plagued by the premise of slavery and the exposes this mode of white inferiority through The Bluest Eye. “Wicked people love wickedly, violent people love violently, weak people love weakly, stupid people love stupidly, but the love of a free man is never safe”, Morrison endows these last couple of sentences with a lyrical quality that makes the readers truly understand the depth of Cholly’s character and the “freeness” he experiences. Morrison initially introduces Cholly Breedlove as the antagonist, a drunk and very abusive father; any man who would beat his wife, set his house on fire and rape his daughter couldn’t
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Cholly demonstrates his internal battle when “the hatred would not let him pick her up, the tenderness forced him to cover her” (163). He meets these feelings in the middle when he leaves her on the kitchen floor covered by a blanket. In The Bluest Eye, Pecola, the victim of incestuous rape, is unfortunately rejected by the community around her, Cholly was also rejected by the community following the death of Aunt Jimmy. In The Bluest Eye, rape serves as an example of the importance of the community raising the child, instead of only the parents. “Love is never any better than the lover. Wicked people love wickedly, violent people love violently, weak people love weakly, stupid people love stupidly, but the love of a free man is never safe” (206). This quote from the last chapter of the novel describes love as a potentially damaging force. Cholly was the only person who loved Pecola “enough to touch her.” Perhaps if the readers can understand Cholly’s behavior as driven by love, even in the case of raping his own daughter, then it can be understood that Cholly is not a monster and there is still some good in
Cholly demonstrates his internal battle when “the hatred would not let him pick her up, the tenderness forced him to cover her” (163). He meets these feelings in the middle when he leaves her on the kitchen floor covered by a blanket. In The Bluest Eye, Pecola, the victim of incestuous rape, is unfortunately rejected by the community around her, Cholly was also rejected by the community following the death of Aunt Jimmy. In The Bluest Eye, rape serves as an example of the importance of the community raising the child, instead of only the parents. “Love is never any better than the lover. Wicked people love wickedly, violent people love violently, weak people love weakly, stupid people love stupidly, but the love of a free man is never safe” (206). This quote from the last chapter of the novel describes love as a potentially damaging force. Cholly was the only person who loved Pecola “enough to touch her.” Perhaps if the readers can understand Cholly’s behavior as driven by love, even in the case of raping his own daughter, then it can be understood that Cholly is not a monster and there is still some good in