One thing I really like about the Bluest Eye is the shifting perspective. I think it’s important to show that characters and people aren’t just a certain way without cause. Their upbringing and experiences play a very large part in who they become (literally some I mention in my BFA statement).
Cholly’s experience in his youth was pretty unfortunate (not
to mention awkward). Note how out of his helplessness in front of those white
men, he began to hate Darlene instead. An interesting case of misplaced anger
caused by the subconscious reality that he couldn't fight back against them
anyway. The hatred had to go somewhere, so Darlene became a scapegoat. I would
imagine this is common in cases of domestic violence too.
Reflecting upon how
Darlene could be pregnant, Cholly acknowledges that abandoning a pregnant girl
was bad as he remembers that his father had done just that. For a moment, I thought
that was decent of him but Morrison got us with the ol “bait and switch” as
Cholly decided he should therefore go seek out his father for refuge. Which
ended…as well as one would expect.
Discussion Questions.
Do you think Cholly would have felt differently about the
event that night if he took the time to talk to someone about it?
Sure is a lot of sex happening in the Spring chapters huh?
Even now I find it rather vexing to read. Despite this do you believe it’s an
important book that high schoolers should be able to freely read and discuss?
In your opinion does Morrison’s
method of providing detailed backgrounds for many characters purely help the
story? Explain yourself!
I think Cholly would have interpreted the night differently if he had confided in someone. Pinning the blame and consequently hatred on someone else already is a harmful action, even if it's just mentally, and simply talking about the whole ordeal would likely have given him some relief. He likely blamed Darlene because she made the first move that led to them having sex. Cholly clearly liked Darlene though, so blaming her for what should have been a private affair is unfair.
ReplyDeleteI think that the sex pushes it beyond just a confrontational read. She wants us to feel the way each character feels and how it plays into what happens and how crossing that line is what makes it so malicious. The line is crossed but he jumps from scape goat to scapegoat fulfilling his frustrations. It was written in the time when civil rights was fresh on Americas mind. The man that invented the scope for gynecology used to think that slave women could take the pain because they were inferior to white women. They used to probe the baby brains of slave children as to "align" their brains into place. Morrison is pointing out that women are often the misused scapegoat.
ReplyDeleteI think he would definitely had felt differently about the event, but I think it would have depended on who he talked to. If he had talked to one of his friends his same age, they probably would have been as confused as Cholly was.
ReplyDeleteDespite the sexually explicit chapters, I think that high schoolers definitely should be free to discuss this novel. The morals of the books, and he heaviness of the story sort of outweigh the controversy. And, High schoolers should be able to talk about sex and violence since our society is overfilled with these themes. They should not be sheltered from these topics, Especially in the way Morrison is trying to talk about it.