Tough Love In her book The Bluest Eye, Morrison presents the line between success and failure, drawn by parents’ to their African American children, as a tool used to prepare them for society. The line is depicted through the parents attitudes towards their children. Their mannerisms mimic how society has treated them in the past, moreover, it is a mechanism used to prepare their children for what is to come. Consequently, if the child can’t physically or mentally take it, they fail. If the child learns to cope, to keep pushing forward, then something can be made out of them. Through Cholly’s and Pecola’s relationship, Morrison examines how Cholly’s past affects his choices. Cholly grew up with no parental figure in his life. He was rejected
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Breedlove’s attitude toward Pecola to reinforce Cholly’s thoughts; love will get you nowhere. Ms. Breedlove teaches the lesson about love to Pecola be giving her experience. Mrs. Breedlove showed Pecola who deserves her love more when Pecola went to visit her at work. In an accident Pecola dropped the pie she happened to be holding, burning her legs as it splattered all over the floor. “In one gallop she was on Pecola, and with the back of her hand knocked her to the floor” (109). Mrs. Breedlove’s first reaction was to “knock her to the floor” with no mercy. “The little girl in pink started to cry. Mrs. Breedlove turned to her. ‘Hush, baby, hush. Come here. Oh, Lord look at your dress. Don’t cry no more. Polly will change it’” (109). The “little girl in pink” was white. She deserved Mrs. Breedlove’s love as she comforted the girl calling her “baby,” while minutes before she “knocked” her own daughter to the floor. Mrs. Breedlove’s actions are sketching out the line of society and showing Pecola where she stands. Pecola happens to be placed on the “floor” while the little white girl has “Polly” at her service. In "Mothering Voice: Ferocious Female Resistance in Toni
Morrison's The Bluest Eye, Sula, Beloved, and A Mercy," Amanda Putman writes “this redirection can also be seen as an additional mothering lesson—an instinctive message teaching black children coping mechanisms within a world that denies and exploits their self-worth” (26). Putman agrees …show more content…
Society will not love African Americans so if the children receive the love they will not be prepared for the world. Geraldine knew this so “[she] did not allow her baby, Junior, to cry. As long as his needs were physical, she could meet them” (86). To “cry” means to be weak. Only “physical” needs need to be met. These are the requirements to live as an African American. It was tough love that Geraldine gave. She explained what he needed to know, and reinforced it as often as she could: “Colored people were neat and quiet; niggers were dirty and loud. He belonged to the former group”(87). Junior had to be “neat and quiet” so as to seem whiter. He was “colored” and the whiter he acted the better off he would be. Putman agreed by saying “their community at large has accepted white (and light) skin as beautiful—and thus has negated beauty in black (and dark) skin” (28). The “community” gets at the idea of society. Geraldine is doing this because that is what the “community at large has
Breedlove’s attitude toward Pecola to reinforce Cholly’s thoughts; love will get you nowhere. Ms. Breedlove teaches the lesson about love to Pecola be giving her experience. Mrs. Breedlove showed Pecola who deserves her love more when Pecola went to visit her at work. In an accident Pecola dropped the pie she happened to be holding, burning her legs as it splattered all over the floor. “In one gallop she was on Pecola, and with the back of her hand knocked her to the floor” (109). Mrs. Breedlove’s first reaction was to “knock her to the floor” with no mercy. “The little girl in pink started to cry. Mrs. Breedlove turned to her. ‘Hush, baby, hush. Come here. Oh, Lord look at your dress. Don’t cry no more. Polly will change it’” (109). The “little girl in pink” was white. She deserved Mrs. Breedlove’s love as she comforted the girl calling her “baby,” while minutes before she “knocked” her own daughter to the floor. Mrs. Breedlove’s actions are sketching out the line of society and showing Pecola where she stands. Pecola happens to be placed on the “floor” while the little white girl has “Polly” at her service. In "Mothering Voice: Ferocious Female Resistance in Toni
Morrison's The Bluest Eye, Sula, Beloved, and A Mercy," Amanda Putman writes “this redirection can also be seen as an additional mothering lesson—an instinctive message teaching black children coping mechanisms within a world that denies and exploits their self-worth” (26). Putman agrees …show more content…
Society will not love African Americans so if the children receive the love they will not be prepared for the world. Geraldine knew this so “[she] did not allow her baby, Junior, to cry. As long as his needs were physical, she could meet them” (86). To “cry” means to be weak. Only “physical” needs need to be met. These are the requirements to live as an African American. It was tough love that Geraldine gave. She explained what he needed to know, and reinforced it as often as she could: “Colored people were neat and quiet; niggers were dirty and loud. He belonged to the former group”(87). Junior had to be “neat and quiet” so as to seem whiter. He was “colored” and the whiter he acted the better off he would be. Putman agreed by saying “their community at large has accepted white (and light) skin as beautiful—and thus has negated beauty in black (and dark) skin” (28). The “community” gets at the idea of society. Geraldine is doing this because that is what the “community at large has