EXPLORING BEHAVIOUR OF CHARACTER

Exploring Behaviour of Character from Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye

Exploring Behaviour of Character from Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye

Introduction

Readers of Tom Morrison s first novel, The Bluest Eye, are often so overwhelmed by the narrative's emotional content--the child Pecola's incestuous rape, ensuing pregnancy, and subsequent abandonment by her community and descent into madness, that they miss the music in this lyrically "songified" narrative. The paper discusses and explores at length the character of Pecola in Bluest Eye. This act of testifying is a narrative act that is central to Morrisoh's work.

Character's Identity

Have all of the characters found their identity? Pecola Breedlove yearned for blue eyes. At the end of the book she believes that she has those blue eyes. She believes that people treat her funny because they are jealous of her blue eyes and she has learned to happily accept that. Pecola yearned for the acceptance and love of society seen through her eyes. No matter if that acceptance and love were really there, she thought it was and therefore was able to survive. "I [Soaphead Church], I have caused a miracle. I gave her the eyes. I gave her the blue, blue, two blue eyes... No one else will see her blue eyes. But she will. And she will live happily ever after" (Morrison, 1994: 182). Pecola found herself only by going insane. Although Pecola is not accepted by society for reasons she does not understand, she puts her exclusion from society into terms she can comprehend. Society influences her identity. They mold her into what she becomes by not giving her the guidance and approval she needs. In the same way, Cholly found himself separated from the community. After the realisation of the perception the community has of him, he is demoralised and does an act of inhumanity. He could not live with the realisation of the monster he had become and he disappeared. As a man he did not know who he was. In a sense he needed an act that would completely set him apart from the rest of the rational world for him to find himself. He sanely found himself as Pecola insanely found herself. They finished with varying results. While Pecola was separate but content, Cholly was separate and unsatisfied. Pauline, on the other hand, chose an identity she could be content with. She had an option to become two very different people and she chose the one that seemed right for her. Her distorted view of reality made it seem that the choice she made was accepted in society and would allow her to increase her status in society.

However, her overseer saw it and described it in actuality. "We could never find anyone like Polly. She will not leave the kitchen until everything is in order. Really, she is the ideal servant" (Morrison, 1994: 128). This twist of perspective shows how Pauline is really accredited. Are they satisfied with what they have found? It seems that the only ...