FREE ESSAY ON A REALITY OF PRESENCE

A REALITY OF PRESENCE

A Reality of Presence
In The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison shows that anger is healthy and that it is not something
to be feared; those who are not able to get angry are the ones who
suffer the most. She criticizes Cholly, Polly, Claudia, Soaphead Church, the
Mobile Girls, and Pecola because these blacks in her story wrongly place their
anger on themselves, their own race, their family, or even God, instead of
being angry at those they should have been angry at: whites. Pecola Breedlove
suffered the most because she was the result of having others' anger dumped
on her, and she herself was unable to get angry. When Geraldine yells at her to
get out of her house, Pecola's eyes were fixed on the pretty lady and her
pretty house. Pecola does not stand up to Maureen Peal when she made fun
of her for seeing her dad naked but instead lets Freida and Claudia fight for
her. Instead of getting mad at Mr. Yacobowski for looking down on her, she
directed her anger toward the dandelions she once thought were beautiful.
However, the anger will not hold(50), and the feelings soon gave way to
shame. Pecola was the sad product of having others' anger placed on her: All
of our waste we dumped on her and she absorbed. And all of our beauty,
which was hers first and which she gave to us(205). They felt beautiful next to
her ugliness, wholesome next to her uncleanness, her poverty made them
generous, her weakness made them strong, and her pain made them happier.
When Pecola's father, Cholly Breedlove, was caught as a teenager in a field
with Darlene by two white men, never did he once consider directing his
hatred toward the hunters(150), rather her directed his hatred towards the girl
because hating the white men would consume him. He was powerless
against the white men and was unable to protect Darlene from them as well.
This caused his to hate her for being in the situation with him and for realizing
how powerless her really was. Also, Cholly felt that any misery his daughter
suffered was his fault, and looking in to Pecola's loving eyes angered him
because her wondered, What could her do for her - ever? What give her?
What say to her?(161) Cholly's failures led him to hate those that he failed,
most of all his family. Pecola's mother, Polly Breedlove, also wrongly placed
her anger on her family. As a result of having a deformed foot, Polly had
always had a feeling of unworthiness and separateness. With her own children,
sometimes I'd catch myself hollering at them and beating them, but I couldn't
seem to stop(124). She stopped taking care of her own children and her
home and took care of a white family and their home. She found praise, love,
and acceptance with the Fisher family, and it is for these reasons that she
stayed with them. She had been deprived of such feelings from her family
when growing up and in turn deprived her own family of these same feelings.
Polly held Cholly as a mode on sin and failure, she bore him like a crown of
thorns, and her children like a cross(126). Pecola's friend Claudia is angry at
the beauty of whiteness and attempts to dismember white dolls to find where
their beauty lies. There is a sarcastic tone in her voice when she spoke of
having to be worthy to play with the dolls. Later, when telling the story as a
past experience, she describes the adults' tone of voice as being filled with
years of unfulfilled longing, perhaps a longing to be themselves beautifully
white. Claudia herself was happiest when she stood up to Maureen Peal, the
beautiful girl from her class. When Claudia and Freida taunted her as she ran
down the street, they were happy to get a chance to express anger, and we
were still in love with ourselves then(74). Claudia's anger towards dolls turns
to hated of white girls. Out of a fear for his anger the she could not
comprehend, she later tool a refuge in loving whites. She had to at least
pretend to love whites or, like Cholly, the hatred would consume her. Later
however, she realizes that this change was an adjustment without
improvement(23), and that making herself love them only fooled herself and
helped her cope. Soaphead Church wrongly places his anger on God and
blamed him for screwing-up human nature. He asked God to explain how he
could let Pecola's wish for blue eyes go so long without being answered and
scorned God for not loving Pecola. Despite his own sins, Soaphead feels that
he had a right to blame God and ot assume his role in granting Pecola blue
eyes, although her knew that beauty was not necessarily a physical thing but a
state of mind and being: No one else will see her blue eyes. But she
will(182). The Mobile girls wrongly placed their anger in their own race, and
they do not give of themselves fully(even to their family). These girls hate
niggers because according to them, colored people were neat and quiet;
niggers were dirty and loud(87). Black children, or they as Geraldine called
them, were like flies: They slept six to a bed, all their pee mixing together in
the night as they wt their beds. . . they clowned on the playgrounds, broke
things in dime stores, ran in front of you on the street. . . grass wouldn't grow
where they lived. Flowers died. Like flies they hovered; like flies they
settled(92). Although the Mobile girls are black themselves, they . . .got rid
of the funkiness. the dreadful funkiness of passion, the funkiness of nature, the
funkiness of the wide range of human emotions,(83) and most of all they tried
to rid themselves of the funkiness of being black. They were shut off by the
whites because they did not belong, but shut themselves off from their own
black race. To the blacks in The Bluest Eye, Anger is better(than shame).
There is a sense of being in anger. A reality of presence. An awareness of
worth(50). the blacks are not strong, only aggressive; they are not
compassionate, only polite; they were not good, but well behave; they
substituted good grammar for intellect, and rearranged lies to make them
truth(205). Most of all, they faked love where felt powerless to hate, and
destroyed what love they did have with anger. Toni Morrison tells this story to
show the sadness in the way that the blacks were compelled to place their
anger on their own families and on their blackness instead of on whites who
cause their misery. Although they didn't know this, The Thing to fear(and thus
hate) was the Thing that made her beautiful, and not us(74), whiteness. 
In The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison shows that anger is healthy and that it is not something
to be feared; those who are not able to get angry are the ones who
suffer the most. She criticizes Cholly, Polly, Claudia, Soaphead Church, the
Mobile Girls, and Pecola because these blacks in her story wrongly place their
anger on themselves, their own race, their family, or even God, instead of
being angry at those they should have been angry at: whites. Pecola Breedlove
suffered the most because she was the result of having others' anger dumped
on her, and she herself was unable to get angry. When Geraldine yells at her to
get out of her house, Pecola's eyes were fixed on the pretty lady and her
pretty house. Pecola does not stand up to Maureen Peal when she made fun
of her for seeing her dad naked but instead lets Freida and Claudia fight for
her. Instead of getting mad at Mr. Yacobowski for looking down on her, she
directed her anger toward the dandelions she once thought were beautiful.
However, the anger will not hold(50), and the feelings soon gave way to
shame. Pecola was the sad product of having others' anger placed on her: All
of our waste we dumped on her and she absorbed. And all of our beauty,
which was hers first and which she gave to us(205). They felt beautiful next to
her ugliness, wholesome next to her uncleanness, her poverty made them
generous, her weakness made them strong, and her pain made them happier.
When Pecola's father, Cholly Breedlove, was caught as a teenager in a field
with Darlene by two white men, never did he once consider directing his
hatred toward the hunters(150), rather her directed his hatred towards the girl
because hating the white men would consume him. He was powerless
against the white men and was unable to protect Darlene from them as well.
This caused his to hate her for being in the situation with him and for realizing
how powerless her really was. Also, Cholly felt that any misery his daughter
suffered was his fault, and looking in to Pecola's loving eyes angered him
because her wondered, What could her do for her - ever? What give her?
What say to her?(161) Cholly's failures led him to hate those that he failed,
most of all his family. Pecola's mother, Polly Breedlove, also wrongly placed
her anger on her family. As a result of having a deformed foot, Polly had
always had a feeling of unworthiness and separateness. With her own children,
sometimes I'd catch myself hollering at them and beating them, but I couldn't
seem to stop(124). She stopped taking care of her own children and her
home and took care of a white family and their home. She found praise, love,
and acceptance with the Fisher family, and it is for these reasons that she
stayed with them. She had been deprived of such feelings from her family
when growing up and in turn deprived her own family of these same feelings.
Polly held Cholly as a mode on sin and failure, she bore him like a crown of
thorns, and her children like a cross(126). Pecola's friend Claudia is angry at
the beauty of whiteness and attempts to dismember white dolls to find where
their beauty lies. There is a sarcastic tone in her voice when she spoke of
having to be worthy to play with the dolls. Later, when telling the story as a
past experience, she describes the adults' tone of voice as being filled with
years of unfulfilled longing, perhaps a longing to be themselves beautifully
white. Claudia herself was happiest when she stood up to Maureen Peal, the
beautiful girl from her class. When Claudia and Freida taunted her as she ran
down the street, they were happy to get a chance to express anger, and we
were still in love with ourselves then(74). Claudia's anger towards dolls turns
to hated of white girls. Out of a fear for his anger the she could not
comprehend, she later tool a refuge in loving whites. She had to at least
pretend to love whites or, like Cholly, the hatred would consume her. Later
however, she realizes that this change was an adjustment without
improvement(23), and that making herself love them only fooled herself and
helped her cope. Soaphead Church wrongly places his anger on God and
blamed him for screwing-up human nature. He asked God to explain how he
could let Pecola's wish for blue eyes go so long without being answered and
scorned God for not loving Pecola. Despite his own sins, Soaphead feels that
he had a right to blame God and ot assume his role in granting Pecola blue
eyes, although her knew that beauty was not necessarily a physical thing but a
state of mind and being: No one else will see her blue eyes. But she
will(182). The Mobile girls wrongly placed their anger in their own race, and
they do not give of themselves fully(even to their family). These girls hate
niggers because according to them, colored people were neat and quiet;
niggers were dirty and loud(87). Black children, or they as Geraldine called
them, were like flies: They slept six to a bed, all their pee mixing together in
the night as they wt their beds. . . they clowned on the playgrounds, broke
things in dime stores, ran in front of you on the street. . . grass wouldn't grow
where they lived. Flowers died. Like flies they hovered; like flies they
settled(92). Although the Mobile girls are black themselves, they . . .got rid
of the funkiness. the dreadful funkiness of passion, the funkiness of nature, the
funkiness of the wide range of human emotions,(83) and most of all they tried
to rid themselves of the funkiness of being black. They were shut off by the
whites because they did not belong, but shut themselves off from their own
black race. To the blacks in The Bluest Eye, Anger is better(than shame).
There is a sense of being in anger. A reality of presence. An awareness of
worth(50). the blacks are not strong, only aggressive; they are not
compassionate, only polite; they were not good, but well behave; they
substituted good grammar for intellect, and rearranged lies to make them
truth(205). Most of all, they faked love where felt powerless to hate, and
destroyed what love they did have with anger. Toni Morrison tells this story to
show the sadness in the way that the blacks were compelled to place their
anger on their own families and on their blackness instead of on whites who
cause their misery. Although they didn't know this, The Thing to fear(and thus
hate) was the Thing that made her beautiful, and not us(74), whiteness.