The Character of Cholly in The Bluest Eye Essay -- Bluest Eye Essays

The Character of Cholly in The Bluest Eye Morrison has divided her portrayal of a fictional town of blacks, which suffers from alienation and subjugation, into four seasons. I believe that her underlying message is to illustrate the reality of life's travails: the certain rhythms of blessings and tragedies. Some blacks understand and acccept this philosophy and Morrison's use of the seasons portrays and echoes the bible verse, "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven"(Ec. 3.1). Perhaps this is a fatalistic approach or as Darrow says, Man is the product of heredity and environment and that he acts as his machine responds to outside stimuli and nothing else, seem amply proven by the evolution and history of man. Every process of nature and life is a continuous sequence of cause and effect (156). This theory is particularly evident in Morrison's development of Cholly, the man who raped his daughter. She could have portrayed him as a degenerate akin to Soaphead, a slimy character, who leaves us with a feeling of revulsion. Instead, step-by-step, she leads us through Cholly's life and experiences; so in the end, instead of hating him, we feel his pain. Cholly is introduced in the first chapter. He is the father of Pecola. Because of his actions, the whole family has been put out of their home. It was a miserable apartment, as ugly in appearance as the family. Except for Cholly. In his youth he had been big strong long limbed and full of his own fire. Now his behavior was his ugliness. Years of despair, dissipation and... ...ft pregnant with his child, and pushed to madness by these terrible circumstances: she finds her beauty in the bluest eye. I said in mine heart, God shall judge the righteous and the wicked; for there is a time for every purpose and for every work (Ec. 17). Morrison draws a sympathetic picture of Cholly. She blurs the reality and covers him with emotional longing for the love he knew in the past. Cholly has nothing more to lose. His life is a tragedy. Works Cited Darrow, Clarence."Crime and Free Will". Introductory Readings in Philosophy. Ed. Marcus G. Singer and Robert R. Ammerman. New York: Scribner, 1962. 156-57. Morrison, Toni. The Bluest Eye. New York: Plume: 1994. The New Chain Reference Bible. Ed. Frank Charles Thompson. Mt. Morris, N.Y: Chain Reference Bible Publishing. 1929.