From the citations above. I’d like to take two words. “love” and “woman-friend” . to uncover the focal point of Toni Morrison’s novel. The Bluest Eye. that is. the representation of sistership.
In The Bluest Eye. personally. sisterlike love is represented as a “voice” to talk what is indefinable. In other words. a sister gives words to another sister who is the ultimate “other” and who is silenced and damned by her indefinable experience in the white patriarchal universe.
Pecola. the heroine in The Bluest Eye suffers what Philomela does. for she is raped by her ain male parent. Furthermore. she suffers from emotional colza from her female parent. Pecola’s father Cholly Breedlove has a traumatic childhood when he is abandoned by his parents and his is forced to execute sexually for two white huntsmans. Then. Cholly regards his black individuality as inferior and stigmatized because of the scandalous exposure of himself as weak. When Cholly becomes an grownup. even a male parent. he still negates himself and reassign his ain shame to his girl. Cholly even becomes the culprit of colza on his ain girl. In fact. such sexual misdemeanor is common in the Afro-american universe ; because of the sedate subjugation from the White. the Black male transportations it to the Black female. even if she is closed to him.
As a black male in a society that values merely whiteness. Cholly believes that he is useless and powerless. so Pecola. his girl. becomes the lone individual he can rule to asseverate himself. By perpetrating such violent incest. Cholly thinks he has gained power in his otherwise blue universe but he does non recognize that he has violated the sacred values of household life and even destroyed his ain daughter’s childhood. What’s worse. such a sort of sexual force turns out to be an sort of indefinable as Toni Morrison says: “Because when I began to compose. it was an unmentionable. It is so unsafe. it is so atrocious. so wicked. that I think in connexion with vulnerable black adult females it was ne’er talked about” ( Chloe Wofford 75 ) . When the incest is committed. denial. turning away and distancing are common responses. Pecola’s enduring from physical colza is so black that it turns out to be a patriarchal tabu which remains indefinable.
However. Pecola’s lingua is non cut off and she so is able to talk and state Mrs. Breedlove what has happened. Unfortunately. Pecola’s female parent is unwilling to listen to her and garbage to believe what Pecola confides to her. Alternatively of giving Pecola comfort and assisting her battle against Cholly. Pauline Breedlove denies the colza and even incriminations Pecola for being raped. Pauline abuses Pecola as the patriarch has abused her. Thus. when Cholly. colzas once more. Pecola keeps the narrative and remains soundless.
Obviously. Pecola’s female parent. who would come to her deliverance. One is able to assist the other on the status that he believes in himself and loves the 1 who needs aid. However. Pauline non merely negates her ain ego but besides emotionally abandons her ain girl. Pauline has a sense of faultiness because of her distorted pes ; that is. Pauline is victimized by the white norms of beauty. Unable to love her ain ego. Pauline can non love her girl. And Pecola does non bask maternal love since she was born. Her female parent thinks she is ugly: “She looked so different from what I thought. Reckin I talked to it so much I conjured up a mind’s oculus position of it” . but “I knowed she was ugly. Head full of pretty hair. but Lord she was ugly” ( Bluest Eye 99-100 ) . In Pauline’s “mind’s oculus of view” of the unborn kid. it must look like the white in the films she has watched. therefore. Pauline is greatly aghast and biased to Pecola.
Furthermore. Mrs. Breedlove doesn’t attention about her girl at all. For illustration. when Pecola by chance knocks over the berry pie Pauline has made for the Fisher household. Pecola is deserted by her female parent for the small white Fisher miss: “in one crisp gallop she was on Pecola. and with the dorsum of her manus knocked over her to the floor” ( Bluest oculus 86 ) ; Mrs. Breedlove gently smoothes the cryings of the small white misss but does non even acknowledge her daughter’s being. In fact. Mrs. Breedlove confuses her relationship to the white miss with that to her ain girl. She does non acknowledge that she is merely regarded as a retainer to that white miss while she is the female parent of Pecola. who needs her attention and particularly emotional support. Furthermore. by doting on that white miss. Pauline transportations to Pecola her deep-seated disdain for her ain inkiness.
Bing placed in a white patriarchal universe. a black is discriminated against and see a s an foreigner ; moreover. Pecola even can non happen heat in her ain place but suffers from physical and emotional colza by her ain parents ; as Elizabeth Heyes says. she is denied the “love and back up the miss needs to develop a strong identity” ( “Like Sing You Buried”177 ) . Therefore. Pecola becomes voiceless and even develops internalized self-hatred. She does non cognize how to love herself but seeks a brace of the bluest eyes to asseverate her ain worth. take a firm standing that with such a brace of the bluest eyes she will be noticed and loved. But what Pecola does non recognize is that the effects of such internalized racial self-disgust could merely do her more hushed and so insane.
The unmentioned thing is spoken when Claudia acts Pecola’s loyal sister. Actually. Morrison constructs The Bluest Eye by doing dichotomy between Claudia. the storyteller who defies the mainstream impression of beauty and nurtures her ain life. and Pecola who is raped and so silenced by her ain internalized self-hatred. As Pecola’s friend. Claudia non merely provides her sisterlike love but besides speaks out what is indefinable. trying to avenge the silence.
It is right to state that Claudia does non endure from what Pecola does. but it does non intend that Claudia is safe and far off from that White patriarchal universe.
Then why can Claudia voice out what Pecola can non? Personally. based on my ain experience. one can non talk if there is no 1 nowadays to listen to her/him. Like Pecola and her female parent. Pecola wants to talk but her female parent refuses to listen to her. which consequences in Pecola’s quiet. Conversely. from the really first Claudia is basking sisterly love from her blood sister Frieda who is a willing hearer and besides they are able to discourse affairs together. so Claudia sustains her voice to state narrative. In her narrative. Claudia is able to analyse the effects of internalized racism and confirm her ain opposition to self-hatred and the white impressions of beauty.
Such as. Claudia and Frieda love each other and love themselves: “ We felt comfy in our teguments. bask the intelligence that our sense released to us. admired our soil. cultivated our cicatrixs. and could non grok the unworthiness” ( Bluest Eye 62 ) . In this sense. these two sisters find religion in the self-knowledge of their ain beauty and love their ain “dirt” and “scars” . their ain worth. By mirroring each other. they learn to love their ain tegument. hair. eyes. voice. because from the other’s face. they see an image of the ego. Because of sisterlike love. they learn this art of amour propre. therefore rejecting the dominant white impression of beauty. So when the popular rich miss Maureen shows off before them and even twits them with ice pick. Claudia and Frieda still love themselves alternatively of giving in.
They find interior strength in standing together and naming her names when Maureen hurts Pecola by stating “I’m cute! And you ugly! Black and ugly black vitamin E minute. I an cure” ( Bluest Eye 61 ) On hearing this. Pecola believes that there is no get awaying or soothing her ugliness. experiencing suffering. but being unable to contend back ; nevertheless Claudia and Frieda have faith about themselves. cognizing that Maureen has the vision of beauty defined by the westen impression but she is non beautiful indoors. Because they have one another. Claudia and Frieda do non necessitate proof from others or outside universe. In contrast. Pecola does non hold the same comfort. staying entirely. Such sisterlike love gives these two sisters a assurance that Pecola can non bask and their strength reveals the power of sistership to formalize each other.
Furthermore. Claudia can talk because her female parent base on ballss on the unwritten tradition to her. For case. Claudia’s female parent frequently sings of those bad clip. which makes Claudia realized that “misery colored by the leafy vegetables and blues in my mother’s voice took all of the heartache out of the words” ( Bluest Eye 24 ) . From her mother’s vocalizing. Claudia knows that she besides can state the narratives and voice out the hurting. the indefinable.
Therefore. through her vocals. Claudia’s female parent helps her learn the beauty of the Afro-american common people tradition of story-telling. so that Claudia has her ain voice.
In this manner. we can see that sisterly love between Claudia and Frieda. love from their parents and the religious heritage from their female parent help those two sisters know how to love their “self” . Particularly Claudia learns to interrupt the silence. by voicing out what is indefinable and what the black female suffers in the white patriarchal universe.
As the narrative goes on. we can see the love between sisters is non limited to sisters. Claudia and Frieda non merely love each other. but they besides love Pecola. First. they let Pecola remain with them merely because her house is burnt down and she is stateless. The advice of Claudia’s female parent “be Nice and no fight” farther makes those two sisters help Pecola. For illustration. they don’t contemn Pecola and slumber with her in the same bed ; and they help Pecola when she is frightened by her first menses. Claudia recalls those few yearss when Pecola stays with them merrily:
We had fun in those few yearss Pecola was with us. Frieda and I stopped contending each other and concentrated on our invitee. seeking difficult to maintain her from experiencing outdoors…When we discovered that she clearly did non desire to rule us. we like her. She laughed when I clowned for her. and smiled and accepted gracefully the nutrient gift my sister gave her. ( Bluest eye19 ) Obviously. Pecola enjoys being together with Claudia and Frieda. Thus. sisterly love offers company. maintaining loneliness and fear off.
In this novel. sisterlike love is presented by agencies of Claudia’s voice. her story-telling. In the Bluest Eye. it is Claudia who becomes the loyal sister who avenges Pecola’s devastation by stating it. For illustration. Pecola keeps soundless no affair how painful she is ; she folds “into herself like a pleated wing” . while Claudia “wanted to open her up. wrinkle her borders. pound a stickdown that hunched and swerving spinal column. force her to stand erect and ptyalize the wretchedness out on the streets. ” ( Bluest Eye73-74 ) However. Pecola still can non talk. “she held it where it would lap up into her eyes. ” Thus. Claudia finds words for Pecola’s hurting and she affirms that there are tunes in heartache which are to be written and spoken of. so that indefinable things are spoken at last.
But eventually. Claudia and Frieda still can non salvage Pecola. for she becomes insane. which apparently shows that sisterlike love is slightly non so marvelous. However. the significance of sisterlike love. personally. prevarications in doing what is indefinable spoken. Sisterly love so does non forestall Pecola’s calamity.
Work Cited
“Chloe Wofford Talks About Toni Morrison. ” The New York Times Magazine. Sept. 193:73-75. Heyes. Elizabeth. T. “‘Like Sing You Buried’ : Despoina in The Bluest Eye” . Elizabeth Hayes. Gainesville: UP of Florida. 1994:170-194. Morrison. Toni. The Bluest Eye. New York: A Division of Random House. 2007.
