The familiar saying that it takes a village to raise a child has never been more accurate. Since Toni’s maternal grandparents and her father moved to Lorain, Ohio to escape the violence in the south, she came to see it as a safe haven for herself and other African Americans. From a young age, Toni recognized the potential of the black community and came to acknowledge it through her literature, as she often used the characteristics of Lorain within the settings of her novels. She was said to have recalled how interactive the community was with one another and how each individual felt obligated to take care of their neighbors. The community also proved to be an educational resource for children, for its citizens shared stories of the Underground…show more content… However, the way the conditions are narrated is what makes the reader experience catharsis, an emotional reaction characterized by pity, fear, and/or anger to a piece of writing or art. In the beginning of the story, Claudia says, “We had dropped our seeds in our own little plot of black dirt just as Pecola’s father had dropped his seeds in his own plot of black dirt”. The readers later find out the meaning of this through an obscene situation where Pecola, a young black girl, is raped by her father (Morrison 6, 162-163). Catharsis is further provoked when the reader learns that Pecola is pregnant and has been rejected by society because of it. Not only does Pecola end up losing the baby, but is consequently driven to madness by loss of social interaction. Readers tend to pity Pecola’s complex situation but also become angered towards how society has treated her. Furthermore, this licentious scene is what arouses empathy towards Pecola and initiates catharsis within those who read Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye. According to a literary critic, Amy Schwartz, “What’s important here is the bitter anger that Toni Morrison has been able to evoke without losing artistic control” (213). Morrison successfully utilizes this effect to entice her readers into understanding what drives her and many others to actively take part in the movement towards bringing about social
