The Bluest Eye Violence

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Both Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison display a tremendous amount of violence throughout the book. Both of the novels deal with issues of race and culture and have different characters that struggle with their identities. However, without the use of violence in the novels, the readers would not get deeply involved and would not understand the characters as much as they would with the use of violence. Although Half of a Yellow Sun and The Bluest Eye have similar themes involving race and identity, violence is also a very prevalent theme in both novels. The use of violence and the motives behind them are similar yet differs in the way the authors discuss verbal, physical, and sexual violence. …show more content…
What is even more significant is why each character acted with the violence that they did. Not only is it important to analyze who the violators are, but also who the violated are. The first and perhaps the most violent character of the two novels is Cholly. Cholly appears in our mind as the enemy, the evil. However, in chapter 8 of The Bluest Eye, as Cholly’s background is discussed, the reader begins to feel sympathetic for the man. First and foremost Cholly has never had the feeling of being safe or having a home and family. His mother left him at four days old on a junk heap. His Great Aunt Jimmy rescues Cholly but we learn she might not be the best parental figure either as she makes Cholly sleep in the same bed as her. Growing up, all Cholly desires is a family. When Cholly finally belives he has found a father-like figure, Blue Jack, his stories about sex, violence, and racism, are how he comes to perceive the world. Cholly also decides t believe God is an old white man, and because he associates God with whiteness, he believes black men correlate with the devil. It is at this point that Cholly decides he can never be good, and starts at that point hating the white people. A little white later, Cholly meets Darlene. He is compassionet and kind towards her, which gives the reader faith that he can still be a gentle man. However, once the two start engaging in intercourse, …show more content…
The victim who seemed to suffer the most from all the abuse in The Bluest Eye is Pecola. By the end of the novel, Pecola is destroyed by all the violence she faces. Pecola is passive and mysterious throughout the book and Morrison writes it so that the readers feel a deep and sympathetic connection with her. When the novel begins, Pecola is an innocent child that we know little about. Pecola has two desires in the beginning of the novel as well, one being to learn how to get people to love her, and the other to be invisible when her parents argue. The novel’s title, The Bluest Eye, is based on the central challenge in the novel; the fact that Pecola wants blue eyes because she believes it will make her pretty like the white girls. Eventually, Pecola begins to believe she has blue eyes, only in the exchange that she becomes insane. Sadly, at the end of the novel, Morrison reveals to us that Pecola has been a scapegoat for the rest of her community. The way that she was quiet gave a rest of them a reason to speak; her ugliness made them feel beautiful, and her suffering made them feel lucky. She becomes the symbol and reminder of human cruelty and reminds the community what it is like to
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