Wednesday, September 5, 2007
The Bluest-Eye(continued)
The question of whether someone's upbringing can alter someone's character and who they truly are brings about mixed feelings for me. The belief that if someone has grown up in poverty and has little to no family life makes that person more likely to live an unsuccessful life is pretty much a common belief in American society today. We are always trying to help the kids living in the "ghetto" so that they have hope for the future and can make something of themselves. But, who can say what exactly causes a person to rape someone or verbally abuse someone else? Are these offenses an effect of how someone was brought up or are they just a character flaw, a reflection of the type of person that they truly are? In Cholly's case, I believe that his upbringing definitely had some sort of effect on the way he lived his life and treated others, but on the other hand I sometimes think that that excuse is a cop-out. Why couldn't Cholly choose to treat people with respect and why couldn't he be faithful to his wife and truly love his children? So I guess what I am ultimately saying is that I believe a person can choose what kind of person they really want to be, despite all of the horrible things that may have happened to them in the past.
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2 comments:
I, too, believe that a person's hard upbringing leaves them no excuses for their behavior later in life. We have all had moments in our youth in which a tough life lesson was learned. This does not give us an excuse to act out as Cholly did. However, I don't think that this is the case for Cholly. His upbringing was not only rough, but downright traumatic. The events of getting caught with Darlene in the woods and his father's rejection must have shattered Cholly's self-esteem. Due to the fact that Cholly did not recieve respect as a child, it is not as surprising to learn that he has little respect for others as an adult. You're right, a poor upbringing does not give an excuse for disruptive behavior. But, if a person's very character is shattered, as is the case with Cholly, it is expected.
I wonder though if our tough life lessons can really be compared to Cholly's and Pecola's. Perhaps Pecola has no excuse for her insanity; She should overcome her upbringing.
I agree, Scott, if a person is completely shattered, it's hard to put the pieces back together.
I think Toni Morrison does a great job of gaining our empathy for Pecola and from my point of view, I feel really sorry for Cholly, as repuslive as his behavior is. Maybe he would have been a bum no matter what, but Morrison does a good job of showing his humanity at various points in the novel.
Of course his love for his daughter is demented, but Morrison foreshadows early on that a woman can only get pregnant if a man loves her (32).
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