Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Mrs. Macteer and Mrs. Breedlove - 1780 Words

Parental guidance and support are key components of the foundation of a child’s growth and development. Without either, a child cannot grow and develop properly. In her novel The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison examines the effect of different mothers on their respective children through the characters of Mrs. MacTeer and Mrs. Breedlove. Throughout the novel, both characters express their thoughts and feelings through words, with Mrs. MacTeer having a few fussy soliloquies and Mrs. Breedlove having a few interior monologues to get their points across. Although Mrs. MacTeer and Mrs. Breedlove are two entirely different individuals, their respective fussy soliloquies and interior monologues greatly reflect one another. Giving to charity doesn’t†¦show more content†¦She simply gave up on ever feeling glamorous or happy, something that is only fueled by the growing unhappiness of her marriage. As she stated, â€Å"Cholly poked fun at me, and we started fighting againâ⠂¬ ¦He begin to make me madder than anything I knowed† (Morrison 123). As much as she tried, Mrs. Breedlove could no longer escape her unhappiness. It was simply escalated by the cinema. From the very beginning of Pecola’s life, her mother ingrains in her the idea that she is ugly—a concept that Mrs. Breedlove herself is viewed as due to her missing front tooth and her skin color. After her birth, she refers to Pecola as being â€Å"a right smart baby† but â€Å"a cross between a puppy and a dying man. But I knowed she was ugly. Head full of pretty hair, but Lord she was ugly† (Morrison 126). Mrs. Breedlove acknowledges that Pecola is a smart girl, but doesn’t view it as an impressive quality. Instead, she focuses on the fact that her daughter is unattractive. As Spies mentions, â€Å"even by her own mother, Pecola has been denied the slightest notion of being valuable or worthy of love† (Spies 15). By denying value and love to her daughter, Mrs. Breedlove is instilling in Pecola the same self-hatred that Cholly and society has instilled in herself. Mrs. Breedlove’s unhappiness is unquestionably the reason for Pecolaâ €™s own dissatisfaction and unhappiness. Although Mrs. MacTeer and Mrs. Breedlove are two entirely different individuals, their thoughts areShow MoreRelated Family Relationships in Morrisons The Bluest Eye Essays1781 Words   |  8 Pages Family Relationships in Morrisons The Bluest Eye â€Å"The Bluest Eye† by Toni Morrison, is a story about the life of a young black girl, Pecola Breedlove, who is growing up during post World War I. She prays for the bluest eyes, which will â€Å"make her beautiful† and in turn make her accepted by her family and peers. The major issue in the book, the idea of ugliness, was the belief that â€Å"blackness† was not valuable or beautiful. This view, handed down to them at birth, was a cultural hindranceRead MoreThe Bluest Eye By Toni Morrison Essay931 Words   |  4 Pagesover the other. This complex brought forth identity issues, especially women. In The bluest Eye by Toni Morrison the main character is a young girl named Pecola Breedlove, growing up in Lorain, Ohio, after the great depression. Nine year old Claudia MacTeer and her ten year old sister Frieda are also main characters. The MacTeers take in Pecola, and the young girls build a relationship with one another. Pecola had a difficult life at home with her own family, and even at school she is teasedRead MoreThe Bluest Eye Analysis921 Words   |  4 Pagesa novel of great length is very long on complexity. It tells the story of Pecola Breedlove, a young African American girl immersed in poverty and made â€Å"ugly† by the Society of the early 1940’s that defines beauty in terms of blonde haired white skinned , and in this case specifically Shirley Temple. The novel opens in the fall of 1941, just after the Great Depression, in Lorain, Ohio. Nine-year-old Claudia MacTeer and her 10-year-old sister, Frieda, live with their parents in an old, cold andRead MoreToni Morrisons The Bluest Eye1281 Words   |  6 Pagesus can foster a sense of belonging or lead to rejection and isolation. In Toni Morrisons novel The Bluest Eye, we see a community affected by poverty, institutionalized racism, sexual abuse and the influences it has on a little girl named Pecola Breedlove and how it shapes her own self image, as she is constantly reinforced with negative messages about herself and her family everywhere she goes. This eventually leads her to believe that there is something inherently wrong with her, and the only wayRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s A Good Game1794 Words   |  8 Pagesthe novel, Mr. Macteer is a minor character. He is Claudia and Frieda’s father. There are only a few scene in the novel were Mr. Macteer is seen. One is whe re he is watching his daughters play and he smiles. He enjoys seeing his children happy. He also is very protective of his daughters. He goes after Mr. Henry after he touches Frieda inappropriately. He chases Mr. Henry down and punches him in the face. He also tries his best to teach his daughters how to care for themselves. Mr. Macteer is alsoRead MoreMetamorphosis in Toni Morrisons The Bluest Eye2179 Words   |  9 Pagesthat was necessary. Curiosity is also seen from the peripheral character of Rosemary in this scene. Rosemary gets caught spying on Frieda and Claudia in Pecola’s moment of distress. Rosemary, even younger than Claudia, ignorantly points out to Mrs. MacTeer that â€Å"they’re playing nasty† (Morrison 30). The girls in Morrison’s novel display curiosity to show that being a girl involves learning from experience, which ultimately implies vulnerability. A major theme in The Bluest Eye centers on the vulnerabilityRead MoreThe Difference Between Adolescence And Adulthood In Toni Morrisons The Bluest Eye1521 Words   |  7 Pagesothers would stay behind and clean rather than watch the operation that was necessary. Curiosity is also seen from Rosemary in this scene. Rosemary is caught spying on Claudia and Frieda during Pecola’s moment of distress. Rosemary then goes to tell Mrs. MacTeer that â€Å"they’re playing nasty† (Morrison 30). The young girls in Morrison’s novel show curiosity to show that much of being a girl is learned from experience, rather than being taught, which ultimately creates vulnerability. A major theme in TheRead MoreThe Bluest Eye By Toni Morrison1587 Words   |  7 Pagesdid not officially end until 1865 in the United States, racism was apparent during the 1940s as seen through Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye. This theme is highlighted throughout the entire novel, especially via the daily lives of the MacTeer family and the Breedlove family. The Bluest Eye provides an expanded illustration of the ways in which internalized white beauty standards deform the lives of black girls and women. Implicit messages that whiteness is superior are everywhere, including the whiteRead MoreThe, And, Beauty, Goodness, Cleanliness And Purity1252 Words   |  6 Pagesâ€Å"The Breedloves did not live in a storefront because they were having temporary difficulty adjusting to the cutbacks at the plant. They lived there because they were poor and black, and they stayed there because they believed they were ugly† (Morrison, 1998, p. 38). This is the general feeling of man y of the characters throughout the book. A big reason for these feelings derives from the term Whiteness. The qualities associated with this term include: beauty, innocence, goodness, cleanliness, andRead MoreThe Real Cholly Breedlove900 Words   |  4 Pagescharacters, Cholly Breedlove, can be examined through a Freudian psychoanalytic lens, as he struggles with things like the structure of his personality and the Oedipal complex. Cholly is clearly a troubled man and throughout the story he experiences difficulty in trying to find a balance between his id and superego. Cholly also struggles with the Oedipal complex, raping his daughter, Pecola. This action ties in with his id, in that he acts impulsively to fulfill his wants. Cholly Breedlove, a main character

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