Everyone in class feels uncomfortable about Toni Morrison's piece, but the sex scenes don't really weird me out. Maybe the source of my desensitized perspective can be accredited to watching all six seasons of Sex and the City. Or maybe it stems from my deep pre-existing disgust with rape and the intense sympathy I already feel for victims of sexual assault. The truth is, I've already been shocked. Seriously, one time, I read the first twelve pages of The Lovely Bones at a track meet and I was rattled for the rest of the season. (For those of you who don't know, the beginning of The Lovely Bones contains a scene in which a 14 year old girl is raped by her neighbor in a bunker he built in the field behind his house, and then he chops her up into pieces and scattered her limbs benethe his yard).
Anyways, I’m tough to crack. But this week, upon reading the line in which
Cholly’s mother “wrapped him in two blankets and one newspaper and placed him
on a junk heap by the railroad,” I finally felt the horrors and adversity faced
by minorities. Morrison artfully
constructed this image in my mind of a helpless infant –maybe crying, maybe
sleeping, but nonetheless, alive—being
placed on the ground. It’s little baby face probably got all dirty,
maybe a fly even landed on its lips. The
thought of the plain mistreatment of this baby was more than unsettling, but
then to realize that this baby was abandoned (or at least almost abandoned)
broke my heart. Maybe Toni Morrison wasn’t
suggesting this, but from reading that the baby was placed specifically at “heap
by the railroad”, I concluded that this baby was going to get run over by a
train. And then, as grotesque as it is,
I imagined that bloody, baby body in a heap of dismantled baby limbs and I
could’ve thrown up.
I realize that this baby was Cholly and he grew up to
be a terrible man, but he was a baby too, once, and no one deserves to be
obliterated on the side of the road at only four days old, so I felt deeply appalled at his mistreatment. Toni Morrison purposefully evokes sympathetic feelings for Cholly by beginning the chapter with this line so that the reader can better grasp his perspective
with an unbiased outlook. Morrison often
strips away the meanness in adult characters by telling their backstory in
intense detail. In addition to providing
background for Cholly, she also devotes chapters to the lives of Pauline and
Junior. Even though Cholly, Polly, and Junior inflict abuses on Pecola, after reading each of
these chapters, I always feel more sympathy for the character than I had
before. Morrison does this to
de-antagonize each of her characters to demonstrate the role societal guidelines
play in deteriorating the innocence and goodness of the people.
This isn’t a tragic novel about the rape of a teenage girl, it is an exposure of the flawed nature of society and an unveiling of the personal, far-reaching effects of racism.
This isn’t a tragic novel about the rape of a teenage girl, it is an exposure of the flawed nature of society and an unveiling of the personal, far-reaching effects of racism.
I really liked this post! I think that you were spot on when you thought that Morrison de-antagonizes the characters to show how society transforms them. I also read the first few pages of The Lovely Bones and was shocked because I was expecting a normal story, but I have a similar take to you on the book because of that. I'm actually glad I'm not the only one who wasn't very surprised/shocked because the world has already shown me some of these wretched things.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! Your use of a personal anecdote and the transition into analysis was very smooth. Also, it's interesting how you took a single moment in the book (the abandoned infant) and extrapolated it to make it more grotesque than it already is.
ReplyDeleteNice post Madeline! I loved how you focused on Cholly, and why he has become who he is. I also really liked how you added the personal story it added style and voice to your blog.
ReplyDeleteNice post! I like how you explained how Morrison evokes sympathetic feelings toward the characters. We do not fully understand what these characters went through. Through her novel, Morrison highlights the struggles people face in a "perfect" society. I wonder how you decided to read The Lovely Bones.
ReplyDeleteHaha I did not read The Lovely Bones because the beginning scarred me for life!! That was enough for me!!
DeleteI really liked how informative this was and how you related it to modern day celebrities, good job Madeline!
DeleteI thought your introduction was really creative and funny... I liked your analysis on Cholly because it is one of those things that can go many different ways.
ReplyDeleteI like how you analyzed the imagery and took a risk to analyze a portion of the novel we have not discussed!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Ms. Valentino!
DeleteLove the post! Also I think I remember you reading that book at a track meet together and it's safe to say that your synopsis of it was really shocking! I really liked hearing how YOU read between the lines of the scene about Cholly's abandonment, it adds even more uniqueness to this post!
ReplyDeleteI like how you lead into the analyzing of imagery by your own story. I like how you said that you were already exposed to the idea so it wasn't disturbing. That thought alone seems disturbing to me.
ReplyDelete