The Bluest Eye Essay

Submitted By Tamirha1
Words: 1627
Pages: 7

The Bluest Eye Love is something that can never be defined. The thought of just that one word, love, can make one feel happy, sad or even angry. A 4 letter word that is so powerful it can make or break your life. In the book The Bluest Eye love was represented in the worst way, violently. Violent love is love that is shown in a harsh, aggressive way. This is usually because the person showing this violent love doesn’t know how to show love any other way. Violent love is a never ending cycle that is passed down from generation to generation, which is shown in the loving of a spouse, a parent loving their child, and the loving of oneself. Gary Chapmen says in his well reviewed book The Five Love Languages: How to Express Heartfelt Commitment to Your Mate, “People tend to criticize their spouse most loudly in a area where they themselves have the deepest emotional need.” Cholly and Pauline weren’t going to work out from the start because they both had major problems connected to love. They both faulted each other for a lost love that they never had as a child. In Cholly’s childhood the only thing he had remotely connected to love was his mother who abandoned him, his Aunt Jimmy who died, and his father who could care less about him. Because of this, whenever he tried to love someone that was what he referred to, and because they were such despondent experiences he thought of love as something unpleasant. Pauline also had that same dilemma because her reference of love was how her parents never paid any attention to her, how she was isolated and never felt special. In the beginning of their relationship Pauline and Cholly were happy, “Pauline and Cholly loved each other. He seemed to relish her company and even enjoy her country ways and lack of knowledge about city things,” (Morison 115). At this time Cholly enjoyed being around Pauline, he finally had someone who he could love and someone that made him happy. This was a time in their relationship where they truly loved each other and now that love has turned to resentment, violence. Cholly and Pauline together are like the affect of a drug, its good at first then after a while all the terrible feelings that were hidden before comes back 10x as strong. Soon after their marriage the good affect of the drug decreased as the bad affect increased. The cycle of violent love was invincible, “Cholly was kindness still but began to resist her total dependence on him. They were beginning to have less and less to say to each other” (Morrison 118). Once their love started to fail, Pauline and Cholly handled it the only way they knew how to handle it, with aggression and fighting. Doing so continues this endless cycle of violent love. This constant fighting and struggle with loving each other terribly affected their children. Pauline and Cholly not being able to love each other made it significantly impossible for them to love their children. Without a doubt parents love their children. Nevertheless, every parent loves their child differently than others. They might show their affection with hugs and kisses, they might show it with gifts and pampering; Ether way their love is shown. In the case of Pauline and Cholly’s children Pecola and Sammy, they showed their love through violence and brutality. This affects one child entirely different than it does the other. Sammy because he is the eldest runs away, but Pecola, the youngest, doesn’t have that option and with no other way out is forced to live with her inadequate parents. Pauline doesn’t know how to deal with Pecola when she does wrong because she was never dealt with when she was done she was only shown anger, and that being all she knows is what she does. She said when talking about her life with her children, “Sometimes I would catch myself hollering at them and beating them, and I’d feel sorry for them, but I couldn’t seem to stop” (Morrison 124). Pauline doesn’t know how to properly raise her children because she wasn’t