Unconfident The Description of Pauline Breedlove, Pecola’s mother .1 Crippled
kill each other. He fought her that way a coward fights a man with feet, the palms of his hands, and teeth 43.
Cholly thinks that he is a free man, free but very dangerous. He could act
brutally when somebody stands in front of him to stop him doing things. He is free to do whatever he wants. At that time, he is free to drunk and play with women
whenever he likes. He is a free man without rules to live in. Cholly represents the negative form of freedom.”{…}Cholly was free. Dangerously free. Free to feel
whatever he felt––fear, guilt, shame, love, grief, pity. {…}Cholly was truly free”
159-160.
Cholly’s high tempered characteristic can be seen by his reactions when he has a fight with his wife. He beats his wife, and he uses bad words to show his anger.
Starting from the beginning of the story, Cholly has burnt down his house and left his family outdoors and nowhere to go. That is why Pecola stays with the MacTeer’s
family. {…}but that old Dog Breedlove had burned up his house, gone upside his
wife’s head, and everybody, as a result, was outdoors. 17 That old triftling Cholly been out of jail two whole days and ain’t been here
yet to see if his own child was ‘live or dead’. 25
Because of his wrong doing, he is put into the jail. After he gets out of the jail, he does not even go to his family to check how his family is and where they live. He
goes to the place where no one knows. This reaction shows the result of Cholly’s high-tempered characteristic. He does anything he likes without thinking of the
consequences that could give bad effects to his family, especially to his children.