CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS OF CHILD ABUSE AND ADULTS’ FAILURES
4.1 Child Abuse
The Breedloves are a poor black family which is found in The Bluest Eye. There are Cholly Breedlove, Pauline Breedlove, and Pecola Breedlove. Cholly
Breedlove is a jobless and drunken father. Pauline Breedlove is a lonely workaholic mother. While Pecola Breedlove is Cholly and Pauline’s daughter who always sees
her parents’ fights and is eventually be the object of her parents’ anger and frustration.
Child Abuse as a maltreatment towards a child can come from many aspects. In The Bluest Eye, the abuses which are befallen by Pecola are mostly derived from the
poverty which is faced by the uneducated parents. These are then creating the disharmony in the family due to the unfulfilled needs. Nonetheless, it is also not
apart from the way of how the societies look at the Breedloves and how the Breedloves look at themselves.
People always see themselves at the centre stage and so are the Breedloves. The comparison which is made by the majority drives the Breedloves into frustration
stage of being how different they are from others. As a family who is living among the whites as the majority, the Breedloves become more conscious about their
uniqueness. Being black means they have to be more aware with their social identity which consists of race, gender, academic major, etc. If they want to be respected,
they have to break the prejudice which has been set on them. Conversely, being
black also means being lack off opportunities in finding jobs. Thus, there is no way to move out from the poverty to reach the higher status.
To Pauline and others who are living in the whites’ community, white is beautiful and clean. Hence, the blacks are mostly seen as dirty and sinful people who
come from hell. For the Breedloves are black, ugly, poor, and uneducated, they are isolated, including Pecola as she is also belonged to them. From the quotation below
it can be seen that the Breedloves admit the uniqueness of the ugliness that they possess. They believe their ugliness make them more difficult to move out from their
poverty too. 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. Although their poverty was traditional and stultifying, it was not unique. But their
ugliness was unique. Morrison, 1970:34
As a black family who lives among the whites community, they are seen as ugly people who are also socially low. As the head of the Breedlove’s family, Cholly
Breedlove has become a drunkard for he is frustrated with the lack of job vacancy since he is not that well-educated. He is unable to fulfill his family basic needs either.
People see him as a black drunken unemployed head of family. Looking at his habits nowadays somehow proves the prejudgment which has been set on them of how dirty,
bad, lazy, and useless a black is, is true. This also makes people have a thought that if the head is no good at all, let alone the members. Therefore, neither he nor his family
has friends. They are alone and are isolated by the environment for people are afraid they will also be isolated by others if they make friends with them.
The failures in fulfilling basic needs, let alone safety and love needs, followed by the judgment which are made by the societies caused Cholly has low self-esteem.
This low self-esteem predicts increased the risk of depressions and drug usages on a person. Cholly’s drinking habit is believed as the escapement of his failures and
depressions. In view of the fact that Pauline has to work and has to take care of the whole family’s members by herself due to Cholly’s inability, she always ends up
with having a fight with Cholly. This fight occurs for Pauline think that she contributes more in the family and is more responsible than her husband.
Pecola is a child who sees her parents’ fights all the time due to the unfulfilled physiological needs. She is always trembling and terrifies that someday she will
become the victim. In fact, she is since she is only a child who has no power and authority to defense herself. In her incapability in standing up for herself, she
gradually becomes the object of her parents’ angers and frustration. She is hurt physically, verbally, and emotionally.
The abuses which are befallen by Pecola are considered as the result of parents’ frustration for they are not able to get a better life. The abuses are part of aggression
due to the frustration which might hurt someone because of the incapability in reaching goals which have been set. Though most of children, who are the victims of
parents’ frustration, tend to become rebellious, Pecola for example, turns into a quiet obedient coward introvert girl. Due to her personality, she is being abused wherever
she goes. Yet, the form of this personality and the abuses which are received are not apart from the lack of the education which is received by her parents either.
From Pauline’s talking style for instance, it can be seen that she has never been to a formal school. The word “knowed” and “makes” which are supposed to be
“knew” and “made” are the proofs. In addition, Pauline depicts her daughter as a puppy and her husband as a dying man who are both powerless. Getting married with
Cholly and has a baby like Pecola seems to be a mistake. She regrets for if only
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