Child Abuse And Adults’ Failures Found In Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye

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CHILD ABUSE AND ADULTS’ FAILURES FOUND IN TONI MORRISON’S THE BLUEST EYE

A THESIS

BY:

ELGREEN

REG.NO.O8O7O5O45

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH

FACULTY OF CULTURAL STUDIES UNIVERSITY OF SUMATERA UTARA MEDAN 2012

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Approved by the Department of English, Faculty of Cultural Studies University of Sumatera Utara (USU) Medan as thesis for The Sarjana Sastra Examination.

Head, Secretary,

Dr. H. Muhizar Muchtar, MS Dr. Hj. Nurlela, M.Hum NIP. 19541117 198003 1 002 NIP. 19590419 198102 2 001

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AUTHOR’S DECLARATION

I, ELGREEN DECLARE THAT I AM THE SOLE AUTHOR OF THIS THESIS EXCEPT WHERE REFERENCE IS MADE IN THE TEXT OF THIS THESIS. THIS THESIS CONTAINS NO MATERIAL PUBLISHED ELSEWHERE OR EXTRACTED IN WHOLE OR IN PART FROM A THESIS BY WHICH I HAVE QUALIFIED FOR OR AWARDED ANOTHER DEGREE. NO OTHER PERSON’S WORK HAS BEEN USED WITHOUT DUE ACKNOWLEDMENTS IN THE MAIN TEXT OF THIS THESIS. THIS THESIS HAS NOT BEEN SUBMITTED FOR THE AWARD OF ANOTHER DEGREE IN ANY TERTIARY EDUCATION.

Signed:

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COPYRIGHT DECLARATION

NAME : ELGREEN

TITLE OF THESIS : CHILD ABUSE AND ADULTS’ FAILURES FOUND IN TONI MORRISON’S THE BLUEST EYE

QUALIFICATION : S-1/SARJANA SASTRA

DEPARTMENT : ENGLISH

I AM WILLING THAT MY THESIS SHOULD BE AVAILABLE FOR REPRODUCTION AT THE DISCRETION OF THE LIBRARIAN OF DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH, FACULTY OF CULTURAL STUDIES, UNIVERSITY OF SUMATERA UTARA ON THE UNDERSTANDING THAT USERS ARE MADE AWARE OF THEIR OBLIGATION UNDER LAW OF THE REPUBLIC OF INDONESIA.

Signed :

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

First and foremost, the writer would like to thank the Almighty God, Jesus Christ for His guidance and His blessing so that this thesis, as one of the requirements for graduating from the Department of English, Faculty of Cultural Studies University of Sumatera Utara Medan can be finished timely. Here the writer would also like to express her greatest honours and thanks to:

1. Her supervisor, Drs. Parlindungan Purba, M.Hum and her co-supervisor, Dra. Hj. Rohani Ganie, M.Hum for their willingness to spend their valuable time in supervising her during the improvement of her thesis, as well as to Dr. H. Syahron Lubis MA, the Dean of Faculty of Cultural Studies University of Sumatera Utara, and Dr. H. Muhizar Muchtar, MS, the Head of Department of English and Dr. Hj. Nurlela, M.Hum, the Secretary of Department of English, for their advice and encouragement during her study in this faculty and also to Pak Am for his help in administration matter.

2. Her parents D. Wendra Teh and R. Poespita Sari as well as her brother, H. Prawira who always pray, encourage, and support her during the academic years.

3. Her best friends, Fita Chyntia, Isahbela, Mia Pratiwi Tarigan, and Stephannie for their kindness, help, and support through these four years.

4. Last but not the least is to all of her friends in Department of English who always stand by her.

May God always bless you all.

The Writer

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ABSTRACT

Skripsi ini berjudul “Child Abuse and Adults’ Failures Found in Toni Morrison’s

The Bluest Eye” membahas tentang tindak-tindak kekerasan pada anak yang dialami

oleh seorang remaja berkulit hitam bernama Pecola Breedlove sebagai tokoh utama serta kegagalan-kegagalan orang dewasa di sekitarnya seperti Cholly Breedlove, Pauline Breedlove, dan the Soaphead Church alias Elihue Micah Whitcomb di dalam mendidik dan melindungi sang anak. Tindak-tindak kekerasan yang dialami oleh Pecola dapat dibagi menjadi isolasi, penyiksaan fisik, pemerkosaan, dan penyiksaan emosi yang membuatnya menjadi seorang penyendiri hingga akhirnya memiliki gangguan mental. Sedangkan kegagalan-kegagalan yang terlihat pada Cholly Breedlove, Pauline Breedlove, atau the Soaphead Church alias Elihue Micah Whitcomb meliputi penolakan terhadap nilai moral, keegoisan orang tua dan keputusaasaan dalam menjalani hidup. Penelitian tentang kedua masalah ini diangkat dari novel The Bluest Eye yang merupakan sumber data utama dengan mempergunakan pendekatan ekstrinsik dan psikologi. Teori psikologi yang menjadi landasan penelitian ini adalah teori psikoanalisis berupa id, ego, dan super-ego yang dikemukakan oleh Sigmund Freud dalam buku Pasotti (1977) dan teori kebutuhan hierarki yang dikemukakan oleh Abraham Maslow (1970). Dengan menggunakan metode penelitian kulitatif deskriptif dan kedua teori tersebut ditemukakan bahwa kekerasan yang dialami oleh seorang anak yang bernama Pecola Breedlove dapat berasal dari dalam maupun luar keluarga yang dapat memberikan dampak negatif di dalam pembentukan karakter sang anak. Selain itu, juga dapat dilihat bahwa adanya hubungan diantara kekerasan yang dilakukan oleh orang-orang dewasa dengan kegagalan-kegagalan yang dialami mereka.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

AUTHOR’S DECLARATION v

COPYRIGHT DECLARATION vi

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS vii

ABSTRACT viii

TABLE OF CONTENTS ix

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Background of the Study 1

1.2 Problems of the Study 3

1.3 Objective of the Study 3

1.4 Scope of the Study 4

1.5 Significance of the Study 4

CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF LITERATURE 5

2.1 Earlier Studies 5

2.2 Novel 8

2.3 A Brief Description of Children 9

2.3.1 Adolescents 13

2.4 A Brief Description of Child Abuse 14

2.5 Types of Child Abuse 14

2.5.1 Child Neglect 14

2.5.2 Physical Abuse 15

2.5.3 Child Sexual Abuse 16

2.5.4 Psychological Abuse 17

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CHAPTER III: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 20

3.1 Research Method 20

3.2 Data Collection 22

3.3 Data Analysis 22

CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS OF CHILD ALBUSE AND

ADULTS’ FAILURES 25

4.1 Child Abuse 25

4.1.1 Isolation in The Bluest Eye 28

4.1.2 Torture in The Bluest Eye 31

4.1.3 Rape in The Bluest Eye 33

4.1.4 Introvert in The Bluest Eye 35

4.2 Adults’ Failures 37

4.2.1 Moral Values Denial in The Bluest Eye 39 4.2.2 Parents’ Centrism in The Bluest Eye 41 4.2.3 Life Desperation in The Bluest Eye 44 4.3 Finding the Relation between Child Abuse

and Adults’ Failures 46

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION 50

5.1 Conclusion 50

5.2 Suggestion 51

REFERENCES 53

APPENDICES

I. TONI MORRISON’S BIOGRAPHY AND WORKS

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ABSTRACT

Skripsi ini berjudul “Child Abuse and Adults’ Failures Found in Toni Morrison’s

The Bluest Eye” membahas tentang tindak-tindak kekerasan pada anak yang dialami

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CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

1.1Background of the Study

The Bluest Eye is 1970’s novel written by Toni Morrison, which took place in

America’s Midwest during 1940s as the following years of the Great Depression Era. The reason why the study of the novel of The Bluest Eye is interested to be done is because of the depiction of characters from the novel, which is portrayed through Pecola.

Pecola is an Afro-American adolescence who comes from a very poor family. Her father, Cholly Breedlove and her mother, Pauline Breedlove are both irresponsible parents. Her father spends most of his time in drinking, while her mother spends most of her time in serving the white family; in fact, she loves the white family more than her own black family.

No matter where Pecola goes, either in family, at school, or in society, she is always treated as a scapegoat because of her blackness. Pecola’s mother seems to love the white family’s daughter more than her own daughter by staying with and giving more attention to the whites’. However, it is not apart from the fight that she and Pecola’s father always have. The trigger of the fight always comes from Pecola’s father’s drunkenness. To Pecola’s father, drinking has become his habit and his escapement of the reality and the experience that he had before, which then made him insensible with his family needs. At school, Pecola becomes her friends’ mockery; even her teacher tries hard to ignore her. In society, people always see her as an ugly poor disgusting black girl. Consequently, she grows into an adolescent who is lack of self-confident and is always abused by her environment.

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The things which are afflicted by Pecola become the basis of the study and the analysis of The Bluest Eye, bringing Child Abuse and Adults’ Failures as its main topic. In addition, the reason why the study of Child Abuse and Adults’ Failures are interested to be done is because it is a very common yet crucial issue which can happen to anyone. In Indonesia itself, it is showed in national.kompas.com that in the year of 2007, the cases of violations rights against children is risen up to 40.398.635 cases, it has been more than in 2006 which had 13.447.921 cases. Moreover, during the first semester of 2008, there are 21.872 children become the victims of physical and psychological violence in their social environment with as many as 12.729 children are the victim of child sexual abuse from the people who are closed to them.

The term of Child Abuse is generally defined as an unfair treatment towards a child. These abuses can be divided into child neglect, physical abuse, child sexual abuse, and psychological abuse. When a child starts to enter early adolescence period, the child becomes more aware that people may have numerous and possibly conflicting and intentions at the same time. Here, the term of Child Abuse is referred to Pecola, an adolescent girl who is always treated badly physically, verbally, sexually, and emotionally. First, she becomes the object of her environment – being told repeatedly that she is an ugly girl, which then makes her full of desired to possess the bluest eyes. Second, she becomes the object of her parents’ – being unloved by her mother and raped by her father.

Adults are mature human beings that are supposed to be a good role model for children, yet, through this novel, reader can find out the failures of adults in dealing with their life. Things that can be categorized as Adults’ Failures are moral failures, parents’ centrism, and life desperation. The reason why Child Abuse can also happen in Pecola’s family is the discord of her parents’ relationship as the Adults’ Failures.

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Her father, Cholly, is a drunker and the reason why he becomes like that is because he can’t stand with his life pressure; while her mother, Pauline, only feels happy and alive when she is working for a rich white family, here she tries to escape from her reality since she can never stand with Cholly’s behaviour at home, so both of them somehow lost the love that they once had for one and another in the end.

Personality is usually developed from a person's childhood experiences, so with the experiences that are befallen by Cholly when he was rejected by his father and was discarded by his mother, and the memory of his first sexual encounter, made him become an adults who fails when he abuses his daughter (Pecola) sexually. Since the experience that Pecola gets from his father, added with the experience of meeting and talking with the Soaphead Church, not only Pecola starts to hallucinate that she has blue eyes, but also she tends to have a split personality by talking to herself through the mirror; she becomes insane at the end. Still no one cares.

1.2Problems of the Study

Through the novel of The Bluest Eye, there are two main problems which are going to be discussed in this thesis:

1. What are the types of child abuse in The Bluest Eye? 2. What are the failures of adults in The Bluest Eye?

1.3Objective of the Study

Here are the objectives of studying the novel:

1. To find out types of Child Abuse i.e. Child Neglect, Physical Abuse, Child Sexual Abuse, and Psychological Abuse.

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2. To define the Adults’ Failures i.e. Moral Values Denial, Parents’ Centrism, and Life Desperation.

1.4Scope of the Study

The study of The Bluest Eye’s novel will be limited by only analyzing Child Abuse in terms of isolation, torture, rape, and introvert, which is part of child neglect, physical abuse, child sexual abuse, and psychological abuse, as well as Adult’s Failure that includes moral values denial, parents’ centrism, and life desperation, which can be seen through the characters: Pecola Breedlove, Cholly Breedlove, Pauline Breedlove, and the Soaphead Church aka Elihue Micah Whitcomb.

1.5Significance of the Study

There are two benefits why this thesis is written: 1. Theoretical benefits

Theoretically, this study is expected to give an overview and understanding about what Child Abuse and Adults’ Failures are as well as what the relation between Child Abuse and Adults’ Failures are. In addition, it is also expected to give an overview of how psychology can be involved in literary works.

2. Practical benefits

Practically, this study is made as a reference or as an additional reading material for those who are also interested in studying and discussing literary psychology; besides, this study is also expected to give readers knowledge of what and how they supposed do when dealing with adolescences in order to avoid child abuse.

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CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

2.1 Earlier Studies

The novel of The Bluest Eye brings Child Abuse and Adults Failures as its main topic brings the analysis of the novel to psychological approach as well as to extrinsic approach. Those approaches are a great tool for reading beneath the lines. If Morris and Abert A. Maistro (2005) mentioned that psychology is the scientific study of human’s behaviour and mental process, Wellek and Austin Warren (1956:94) said that literature represents life and life in a large measure, is a social reality. Thus, it can be assumed that life represents society (human). In the literary work, human is known as character. So, the study of certain literary works using psychological approach as the base can be done since there’s a human, known as character that possesses behaviour that can be analyzed.

The studying which had been done by Alfina (2008) as her thesis also provides deeper understanding of how psychology enters the literature, i.e. through human’s behaviour which can be seen in the characters. Different from Alfina who only focused on kinds of Child Abuse as well as the effects of the Child Abuse to a child, in this thesis, the elements of psychology which are going to be studied is directed to the characters. The focus will be on Child Abuse and Adults’ Failure towards an adolescent and adults. Things which are befallen by them which are somehow developed their personality. Although the analysis which is going to be done is slightly different, the reading of Alfina’s analysis somehow also provides considerable assistance in understanding the term and the description of Child Abuse itself.

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In Santrock (1998), Sigmund Freud as the contributor of the modern psychology believed that adolescents’ lives are filled with tension and conflict. To reduce this tension, they keep information locked in their unconscious mind (Santrock, 1998:42). According to him, human beings are not as rational as what they imagine. Human beings have “free will” which is largely an illusion. The illusion is an unconscious hidden thing which consists of a dynamic cauldron of primitive and aggressive drives, forbidden desires, nameless fears and wishes, and traumatic childhood memories (Morris, 2005:13).

In Pasotti (1977:128), Sigmund Freud divides the humans’ mind into three parts, namely: id, ego, and superego. While id is dominated by the pleasure principle, the ego is dominated by reality principle, and the superego is dominated by the morality principle. Humans need to be able to control his id using his ego and superego. It is because the failure of a person will happen when the id, such as forbidden desires, the traumatic childhood memories, etc are not be able to be controlled by ego or superego. Like what is happened to Cholly Breedlove in The

Bluest Eye, Pecola is raped for Cholly can’t control his id.

While in Koswara (1991), it is said that Abraham Harold Maslow opposes Freud’s theory. The theory which assumes man is basically possessed an evil character. According to the view of Humanistic Psychology, man is basically a good or neutral human being. The one that damaged his goodness is his bad environment.

Maslow is then arranged his theory, which is known as Hierarchy of Needs (1970). There, he divides the level of human needs into a five level of pyramids. Starting from the bottom are the psychological needs, the safety needs, the belongingness and love needs, the esteem needs, and the need for self-actualization on the top of the pyramid. Thus, it can also be said that things which are done by

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Cholly is because of his environment forces. Due to his inability in fulfilling his safety needs, where there’s still a fear of his past that keeps frightening him, he is eventually led to the disability to share his love with his family. From those of all, the compliance of the psychological needs is the uppermost for it is the main stimulus and booster of humans’ behaviours.

Adults like Cholly, or Pauline, or Soaphead Church in The Bluest Eye are supposed to be children safeguarding, whom children can seek for help. Hedy Cleaver (2009) stated clearly that children are easy to hurt. Thus, children need to be protected and have safe feeling, not worried or scared. However, some of the adults not only like to show the cold shoulder to children, but also become the perpetrators against children. In addition, the violence/abuses befallen by children are mostly done by children guardians or children relatives that may cause children suffering from depression or death.

Besides, through Spencer’s article (2009), an additional insight has been provided that not all children, especially the Afro-American children are treated badly. For instance, in page 74, it is shown that how Barrack Obama, the 44th president of the United States still spare some of his time to gather with his family no matter how busy he is, especially with two of his daughters, Malia and Sasha. Hence, Dacey and John F. Travers (2003) also gives the understanding of each level of human development, stating by various psychologists, e.g. Erik Erikson. There, Erik Erikson divides human development into several stages, which is going to be discussed more briefly at the next point. Nevertheless, this thesis won’t be accomplished without the understanding of the Neuman’s research method (2007).

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2.2 Novel

The word “literature” derives from Latin “littera” which means letter. Literature is the art of written works. However, this term also possesses a wider meaning. Previously, when writing had not broadly been used, stories were handed down from one generation to next generation orally. The stories which entertain and teach moral lesson to listener are then turned into written works using some techniques of writing by authors.

Two kinds of writing which are likely to be applied are prose and verse. Yet, prose seems to be more typical to be used for it consists of ordinary grammatical structures and speeches. Prose is also known as the least complicated literary genre. One of its forms is Novel, which is also the form of TheBluest Eye.

Novel is a long fictional narrative work which somehow imitates the reality and might have certain effects to readers. The rise of the novel is in 18th century. Writers at that time tried to create their works without following the traditional way that has been set. Before this century, the characters and the stories were always come from the aristocrats. Nevertheless, starting from this period, the characters and the stories start coming from the commoners, who possesses a more unique life.

The Bluest Eye is an African-American Modernist Fiction novel which was

written in the 20th century. It brings up the life of common people as well as things which may be faced by them in this modernization. Split psyche which is afflicted by Pecola, the breakdown of the modern family, the dissolving of community and an increasing of religion’s skepticism are things which could be seen in the novel. In addition, those things may also be the main problems for some Americans at that time.

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In a novel, there are many elements that interconnect with one and another but the most important of all is characters. The word “character” derives from the ancient Greek “kharaktêr” which is the depiction of a person in narrative work. Character plays an important in a story since he is the one that will determine where the story is going to go. This character may be presented either in a direct way or through action and behaviour.

Analyzing a character can be done in four ways. First, through physical such basic facts as sex, age and size e.g. Pauline is a lame foot mother who has lost her tooth as well. Second, through social such as economic status, profession, religion, family, and social relationship e.g. the Soaphead Church is known as the pedophile and mystic fortune teller from his society. Third, through psychological such as habitual response, attitudes, desires, motivations, likes and dislikes which lead to actions e.g. Pecola desires to have the bluest eye. Forth, through moral such as moral decisions which is made in a crisis moment e.g. the rape which is done by Cholly to Pecola when she is washing dishes.

2.3A Brief Description of Children

A child or children in plural form is a term which is given to a human being between the stages of birth and puberty. There are several stages of childhood which is proposed by Erik H. Erikson in Dacey and John F. Traver’s Human Development (2003):

1．Infancy: Birth to 1 year old

The first stage in the growth and the development of a child starts from a family. When a child begins to put things into his mouth, such as rattles, he begins to

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figure out whether the world where he lives is a safe place. Roles, contacts, love, and attention given by parents, especially mothers are very important in guiding the development of the child. Still, the most important thing that a child always wants to have is the feeling that he has a right to live and to be in this world, showed by the care and the tenderness of his parents.

It is very essential to make sure every child is able to pass this stage successfully so he can grow into a man who possesses trust and confidence in the future. However, there are always obstacles to have all of children passed this stage successfully. So, if a child fails in this stage, in other words, feeling isolated or ignored, the child might experience frustration and disillusionment with life. Thus, he is going to end with the feeling of worthlessness and a mistrust of the world in general.

Many studies have shown that there’s a link between suicides or suicide attempts with the importance of the period of infancy in a child's mental development. People who are usually attempted with these cases are commonly lack of belief. The basic belief of world is as trustworthy place and every man has a right to life are not being developed well in early stages. Therefore, the relationships between children and parents or constant caregivers are significantly important in this stage. Warmth, care, and discipline should exist in thriving trust.

2．Early Childhood: 2 to 3 Years

In this second stage, children begin to learn to be independent with the guidance of parents and other adults. Children not only learn to walk, eat, and go to toilet by themselves, but also learn to distinguish right from wrong and what is allowed and is not allowed. By time, they will also acquire new skills, which can be

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developed later on. Within this period, children become the master of their own minds by learning to control their own body. Besides, children learn to be more daring in expressing what they want and think too. Therefore, it is often said that children in this age are very frank and honest.

Children, who are building their self-esteem at this level, are still very vulnerable. At a time, they can be very proud of succeeding in doing something. But in the other times, they can feel ashamed and suffer low self-esteem when they fail in doing something. The most difficult thing which has to be faced by every child in this level is toilet training. Many children suffer low self-esteem because of this failure. For, the role of parents and other adults in encouraging, guiding and directing the child are needed.

3．Preschool: 4 to 5 Years

Preschool children are also known as play age children. At this stage, children tend to imitate what adults do or say. Thus, toys and games which are played often represent things that they believe are done as an adult. Games that like to be played are like Barbie and Ken or cars, etc, which represent the adulthood. When playing, they often mimic the gestures or behaviours of adults whom they know.

Meanwhile, their curiosity is also growing greater. The most frequent word which is used to explore the world is “Why”. Questions which like to be asked, excluded “What is that/this?” are “Why cannot?” “Why is it wrong?” “Why have to be like this?” etc. Those questions will sometimes make parents have a difficulty to explain. Yet, such question might somehow tighten their relationship.

However, this proximity can also be a trigger of Oedipus Complex (boys compete with father for mother’s love) or Electra Complex (girls compete with

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mother for father’s love). Still, this problem will eventually be resolved through social role identification. Hence, compared to early child who will feel embarrassed in doing mistakes, play age child will easily feel guilty if he does so. Even though their most significant relationship is still with their parents and family, but friends have also taken part in it.

4．Middle Childhood: 6 to 11 Years

Children in school age period are no longer imitating adults. They start to develop themselves in order to learn, acquire, and create new knowledge and skills from the environment. Those skills which will then be used to accomplish tasks what are assigned to them. In addition, children will also learn to communicate, socialize, and compete with others. Though it seems that they are now able to finish all things by themselves, parents still play an important role in guiding them.

Even so, school and environment have a greater influence in forming children’s character. This is because most of their times are spent there. Therefore, it is very essential for a child to have the feeling of capability. If a child feels he is more inadequate than others, then he will not be able to be industrious and to compete with others. At the end, he might have serious problems in terms of competence and self-esteem.

5. Adolescence: 12 to 18 Years

If in the previous stage, a child’s development is influenced by what others have done to the child, then at this stage, the development of a child is totally depend on himself. At this level, adolescents are neither children nor adults. They are people who are seeking for their own identity. However, during the searching, there might be many difficulties which need to be overcome, such as difficulty in mingling with

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others and in selecting right from wrong. These might be happened due to their inexperience.

The adolescents will also tend to spend most of their time with their peers. Gangs or peer groups will be formed. With their peer groups, they will learn about the adult world, like loyalty, devotion, hypocrisy, etc. However, not every adolescent is accepted in certain peer groups. For those who are not belonged to any group might somehow suffer lower self-esteem and role confusion due to the mockery and alienation. This is also because adolescents are very sensitive and are very concerned of people’s point of view toward them.

2.3.1 Adolescents

Adolescent is a term which refers to a human being, who is in the end of the stage of childhood and in the beginning of the stage of adulthood. It is also known as a transitional stage where both of the physical and the mental of the teenagers are changing in order to be ready for the adults’ role. For a number of adolescents, this transition stage can somehow be a very stressful stage. The stresses, which come from numerous sources, might lead them into the experiment of cigarettes, drugs, and alcohol that might also cause the suffering of kinds of mental illness.

Anna Freud in Human Development felt that latency (adolescence) is the time when children adopt the moral values and principles of people with whom they identify. Besides, adolescents tend to become more religious and devoted to God as well as more intellectual and logical about life. Meanwhile, in the same book, Erik Erikson claimed that the main task of the adolescent is to gain a state of identity, in which, they are looking for who they are by repudiating others possibilities and committing to one lifestyle. Furthermore, most of adolescents tend to have a belief

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that people are looking at them for they have their own uniqueness and invulnerability. For instance, Pecola as a black adolescent who prays a lot for the bluest eyes so that people will treat her in a better way. However, since she is failed in obtaining the bluest eyes, she turns insane in her depression.

2.4 A Brief Description of Child Abuse

Child abuse is the acts of child maltreatments which are done by parents, caregivers, or other adults. It might occur anywhere, either in a child's house, or in the organizations, schools or communities the child involves in. Child abuse is an act that is physically, sexually, or emotionally harmed a child. Generally, people who become the abusers may be a victim of their own parents, a member of a distressed marriage, or a poorly educated or an economically deprived person. Nevertheless, not every act of abusing can be seen clearly in a child, since not all children and adults are aware of it.

The impact of the child abuse itself is enormous. As it has been previously disclosed, the perpetrators are used to be the victims, so if this is not stopped, this may eventually direct the children to do the same thing in the future. In addition, children who experience child abuse will be traumatized. This might also lead the children of becoming introvert. On the other hand, children may suffer depression or emotional disorders, e.g. mood swings. Prolonged depression can also make children engaged with alcohols, drugs or in criminal organizations.

2.5 Types of Child Abuse

To Widom (1989), child abuse manifests in various forms i.e. child neglect, physical abuse, child sexual abuse, and psychological or emotional abuse.

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2.5.1 Child Neglect

Child neglect is the failure of adults in providing a child's basic needs, whether it is physical (adequate food, clothing, or hygiene), emotional (nurturing or affection), educational (enroll a child in school), or medical (medicate the child or take him or her to the doctor). Child neglect often happens in a family which both of parents is working. Children are mostly left with caregivers and some of children like to malinger to get their parents attention. However, parents are sometimes not there, thinking the children will just be alright with the caregivers. They thought that children will understand their bustle. On the contrary, the children feel their parents don’t love them and don’t care of them.

Child neglect is not always easy to be found out. Sometimes, a parent might have a serious physical or mental injury which makes them unable to take care of a child. Other times, alcohol or drug abuse may seriously mess up judgment and the ability to keep a child safe. Older children might not show obvious signs of neglect or might have become used to take the role of a parent. Still, at the end, neglected children will not have their physical and emotional needs met.

2.5.2 Physical Abuse

Physical abuse is physical attack which may either be the result of an intentional attempt to hurt a child or the result from strict discipline. Acts which can be categorized as an abuse also depend on the condition and circumstances at that moment. For example the act of shaking a child is one of the most frequent adults’ performances. This act will turn into a physical abuse when adults are angry for no apparent reason and go to shake the child with a great intensity as point of impingement. As a result, the child might shock and become pale because of fear.

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Other acts that can be categorized as physical abuse are punching, striking, kicking, shoving, slapping, burning, bruising, pulling ears or hair, stabbing, and choking. Unlike discipline, physical abuse is done not to teach a child right from wrong. For instance, adults tend to love to use belt as one of the way to discipline the children. However, if the child was beaten in the vital places which might cause a number of long-term bruises afterward, this kind of act can also be said as physical abuse.

Many adults thought that the harder a child is hit, the higher the awareness of their mistakes is. However, this kind of understanding is wrong since children who are generally beaten don’t understand due to their limited experiences. Therefore, beating without giving the correct understanding will only leave trauma to the child. Furthermore, there are always different principles and objectives in beating a child as a disciplinary and as an abuse. While beating a child as a disciplinary is done to teach him right from wrong, beating a child as an abuse is vice versa. Thus, adults are supposed to find a better way to teach a child without having to hurt him physically, e.g. through communication.

2.5.3 Child Sexual Abuse

Child sexual abuse is an abuse towards a child for sexual stimulation. It is very complicated and may leave the feeling of guilt and shame on the child. Either boys or girls might suffer from child sexual abuse. However, the violence which is experienced by girls is more since the sexual abuse of boys may be underreported due to shame and stigma. In addition, the perpetrators of child sexual abuse can come from many quarters though many of them are from children’s relatives. These

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perpetrators are usually those who have a mental disorder or those who used to be the victim of child sexual abuse itself.

Exposing a child to sexual situations or material, whether or not touching is involved is also being called as sexual abuse. For instance, displaying pornography pictures to an underage school children purposely which is commonly thought as a usual but incorrect attitude. Child sexual abuse may not only cause the guilt and self-blame, but also flashbacks, nightmares, insomnia, self-esteem issues, anger, depression, etc to the children. Moreover, in the future, it may lead the child to difficulty in having intimate relationship due to the distress in trusting others.

2.5.4 Psychological Abuse

Psychological abuse or emotional abuse is a type of abuse which is the most difficult to define in a child. There are several acts that can be included as psychological abuse, such as frequent yelling, threatening, or bullying, followed by constant belittling, shaming, and humiliating a child as well as telling a child he or she is “no good," "worthless," "bad," or "a mistake.". These kinds of situations might not only happen in the community, but also within a family. For example: when a child is always being compared to another child constantly. Any achievements always felt less. Consequently, the feeling of restrained and depressed might appear after a certain period.

Besides, calling names and making negative comparisons to others are things which are generally happened among the peers. Name labeling like Four-eyed freak, Shorty, Weirdo, etc will hurt the children feeling and will leave invisible scars on them. Ignoring a child as punishment, giving him or her silent treatment and having limited signs of affection could also hurt children for they feel unloved. Additionally,

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the act of exposing the child to violence or the abuse of others, whether it’s the abuse of a parent, a sibling, or even a pet may also produce the unrest feeling of the children. After all, at the end, the victims of psychological abuse may fight back by insulting the abuser or may probably blame themselves which can result in abnormal development.

2.6 A Brief Description of Adults

An adult (or adults in plural form) is a human being who is mature enough to vote, to drive, to drink, to marry, etc. Erik H. Erikson in Dacey and John F. Travers’ Human Development divided the stages of adulthood into three stages:

1. Young adulthood: 18 to 35 years

Entering this stage, the adolescences have become the young adults. They are no longer depending on their parents entirely. They start to support their own lives from the experiences that they learnt before. The discovery of their identities made them able to determine what they want to achieve in life. Here, their friends and marital partners will play a great role.

The young adults will initially looking for companions and love. When they find their heart desire, they will bind themselves as a partner. This relationship will last until the marriage if there is no meaningful obstacle. At this level, people who start building a family can experience intimacy on a deep level and for those who find hard in creating a relationship may get isolation or teasing from others.

2. Middle Adulthood: 35 to 65 years

At the moment, work is the most important thing for Middle Adulthood. Thus, besides spending most of the time with their family, they will spend the rest of their time with the community and the workplace. Middle Adulthood will become busier than ever, which also means an increase of creativity and sense of responsibility. It is

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because they have families that also need to be nourished. In addition, they will begin to be the children role model by sharing and teaching the children with the moral’s values that they have learnt.

When the children are growing up and having their own personal life, the purpose of the Middle Adulthood’s life change gradually. Nourishing and protecting the children are not their main purpose anymore. They start seeking of the meaning of life and doing things that they can still do. People who are entering old age are usually afraid of being meaningless and inactive. Thus, there are many of them become stubborn and selfish.

3. Late Adulthood: Over 65 years

This is the last stage of the cycle of human life. There are two kinds of Late Adulthood which can be seen. First are those who feel satisfied with all his accomplishments. They feel that they have given the best contributions to life. Thus, he realized death was only the final project which is needed to cover this life’s cycle. Second are those who are afraid of death. Such people have often not yet found the purpose of living and often question if their life are worthy enough or not. Most of them may feel despair when entering this stage.

In fact, whatever is being done by people in the previous stage is merely a preparation for entering the Late Adulthood stage. Those who are in this stage are usually wiser. They are seeing the previous days as a blessing, happiness, and satisfaction day. During the end of their life, their relationship between one and another would be closer. Therefore, most of Late Adulthood likes to spend more time with family, friends, and relatives.

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CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 Research Method

The research which is done through The Bluest Eye novel is a basic research, which is focusing on refuting or supporting theories that explain how certain things can occur. There are seven steps in the doing this process of research (Neuman, 2007:9):

a. Select Topic, the topic might be general studies or issues which happened in society, e.g. Child Abuse and Adults’ Failures.

b. Focus Question, narrowing the topic which was going to be discussed by focusing on the topic through questions and developing possible theories and answers, e.g. Isolation, Torture, Rape, Introvert, Moral Values Denial, Parents’ Centrism, and Life Desperation.

c. Design Study, deciding method that is going to be used, it can be either quantitative method or qualitative method, e.g. Qualitative Method is used since it is a novel which is studied.

d. Collect Data, collecting the data based on the method which is used as well as the topic, e.g. Since the Qualitative Method is being used; the data are collected from books, reports, journals, etc.

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e. Analysis Data, analyzing the data which has been gathered based on the theory that is used, e.g. analyzing quotations based on Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory and Maslow’s Hierarchy Needs Theory. f. Interpret Data, data are analyzed in order to get the understanding of

what or how something is happened, e.g. Pecola is raped by his father because his father used to be abused mentally by the whites when he was a teenager. Moreover, the basic needs of the family which are difficult to be fulfilled is one of the trigger as well.

g. Inform Others, reporting the result of the research using writing, e.g. writing the finding of the analysis as a thesis.

Therefore, using the steps which have been explained above, the method which is going to be used in analyzing The Bluest Eye is qualitative method. This method is being used in order to understand how and why something is happened, not only what, when, or where something is occurred. Moreover, library research and internet research are also being applied to support and to widen the ideas of the researcher as well as to get materials and insights that are needed. Those ideas and concepts, which are then going to be selected and interpreted before being analyzed so as to get the conclusion of the studying.

Primarily, the researcher chose a literary work which is going to be analyzed. Among poetry, drama, and novel, the novel of The Bluest Eye written by Toni Morrison (1970) is selected. First, the novel is read for several times to find out problems which are faced by the characters at that time. There are several topics which are found and are interested to be discussed, such as discrimination, fantasies, whites, etc. However, Child Abuse and Adults’ Failures are being chosen since it

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somehow showed problems which are both afflicted by previous and these days’ children and adults.

Since Child Abuse and Adults’ Failures are the topic which is going to be discussed, next thing that needs to do is to find and to know what kind of approaches and principles that is suitable to be used. As the topic is dealing with the character (human), psychological approaches as well as extrinsic approaches are going to be applied in the analysis. By using the extrinsic approach and the principles of literary psychology, the text data which consist of quotations will be selected before it is interpreted and analyzed. By doing that, the conclusion of the data will be made to support the ideas of the researcher.

3.2Data Collection

In collecting the data to analyze the novel of Bluest Eye morebriefly, there are two kinds of techniques which can be used. Those two are Field Research and Historical Comparative Research (Neuman, 2007:21). However, since the object which is going to be studied is a novel, the existence of the character in reality is unknown. Due to this circumstance, historical comparative research that focused on one historical period or culture that is happened in the novel is being applied.

In order to collect all the data which will be applied in analyzing and in interpreting the quotes from the novel, internet research and library research are being done. Based on those researches, there are two kinds of sources of data which can be attained. The first one is known as primary source data, which is also the main data. Here, the primary source data is the novel of The Bluest Eye. The second one is known as secondary source data that might consist of news, articles, books, and journals which seem to be related and which might give a helping hand in writing.

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All of the data (texts) will then be saved, copied, read, or noted and will be used when it’s needed.

3.3 Data Analysis

Generally, data analysis means a search for patterns in data – recurrent behaviours, objects, or a body of knowledge (Neuman, 2007:335). Data which have been collected are made into coding before they are analyzed. To Neuman, there are three steps of coding process for Qualitative Data Analysis:

a. Open Coding, data notes will be carefully read and analysis in order to create a code that contains the idea, process, or theme.

b. Axial Coding, codes will be organized and will be divided into major or minor levels.

c. Selective Coding, codes which have been organized will be reviewed again before being made as final report.

Due to the points above, it can be seen that The Bluest Eye is a novel in the form of texts that consist of many data. These data are made as quotations after being read. However, not all of the quotations are used as inputs or proofs of the thesis’ arguments. Those data are being re-selected and are grouped based on the topic of discussion. Afterwards, the data are interpreted and are analyzed to which they are belonged to before being made as a final statement.

As an example, when there’s an argument stating that a child is physically abused by his parents, there will be a supporting idea of this statement through quotations of the data e.g. X is being hit repeatedly by his father without any sensibly reason. From this quotation, the conclusion of a child is being treated as a victim of

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physical abuse can be made. Hence, this action can be connected to the theory of Abraham Maslow and Sigmund Freud. Using Maslow’s theory, the beating might come from parents’ depression in fulfilling the biological needs. While using Freud’s theory, the beating might happen because the ego and the superego of the doer are lower than the id.

Subsequently, the relation between Child Abuse and Adults’ Failures will be exposed. Quotations from the novel that are underlying the occurrences of the Child Abuse and Adults’ Failures or vice versa will also be provided as supporting ideas. The steps which are going to be used in searching the relation will similar to the steps which are used in finding kind of Child Abuses and Adults’ Failures.

Conclusion

Interpretation

Data Selection Quotations: Child Abuse and Adults’

Failures Analysis

(Descriptive Qualitive)

Novel (The Bluest Eye) Researcher

Extrinsic Approach and Literary

Psychology

Data Selection Quotations: Child Abuse and Adults’

Failures Interpretation

Analysis (Descriptive

Qualitative) Conclusion

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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

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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.

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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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Pecola wasn’t ugly, she wouldn’t have a harder time. Now, both Cholly and Pecola are her burden which she has to hold as “A cross”.

Not like Sammy, he was the hardest child to feed. But Pecola look like she knowed right off what to do. A right smart baby she was. I used to like to watch her. You know they makes them greedysounds. Eyes all soft and wet. 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, 1970:99)

Accordingly, the poverty issue between the uneducated parents as well as the skin colour and the ugliness issues seem to have no way out. Pecola becomes the victim of her parents’ frustration. She is abused physically, verbally, sexually, and mentally. However, due to her ugliness and introvert personality, she is also bullied and teased in the society. The isolation which is ensued to her as well as the torture and the raping which turns her into an introvert an insane girl will be explained in more detail at the next point.

4.1.1 Isolation in The Bluest Eye

Isolation is a state when a child is neglected or is abandoned either by his family or by his environment. Isolation might happen on a child when the child is despised or is created as a scapegoat by people around him. In The Bluest Eye, it can be seen that Pecola is neglected by her parents. She is not only an option, but is also a scapegoat in her family. She is always told by her mother how ugly she is to cover her own ugliness. Moreover, as a daughter, neither her father nor her mother cares of her. Both her parents are more concerned on their own needs rather than hers.

The neglect which is physiologically and mentally befallen by Pecola can be seen from the quotes below when she is living with the MacTeer. It is seen that Pecola has never had proper food and enough affection from her parents.

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“Three quarts of milk. That’s what was in that icebox yesterday. Three whole quarts. Now they ain’t none. Not a drop. I don’t mind folks coming in and getting what they want, but three quarts of milk!

(Morrison, 1970:22)

That old thrifling Cholly been out of jail two whole days and ain’t been here yet to see if his own child was live or dead. She could bedead for all he know. And that mama neither. What kind of something is that? “

(Morrison, 1970:23)

It is actually not aside from the incapability of her parents in fulfilling her physiological needs when Pecola drinks milk greedily in MacTeer’s house. Milk for instance, is one of the things which her parents can’t afford. Sometimes, to have a proper three times meal has been quite difficult and Pauline still has a difficulty to pay the gas man to do cooking, yet Cholly still spends his money on drinking, ignoring the family needs. Thus, Pecola hardly ever has milk too. As a consequence, she drinks the milk greedily and a lot when she has the chance to. The neglect of child basic needs which are done by Pecola’s parents is part of neglect and isolation that are befallen by Pecola in the family.

Besides, most of parents will feel worry if their children are not around them. It is really different from Pecola’s parents who don’t even care of her safety. They don’t even visit her when she has been living with MacTeers for two days. Even the Mrs. MacTeer is confused with their attitude by stating “What kind of something is that?” referring “something” to Pecola’s parents and their behaviour.

Still, this neglect can be understood for to her mother, having her is a kind mistake and an extra burden. Pauline regrets of giving her birth. At first, she puts a lot of hope on her, wishing that she is beautiful and can make her life get better. But in the end, Pecola’s look is not as what she hopes. To her father, she is nothing. He doesn’t even know how to take care a child since he had never felt it.

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Usually, when a child is being treated as a scapegoat, no one will dare enough to get closer to him. It is because others are also afraid that they will be treated the same. Thus, a child like Pecola who has been neglected by her family is also isolated by her environment, i.e. among her teachers and her classmates. The main reason why people are ignoring and are isolating her is because the unequal status between her and others which breeds the prejudice. As her father is uneducated, jobless, drinker, poor, and ugly, the Breedloves are socially seen as very low and inferior. People tend to have negative prejudice on her since her father is like that. People are likely to see that nothing is good as well in her.

Pecola realizes the isolation which is made to her by them is because of her ugliness. In fact, people see themselves more superior than her and she sees herself as an ugly girl too like what she is told. As the minority as well as the inferior, she has a lifeless feeling. Since she is ugly she belongs to the Breedloves and has to stay with them as well as with the people who judge her. The unfair treatment and the isolation which are befallen by Pecola at school most of the time can be seen from the quotations below:

As long as she looked the way she did, as long as she was ugly, she would have to stay with these people. Somehow she belonged to them. Long hours she sat looking in the mirror, trying to discover the secret of the ugliness, the ugliness that made her ignored or despised at school, by teachers and classmates alike. She was the only member of her class who sat alone at a double desk. The first letter of her last name forced her to sit in the front of the room always. But what about Marie Appolonaire? Marie was infront of her, but she shared a desk with Luke Angelino.

(Morrison, 1970:39)

Her teacher had always treated her this way. They tried never to glance at her, and called on her only when everyone was required to respond.

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(Morrisson, 1970:40)

The isolation which is befallen by Pecola both in the family and the environment makes her has no best friend that she can’t talk to or share with. It leads her rapidly to the frustration. However, this is only a part of abuses that frustrates her and causes her losing her sanity. In addition, losing her sanity afterwards doesn’t mean changing people’s view at her either. People still judge her negatively in her insanity. She doesn’t evoke others empathy but vice versa; she is completely isolated. People looked down at her because she has been raped by her father and has got pregnant.

The Breedloves are seen as a morally and socially low family, especially Pecola for she is as fail as her father, Cholly. They laugh at her condition. Moreover, they also look away and avoid her for they can only see her as someone who has failed. Being with someone who has failed will just produce another failure. She is isolated and is treated as the scapegoat where ugliness, failures, and inferiority are all pointed to her.

She was so sad to see. Grown people looked away; children, those who were not frightened by her, laugh outright.

……….. We tried to see her without looking at her, and never and never went near. Not because she was absurd, or repulsive, or because we were frightened, but because we had failed her.

………... So we avoided Pecola Breedlove – forever.

(Morrison, 1970:158)

4.1.2 Torture in The Bluest Eye

Torture is an act of cruelty which is prohibited under both international and national laws. Torture which belongs to physical abuse is often being related to discipline. However, different from discipline, torture may leave scars that are hardly

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vanished. Wound which lasts for a long time and turns into scars are usually the result of physical abuse. In addition, if discipline leaves learned messages for children, torture leaves nothing but trauma.

Generally, attacks or insults or tortures which are done by others are related to aggressions. An intentional attack by someone to others is a retaliatory attack of something which is afflicted by that person. In The Bluest Eye, the situation where Pecola is attacked by the outsider is a retaliatory attack. She is treated as a scapegoat. At first, Pecola who just wants to see a kitten is thrown with a big black cat that ends up with scratching her face. The fact is the doer hates the cat and instead of bullying the cat by himself, he uses Pecola, he bullies her. Thus, it can be seen when Pecola is hurt, instead of helping her, the doer is laughing happily. This torture can be afflicted by Pecola since she is seen as an ugly black skinny girl who is powerless.

Humans are said as a group of bound species. Being in certain group as superiors helps people feel better, and so does the doer. Since Pecola is very black, lonely, and ugly, she is being grouped as a nigger. A nigger is known as someone who is black, dirty, and loud, just like her father Cholly. She is judged and is always teased mostly for this reason. Due to her ugliness, loneliness, and powerlessness, the doer mocks her. At last, Pecola is truly tortured by the outsiders.

And he threw a big black cat right in her face. ……….

Junior was laughing and running around the room clutching his stomach delightedly. Pecola touched the scratched place on her face and felt tears coming.

(Morrison, 1970:73)

Yet, the rougher physical abuse is done by the insider, which is her mother who is supposed to protect her. As Pecola is a daughter who Pauline considers as her extra burden, she doesn’t really like her. Unlike the whites and their house which are white

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and clean, her daughter is just as ugly as and as black as the other Breedloves. So, when Pecola spills the pie juice accidentally in the whites’ house, Pauline is extremely angry because Pecola has dirtied the cleanness and the beauty that she praises. Pecola is then abused physically in front of her friends. Instead of soothing Pecola, her mother knocked her down, yanked her up again to slap her in rage without considering her wound of the burn. It is also a retaliatory attack by her mother because of Pecola’s blunder.

Most of the juice splashed on Pecola’s legs, and the burn must have been painful, for she cried out and began hopping about just as Mrs. Breedlove entered with a tightly packed laundry bag. In one gallop she was on Pecola, and with the back on her hand knocked her to the floor. Pecola slid in the pie juice, one leg folding under her. Mrs Pecola yanked her up by the arm, slapped her again, and in a voice thin with anger, abused Pecola directly and Frieda and me by implication.

(Morrison, 1970:86)

As a proof that Pecola is often subjected to torture in the family can be seen from the statement which is made by the neighbours who know how Pecola’s mother treats her daughter. The treatment which is befallen by Pecola is definitely different from discipline and can lead the victim to death.

“Well, it probably won’t live. They say the way her mama beat her she lucky to be alive herself.”

(Morrison, 1970:148)

4.1.3 Rape in The Bluest Eye

Rape is a type of sexual coercion which is done by one human being to another human being. Rape which happens on a child is the peak of child sexual abuse. A child who is being raped especially by an adult whom she knows and believes may lose the trusts to all adults. Besides, rape can also cause a child losing

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self-confidence and having no idea of what life is actually about. In addition, viciously the child might suffer self depression which may lead to insanity.

In The Bluest Eye, the rape which is done by Cholly to Pecola for twice is believed to be one of the reasons of why Pecola gets pregnant but ends up with losing her baby and her sanity at the end. Unlike the second rape which isn’t being told precisely how it happens, it can be seen that the first rape happens when Cholly is under the biochemical influences. Biochemical influences such as alcohol and drugs leads the blood on body from the neural sensitivity to aggressive stimulation. It makes the consumer become more aggressive than usual when intoxicated.

Aggressiveness of a person is boosted after the person consumes alcohol. The alcohol will reduce people self-awareness and their ability to consider consequences. This means under alcohol influences, the percentage of a person to commit assaults is higher. It is because they lose their self-awareness and their ability to picture the consequences. For that reason, when Cholly comes home drunkenly and sees her daughter who is still washing, he can’t overcome the pleasure and the excitement in him. The pleasure and excitement of the forbidden thing and the memories of her wife, Pauline pops up. He loses his rational ego and moralism of super-ego. His forbidden desire of the unconscious id is waken up and is raised because of the biochemical influences. He rapes his daughter. Here is the quote when Cholly comes home drunkenly and losing his self-awareness:

So it was on a Saturday afternoon, in the thin light of spring, he staggered home reeling drunk and saw his daughter in the kitchen. She was washing dishes. Her small back hunched over the sink. Cholly saw her dimly and could not tell what he saw or he felt. Then he became aware that he was uncomfortable; next he felt the discomfort dissolve into pleasure.

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4.1.4 Introvert in The Bluest Eye

Introvert is a character that people want to be alone all the time. It is not always because they like it but it is also because they are afraid to communicate with others. Introvert might be the cause of the isolation which is made by people around the victims. The character of introvert can be found on everyone, even on a child. An introvert child enjoys exploring their own thoughts and feelings, avoiding the social conversations. It is more to the inner world of a person himself.

To all children, home is the first place of socialization and parents are the most powerful influences on children’s development. To what a child is developed is totally depended on both things. It is very important and crucial for parents to build a good relationship with their children. Knowing that he is loved for a child is also extremely essential. Those are things that will then develop children’s character.

In The Bluest Eye, it can be seen how permissive Pecola’s parents are. Neither they are able to fulfill her physical needs nor they are able to fulfill her emotional needs. Feeling of unloved and isolated created Pecola becoming an introvert girl. As an introvert girl, Pecola is seen as a powerless girl who is easily bullied. However, this is not apart from the lesson which is taught by her mother. Learning from her mother about the ugliness of her blackness, she starts to dislike herself. Her parents especially her mom also embeds her with fear of life, which gradually leads her to become an introvert girl. The fear that she possess is indeed coming from her mother:

. . . and into her daughter she beat a fear of growing up, fear of other people, fear of life.

(Morrison, 1970:102)

This belief and the fear on her which is later on also affect the view of people to her. As she can’t see any good things about herself, she can’t bring out any good

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things, which makes people can’t see any of her good either. Consequently, when she is at school, her friends often mock her by making her as the victim of their joke. They use her to insult others. Also, they abash her and humiliate her using her blackness and her father. This negative teasing and comparisons which then also sway the growth of her introvert character.

She also knew that when one of the girls at school wanted to be particularly insulting to a boy, or wanted to get an immediate response from him, she could say, “Bobby loves Pecola Breedlove! Bobby loves Pecola Breedlove!” and never fail to get peals of laughter from those in earshot, and mock anger from the accused. (Morrison, 1970:40)

They danced a macabre ballet around the victim, whom, for their own sake, they were prepared to sacrifice to the flaming pit.

Black e mo Black e mo Ya daddy sleeps nekked Stch ta ta scth ta ta stach ta ta ta ta ta

Pecola edged around the circle cyring. She had dropped her notebook, and covered her eyes with her hands.

(Morrison, 1970:55)

Outside the school as well, she is emotionally abuse by words which is given to her. She is called with “nasty little black bitch”. “Bitch” is a “female dog”, which is very rude to scold someone with it. It is usually refer to impropriate woman too. While using “nasty” which means “dirty and disgusting” plus black made that phrase become ruder and more hurt especially to a child.

“Get out,” she said, her voice quiet. “You nasty little black bitch. Get out of my house.”

(Morrison, 1970:75)

Yet, the more humiliating part is when even her mother calls her “crazy fool”. As a mother who is supposed to protect her daughter, she makes her feel guilty and unloved by caring more on the beauty of her floor rather than her daughter. And

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when Pecola was knocked down by her mother in front of her friends, it is also shown that her mother doesn’t love her. She is mentally abused in front of her friends. In addition, when her mother prefers to calm the whites’ daughter down to her, Pecola’s mother sees her as an ugly girl indirectly, who isn’t worthy to be loved.

“Crazy fool . . . my floor, mess . . . look what you . . . work . . . get on out . . . now that . . . crazy . . . my floor, my floor . . . my floor.” Her words were hotter and darker than the smoking berries, and we backed away in dread.”

(Morrison, 1970:87)

We remembered Mrs. Breedlove knocking Pecola down and soothing the pink tears of the frozen doll baby that sounded like the door of our ice box.

(Morrison, 1970:148)

Commonly, scars which are afflicted by a child will not be as painful as the wounds which are left on the child’s heart and mind. A child, like Pecola, who is not only suffer various physical and sexual abuses, but also psychological abuses either from insiders or from outsiders will somehow become more afraid to get along with others. She will eventually lose her faith on everyone and will turn into an introvert girl for no one is able to be trusted and to be depended on.

4.2 Adults’ Failures

Adults’ Failures mean any failures which are made by adults. Adults are normally seen as mature human beings who are able to protect children and are able to be a good role model with the privilege that they have. However, this privilege is often misused. For instance is the privilege which is possessed by the Soaphead Church in The Bluest Eye. As an adult who is labeled as the Soaphead Church, he is recognized as God’s messenger and God’s mediator. Thus, he is supposed to help

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Plays

Dreaming Emmett (performed 1986)

Desdemona (first performed 15 May 2011 in Vienna)

Libretti

Margaret Garner (first performed May 2005)

Non-fiction

The Black Book (1974)

Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination (1992)

Race-ing Justice, En-gendering Power: Essays on Anita Hill, Clarence Thomas, and the Construction of Social Reality (editor) (1992)

Birth of a Nation'hood: Gaze, Script, and Spectacle in the O.J. Simpson

Case (co-editor) (1997)

Remember: The Journey to School Integration (April 2004)

What Moves at the Margin: Selected Nonfiction, edited by Carolyn C. Denard (April 2008)

Burn This Book: Essay Anthology, editor (2009)

Articles

"Introduction." Mark Twain, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. [1885] The Oxford

Mark Twain, edited by Shelley Fisher Fishkin. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996, pp. xxxii-xli.

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II. SUMMARY OF THE BLUEST EYE

The novel opens with the voice of Claudia MacTeer, though she isn’t named until later. Claudia remembers an autumn of her childhood when she and her sister Frieda planted marigolds, but they would not grow. Claudia remembers her deprived and oppressed childhood in a poor African-American community. Her mother was so embattled with poverty and work that she had no emotional energy left to provide tender care for her two daughters. She used shame on them regularly. Once, when Claudia got sick, her mother complained unendingly about the trouble she was causing, but, nevertheless, her mother tended to her to help her get well.

One autumn, Pecola Breedlove came to live with the MacTeers as a special "case" sent by the county because her father, Cholly Breedlove, had burned his family’s house and was put outdoors. Mrs. Breedlove was living with her employers, Charlie Breedlove, Pecola’s brother, was living with relatives, and Pecola was left to the county to care for. While she was with them, Pecola got her first period. She was shocked at the blood and it took Frieda’s help for her to understand it was a normal part of life.

The Breedlove apartment was a two-room affair that used to be a storefront. Its furniture was dilapidated and no one cared for it. The degradation of the furniture and the living quarters both contributed to and resulted from the Breedlove family’s general degradation. The Breedloves were all ugly. When people examined this fact, they realized the Breedloves believed in their own ugliness, took it up as a sort of obligatory cloak to wear all the time. One Saturday morning in October the Breedloves woke up to a very cold apartment. Mrs. Breedlove threatened Cholly Breedlove if he did not start the fire. When he didn’t, she threw cold water on him,

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initiating a vicious fight that left him unconscious. Pecola held still throughout the fight, wishing she could disappear.

Pecola often looked at herself in the mirror, wondering at her ugliness. She settled on her eyes as her ugliest feature and wished to have blue eyes. She prayed for a year to no avail, but decided to continue hoping. Pecola was friends with three prostitutes who lived on the second floor of her family’s building. They were kind to her, spoke to her respectfully, gave her clothes and candy, and told her amusing stories.

Mr. MacTeer worked hard to keep his family warm through the winter. His hard work made him emotionally distant all winter long. One winter, Claudia and Frieda became preoccupied with a new girl at school, a mulatto universally admired for her beauty by black and white alike. One afternoon, Maureen Peel invited Claudia and Frieda to walk home with her. On their way, they came across Pecola being bullied by a group of boys. Frieda rescued her and Maureen took her arm and chatted sociably with her, even buying Pecola an ice cream. However, Maureen began to taunt Pecola with the same jibes the boys had used--her black skin and her father’s sexual visibility in the household. Pecola defended herself, but only half-heartedly. Claudia noticed her inability to stand up for herself.

There was a kind of woman who lived in Lorain, Ohio who lived a respectable life and did all they could to avoid funkiness. One such woman was named Geraldine. She was married and had a son, Junior. She was so repressed that she could not bring herself to nurture her son. She would only love her cat. Her son grew to hate the cat and would torture it. Geraldine taught her son that light skinned African Americans were better than dark skinned African Americans and should remain separate from them. One day Junior lured Pecola into his house and threw the cat on her face. Then

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he began to torture the cat in front of her almost killing it. Geraldine happened to come home at that moment and blamed Pecola for it, calling her a nasty black bitch.

That winter Claudia and Frieda’s parents took in a boarder, Mr. Henry. The girls found him one day with two prostitutes in their house. He bribed them not to tell and they didn’t. Another day he found Frieda at home alone and tried to sexually molest her. When she told her parents, they beat Mr. Henry up and ran him off. Frieda worried that she was ruined now, like the prostitutes she and Claudia had heard about. The prostitutes she knew were either obese or thin from alcoholism. Wanting to be thin, the girls went in search of Pecola since they knew Pecola’s father was an alcoholic and they wanted Pecola to procure liquor for them. They found Pecola at her mother’s place a work, the wealthy home of a white family. Pecola inadvertently dropped her mother’s berry cobbler and Mrs. Breedlove beat her severely and banished all three girls. They saw her cuddling the white child of the household as they left.

Pauline Williams Breedlove began life in Alabama. She hurt her foot on a nail and became permanently crippled as a result. She stayed at home taking care of the house for her family until she met and married Cholly and they moved north to Lorain, Ohio. In Lorain, Pauline felt out of place among the black community and resorted to going to the movies to escape her problems. There she learned a standard of beauty which placed her and her family on the bottom of a strict hierarchy. She came to identity with this standard and essentially abandoned her family in favor of the white family for whom she worked.

Cholly Breedlove was abandoned by his father before he was born and then abandoned by his mother, left to die, when he was only a few days old. His Aunt Jimmy raised him and he befriended a man, Blue Jack, who acted as a father to him.

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His aunt died when he was only fourteen. After her funeral, he engaged in sexual play with a girl cousin. He was interrupted by white hunters who forced him to have sex with her against his will. He hated the girl rather than the men because they were too powerful a target. He left home the next day in search of his father. When he found his father, he was unable to talk to the man because he was so fully engaged in a crap game. Cholly cut all ties to people and lived an emotionally anarchic life. He married Pauline and the marriage quickly disintegrated. He was unable to parent his children. One Saturday afternoon in the spring, befuddled with alcohol, Cholly raped his eleven year old daughter and left her unconscious on the floor.

A man lived in the town named Soaphead Church. He posed as a spiritualist to the gullible people who needed all kinds of help. He came from a family descended from a British nobleman and a woman of African descent. The entire history of the family was marked by a strong desire to keep the light skin of their ancestor by marrying only light skinned partners. Soaphead Church was the culmination of this family. He lived as an eccentric, digging through the garbage, and he molested little girls. One day, Pecola Breedlove came to visit him to ask him for blue eyes. He told her if she made an offering of his landlady’s dog, she might get her wish. He gave her a packet of poison. Unknowingly, she gave the dog poison and was horrified to see it die in front of her.

Claudia remembers the summer when her seeds would not grow. She and Frieda had planned to sell seeds of marigolds in order to win a bicycle. As they were selling the seeds, they overheard adults’ conversation about Pecola being raped by her father and being pregnant. The adults all agreed that it would be better for child to die. Claudia and Frieda had decided to sacrifice their summer project and plant the

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marigold seeds, praying over them that the child would live. The seeds never grew and Pecola’s child died.

Pecola acquired an imaginary find with whom she engaged in delighted conversation about her beautiful blue eyes, the envy of everyone. Her imaginary friend asked questions about Cholly raping her, her mother beating her senseless and not believing her, and Cholly raping her a second time. Pecola pushed these questions aside and returned to the topic of her eyes.

Claudia remembers seeing Pecola wandering around flapping her arms, nodding her head to unheard music and talking to herself. She always felt as though she had failed Pecola. She realized the entire community had, even the country. They had used Pecola as a scapegoat.

Child Abuse And Adults’ Failures Found In Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye

Parts

Dokumen yang terkait

THE BEAUTY MYTH IN TONY MORRISON’S THE BLUEST EYE

THE BEAUTY MYTH IN TONY MORRISON’S THE BLUEST EYE

CHILD ABUSE ROOTED FROM RACISM IN TONI MORRISON’S THE BLUEST EYE

STEREOTYPES, PREJUDICE AND DISCRIMINATION IN TONY MORRISON’S THE BLUEST EYE (1970): SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGICAL STEREOTYPES, PREJUDICE AND DISCRIMINATION IN TONY MORRISON’S THE BLUEST EYE (1970): SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGICAL APPROACH.

INTRODUCTION STEREOTYPES, PREJUDICE AND DISCRIMINATION IN TONY MORRISON’S THE BLUEST EYE (1970): SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGICAL APPROACH.

THE CAUSES AND THE EFFECT OF PECOLA’S INFERIORITY IN TONI MORRISON’S THE BLUEST EYE.

The Effects Of Trauma Found In Toni Morrison’s Song Of Solomon

The Effects Of Trauma Found In Toni Morrison’s Song Of Solomon

The Effects Of Trauma Found In Toni Morrison’s Song Of Solomon

THE CONCEPT OF BEAUTY AND DISCRIMINATION UPON PECOLA IN TONI MORRISON’S THE BLUEST EYE A THESIS

Dukungan

Links

Child Abuse And Adults’ Failures Found In Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye

Parts

Dokumen yang terkait

THE BEAUTY MYTH IN TONY MORRISON’S THE BLUEST EYE

THE BEAUTY MYTH IN TONY MORRISON’S THE BLUEST EYE

CHILD ABUSE ROOTED FROM RACISM IN TONI MORRISON’S THE BLUEST EYE

STEREOTYPES, PREJUDICE AND DISCRIMINATION IN TONY MORRISON’S THE BLUEST EYE (1970): SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGICAL STEREOTYPES, PREJUDICE AND DISCRIMINATION IN TONY MORRISON’S THE BLUEST EYE (1970): SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGICAL APPROACH.

INTRODUCTION STEREOTYPES, PREJUDICE AND DISCRIMINATION IN TONY MORRISON’S THE BLUEST EYE (1970): SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGICAL APPROACH.

THE CAUSES AND THE EFFECT OF PECOLA’S INFERIORITY IN TONI MORRISON’S THE BLUEST EYE.

The Effects Of Trauma Found In Toni Morrison’s Song Of Solomon

The Effects Of Trauma Found In Toni Morrison’s Song Of Solomon

The Effects Of Trauma Found In Toni Morrison’s Song Of Solomon

THE CONCEPT OF BEAUTY AND DISCRIMINATION UPON PECOLA IN TONI MORRISON’S THE BLUEST EYE A THESIS

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