This excerpt above is from Toni Morrisions' novel, The Bluest Eye. It first appeared at the beginning of the novel but it also appears again to introduce a new part of the story. The cat appears in this part of the novel and there had been no prior mention of the cat or the characters in this section before. It is curious that it is this particular excerpt that appears since in a sense it lets you know there will be some relation to the cat, but it doesn't start off that way.
Women. A description of women and how the way they say where they are from is how it starts. It is all about how women from Mobile tilt their head and "you think you've been kissed" or asked where they are from and say Meridian "the sound of it opens the windows of a room like the first four notes of a hymn". Then it dives deeper into the habits of these women and how they work hard but in a sense make the rules for their environment. What really caught my attention about all of this was the special emphasis on the women. Even though there is discrimination around them, they are still showed as strong figures by Morrison.
Sure these women are given housework and childbearing as their main function, but they are the ones that "build their nest sick by stick". The description of sex is prime about this. Morrison describes it as an act that is pleasurable for the man but, shows how the woman is too focused on other things to care what is going on. She cares much more about the curler that falls off her hair and getting her hair damp, than what is actually happening. The highlight of the lack of pleasure is this: "When she senses some spasm about to grip him, she will make rapid movements with her hips, press her fingernails into his back, suck in her breath, and pretend she is having an orgasm." (pg 84) The woman is the one that has complete control. Later on in this same section it goes on to explain how she seeks pleasures outside of what should be giving her a good feeling. Hence, the cat.
The story goes from the general to the specific when it begins to talk about Geraldine. One such girl from those far away towns that moves to the previous stories setting, Lorain, Ontario with her husband. What really has her adoration and love is her black cat. Even after she gives birth to Junior, it is the cat who always has her attention and adoration. Junior becomes jealous of he cat and begins to torture it when his mother is not around.
There is a part when Pecola comes into this seemingly far off story. Junior invites her to his house to see some kittens and Pecola agrees. Little did she know he was just coaxing her, and finds herself getting the cat thrown at her. Her face gets scratched and Junior, being the violent freak he apparently is, locks her up with the cat. As soon as he notices that Pecola is petting the cat, does he open the door and begin to swing the cat over his head. Pecola gets him to let go of the cat who hits the radiator and dies.
Almost as soon as that happens Geraldine walks in, Pecola is blamed for the whole affair, and she is told to get out.
The cat didn't want to play because he was tortured. Once again Pecola is cast aside because of the color of her skin and seems to be less strong than the women described at the beginning of the section once again. If everyone else is a strong woman, is Pecola the antichrist of feminism? Maybe Morrision is highlighting this about her and that is the reason she is the weakest character in the novel despite being the main one.
No comments:
Post a Comment