The E-3 Healy Zone
The novel is divided into an untitled prelude and four sections. The four sections are named afterthe four "sacred numbers"the Four Winds in classical mythologythe four cardinal directionsthe four seasonsThe very first section of the novel, elements of which are used later as chapter headings, is a passage from a grade school reading primer, repeated and altereda poem re-imagining The Aneid set in Ohioa short quotation from the Book of Joba fairy tale about a princess with blue eyesClaudia MacTeer, the novel's main narrator, is Pecola'sauntsistermotherfriendClaudia tells us in the beginning of the novel that Pecolais a free-spirited girl who taught all the women to stand up for themselveswas impregnated by her own fathersuffered under Jim Crowe lawshad blue eyesThe time of the novel's events (1941) ties the story toWorld War II and the Nazi regime's ideas of beautythe Reconstruction era and the legacy of slaverythe Vietnam war and the violence against the poorReagan's racism and his war against America's black poorIn the prelude, Claudia says that when facing the tragedy of Pecola, one asks "why" and then, because "why" is too difficult to handle, asks "how." The question posed by Claudia in the prelude shows thathumans all have total free willasking "what" is too painful, so one contents oneself with background information like "where"questions are meaningless and silly when dealing with issues of racephilosophical questions like "why" might be impossible to handle, but a novel can dissect a social situation and an event, tackling the troubling question of "how"Claudia's parents could best be described asstern but lovingalcoholic and amusingabusive and cruelover-indulgentThe MacTeer family gets a new boarder namedOedipa MaasBaby SuggsMr. HenryCholly BreedloveThe second and temporary boarder, Pecola Breedlove, comes to stay with the MacTeers becauseMrs. MacTeer wants to reform the new boarder's wicked waysher father, Cholly, hit her mother and tried to burn their house downhe is a drifter and needs a temporary place to stayshe is a distant relation and visiting townThe actress that everyone seems to adore and Claudia hates isAudrey HepburnShirley TempleMarlene DietrichMarilyn MonroeClaudia's violent dissection of the blond haired and blue-eyed dolls parallelsfantasies of violence stemming from Claudia's sublimated hatred for her motherthe attack on Pearl Harborthe work of the novel, which examines and deconstructs social constructions of beauty and the source of black self-loathinga terrorist attack on a bank in town that only served whitesPecola drinks too much of the MacTeer's milk becausethe MacTeers' milk is very special and has a great tastemilk is her favorite drinkher mother is lactose intolerant and so she never gets milkshe is so fond of drinking from the little cup that has Shirley Temple's face on itPecola's first menstruation is ominous becausethe event is met initially with misunderstanding and even angerit comes on the day that World War II begins in Europewe know that it makes it possible for her father to later impregnate herBoth A and CThe Breedlove's house is best described as beingwarm and lovinga real fixer-up-erenormous but without lovecold, poor, and devoid of loveThe relationship between Cholly and Polly Breedlove could be best described aswarm and lovingruined by hard drugsviolent and characterized by strange co-dependencefull of good humor but somewhat frivolousThe three women who live upstairs from the Breedloves work asmeat packersprostituteshousekeeperschoirgirlsThe names of China, Poland, and Marie (aka the Maginot Line) refer tosettings for the great novels of Victor Hugo, linking Morrison to the French literary traditionthe countries of their origin, reminding us of America's melting potcountries that were invaded by fascists around the time of the novel's events, linking the story and the America in which it is set to the Aryan ideal of beautyall of the abovePecola wants to have blue eyes so thatshe can look like a catshe can work in a carnivalpeople will look at her and think she is beautiful, and so her life will changeshe can move to New York and be a fashion modelThe white shopkeeper's attitude towards Pecola could best be described asangry and violentwarm and lovingdisdainful and distantcompassionate but condescendingEyes and eyesight are important symbols throughout the novel ofPerceptionthe power of the human willHitler's medical experiments to make a race with super-visionthe pain of the past and the legacy of slavery ................
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