And You're Sure About That?

Mr. Henry, who temporarily lives at Claudia's house, gives her and Frieda some money to go buy some ice cream. They girls decide on getting candy instead because they don't want the possibility of running into Maureen at the ice cream store. Mr. Henry's act may seem just a simple act of kindness, but, however, lending the money to the girls to get them out of the house is just his intention. The girls come home too early to witness Mr. Henry talking with some ladies who "...were the fancy women...that Mama...hated." When the ladies left and the girls asked him who the ladies were, "He laughed the grown-up getting-ready-to-lie laugh. A heh-heh we knew well." And, yes, he swiftly lied.

This demonstrates that Mr. Henry had already shown dishonesty because the girls could see through his actions and lies to the truth he tried to cover up. As implied before, this was not the only situation that Mr. Henry displayed sketchy behavior. It just simply foreshadowed graver events to come.

Even from the first display of dishonesty, I would not let someone stay at my house because they will likely do other things that could hurt my family. Well, this is exactly what happened. Claudia came home to find Frieda crying, and after prodding for the story, Claudia was told that her sister, who hasn't even reached puberty, was sexually abused by Mr. Henry. Frieda had the courage to swiftly tell her parents what he did and Mama/Papa bear syndrome quickly came into effect. When Mr. Henry arrived, "Daddy...threw our old tricycle at his head and knocked him off the porch...Daddy was cussing, and everybody was screaming...Mr. Henry...started running, and Daddy shot at him," etc. In other words, all chaos ensued.

However, Frieda wasn't crying because of all of that, she was crying because mama said she "might be ruined." The girls tried to picture what 'ruined' meant and they decided it was "Like the [fat]Maginot Line...[and] China and Poland...[but] they ain't fat....because they drink whiskey." From this we can see how children's brains quickly connect actions together that may not give the full story and so they end up with the wrong conclusion and the wrong course of action. Because whiskey apparently prevents you from being fat when you are 'ruined,' the girls decided to go out and find some. I can smell trouble.

To Fit In...?

When a group of colored boys were taunting Pecola, it did not matter "That they themselves were black, or that their own father had similarly relaxed habits..." because, "It was their contempt for their own blackness that gave the first insult its teeth."

Claudia and Frieda came to Pecola's aid and were going to get in a fight but the confrontation did not die down until Maureen made her presence known. The bothersome boys, "...buckled in confusion, not willing to beat up three girls under her [Maureen's] watchful gaze." This whole situation demonstrates that in the world there is not only a struggle between white vs. black race relations, but also social relations within each race. Although it seems ridiculous that black children would bother someone about issues that they themselves are dealing with, it can be seen in other races including the whites.

For example, if we took this same situation and changed the race to whites, this type of thing can be seen today. When kids are self-conscious about anything, they like to find that common imperfection in others and exploit it to make themselves feel better about themselves. This is just basic human nature. So, even when white boys make fun of a white girl and a popular girl that they like shows up, suddenly the boys do not want to look foolish and so the bullying quickly stops. This popular girl can then proceed to come to the rescue and become the best friend of the victim (but only for like half a second). Any other girls besides ones that the boys like, who tried to come to the rescue, would not hinder the boys' jeers. This is exactly what happened when Claudia and Frieda tried to help. And, these girls would be jealous of the victim's sudden acceptance and care from the popular, savior girl. This is what happened when Maureen offered to buy Pecola ice cream while Claudia and Frieda were left to pay for their own, but unfortunately, they didn't have the money. "It was extremely important that the world not know that I [Claudia] fully expected Maureen to buy us some ice cream, that for the past 120 seconds I had been selecting the flavor, that I had begun to like Maureen, and that neither of us [Claudia or Frieda] had a penny." This was only the beginning to the falling apart of this quick, "superficial" friendship.

The girls quickly got into controversial conversation where they were accusing each other of things they said or saw. Claudia, "...was glad to have a chance to show some anger" when Maureen was bothering Pecola about the specifics of what she had said. This silly, typical girl drama when girls start debating about what they did or didn't say and other rash accusations that have nothing to do with the original topic, quickly escalated into name calling and Maureen running off. Unfortunately,this is the "half a second, best friends" relationship that is typical for girls.

So, it doesn't matter if this whole situation had been dealing with the white or black race. There are still social tensions within each racial social hierarchy. This could be seen in either race because whites and blacks are humans, and humans do what humans do.

Hold On!!! Well I'm Just Dangling Here...

I had never heard of Dangling Modifiers before until I read the blog entry that pointed out some which were used in some of the articles. A dangling modifier phrase starts a sentence but it does not contain a subject, and the next phrase either contains no subject or a subject that does not make sense with the phrase preceding. There should be a subject beginning the second phrase (that needs to be an independent clause) in order for the sentence that starts with the dependent clause to make sense. Wow, I understand what a dangling modifier is, but now I'm confused, that's not a good sign.

An example is...I give up. I can't make one up. Well that's good, because it means I don't use them in my writing!!!

The Pain...I Can Feel It

I am jealous of Claudia's innocent view of pain. She says that her mama's "voice was so sweet and her singing-eyes so melty I found myself longing for those hard times..." Hard times? Who wants hard times? She goes on to note that "my mother's voice took all of the grief out of the words and left me with a conviction that pain was not only endurable, it was sweet." Pain is sweet? I wish.

I am glad that although it seems that Claudia is surrounded by "hard times," she is able to not exaggerate her circumstances and is able to be relieved of her burdens by listening to the joyful music her mom makes. Music is also how Claudia's mother deals with her pain and hard times. She sings them out and away! Oh, the innocence and naivety of children! Pain is sweet? Well she obviously has not been met with enough pain yet. But how can this be? Her mother tends to jump to conclusions and resorts to whippings, her relationship with her mother is more of a child-slave, she does not have a father figure present in her life, she doesn't live in the best of conditions, etc. etc. etc. So how does she compare pain as being sweet? Well maybe because she lives in these circumstances, she views them as normal. There are few things that can be worse about her situation, and so there is not much room for an opportunity of true pain to effect her yet. Well that sounds quite nice. However, I am much more comfortable here in my situation, with my pains, than I would be suffering in her pains which she may deem as normal.

Through the Eyes of a Child

I thought it was interesting to read about what Claudia thought of dolls because it starkly differed from my view when I was a child. The Bluest Eye reads, "Adults, older girls, shops, magazines, newspapers, window signs-all the world had agreed that a blue-eyed, yellow-haired, pink-skinned doll was what every girl child treasured." Why yes, for me it was this way. I had too many dolls...in fact...but no, I could never have too many dolls. But to Claudia, one doll was way too many because all she really wanted was to have all her senses engaged and not necessarily have material things. What a wise child! In her quest to find "what it was that all the world said was lovable" about the doll, she mangled and destroyed it, and the resulting reaction from grown ups was "You-don't-know-how-to-take-care-of-nothing," etc.

"I destroyed white baby dolls." Its own sentence, its own paragraph. This syntax invokes the tones of being grave and also resigned. Resigned to the simple fact that she destroys white dolls. Claudia goes on to relate that "the truly horrifying thing was the transference of the same impulses to little white girls." These feelings were the result of envy of white girls who people loved and adored. "What made people look at them and say, 'Awwwww,' but not for me?" Claudia channeled her anger and inferiority toward the dolls which represented everything she was not, and could not have, which resulted in damaged dolls. These feelings should not be felt by a child, especially at an early age. Experiences and circumstances in childhood create and shape the future character of that child. If Claudia feels inferior and not accepted at an early age, then she will likely grow up to have low self esteem, which can greatly affect her attitude in how she handles challenges. A child needs to feel love and acceptance and also give love to others. These components in Claudia's life are missing. Her relationship with her mom is one in which, "[I] didn't initiate talk with grown-ups; [I] answered their questions." This suggests that there never was meaningful communication between mother and daughter and therefore a loss of the feeling of love which every child needs.