Violence within the Breedlove family is rooted in the displacement of anger spawned from the humiliation, hatred and invisibility they have face throughout their lifetimes. The hatred manifests itself differently in each member's life. It circulates throughout the family and further alienates them from society.
Cholly Breedlove's hate is realized in his drunken aggression and in the rape of his own daughter, Pecola. Its root is buried deep within his childhood, when the two white men shined their flashlight on young Cholly and forced him to have sex with Darlene. Immediately and without question, he transferred the his hatred for these men into a hatred for Darlene, for all Black women. In the Breedlove household Cholly directs this aggression at Pauline.
"[Pauline Breedlove] was one of the few things abhorrent to him that he could touch and therefore hurt. He poured out onto her all of his inarticulate fury and aborted desires. Hating her, he could leave himself intact." (p. 42)
Pauline then partially internalizes the hatred. Then, realizes the rest in her abuse and neglect of her children, Pecola and Sammy. Pecola, like her mother, internalizes it -- believes it. The hatred becomes Pecola's ugliness and it stirs within her, slowly destroying all that is left of this vulnerable child. I imagine her wanting to disappear is out of the desire to end the cycle of hatred that sits on her conscience.
Cholly was once like Pecola. In his adolescence he went to find his estranged father, only to be brushed off. The dream he held had dissolved and so did Cholly, in a way. After that encounter he experienced what he perceived to be freedom. The heartbreaking event had put him "outside." Years later he puts his daughter "outside." In many ways, putting someone "outside," traps them within themselves. After the rape, Pecola retreats within herself. Perhaps for Cholly, penetrating Pecola was a means for reaching out of himself in an attempt to connect with his child.
Sammy's aggression is experienced both within and out. He runs away frequently as a way to escape the penetrating humiliating atmosphere of the Breedlove home. He puts himself "outside" to be free from this. When he does remain in their home during fights he encourages his mother to beat his father harder, to kill him. He wants his mother to enact his excess aggression and terminate a link their circle of anger, his father.
This displacement of hatred serves as a defense mechanism for the Breedlove family. If they faced their oppressors, those truly deserving of the hatred, they would have to recognize their own helpless, subordinate positions in society -- a truly difficult task. Instead they place it on those close to them. Their frustrations become tangible as they abuse each other.
Along with their inability to place hatred where it belongs, are the Breedloves unable to love?
Are the Breedloves unable to love? If we were to base our decision solely upon their name, the answer would be of course can they love. But as we well know, the name Breedlove serves to highlight the glaring lack of love in their pitiful lives. Your question makes me wonder: Is love something we feel innately or are we socialized to express it? As our idealized society portrays love, it is an all powerful emotion that can trump poverty, illness, and even death. Yet, as Morrison portrays it, the racialized systems in our society foster hatred and discontent rather than any semblance of love. So it would seem that Morrison is using the name Breedlove to express that love is not innate, but rather "bred" into families, in other words we are socialized to love when all survival conditions are met. The ironic name held by Pecola's family could be seen as a scathing comment on society's overarching systems that force people into conditions that stunt the breeding of love.
ReplyDeleteI think that what the novel emphasizes, above all else, is the destructive capabilities of love. At least within the novel, love is in ideal. It is an idea and it appears to be something that very few of the characters, if any, truly understand.
ReplyDeleteEven worse, a lot of the time 'love' is simply misguided. Like when Geraldine enters the novel and expresses more love for the family she is working for and for her cat than for her own family. That misguided love ultimately results in Junior destroying the cat, because he has never been able to find and therefore understand what love is. He is simply left alone.