The bluest eyes

The second half of The Bluest Eye, Morison continues her development of major characters. The character who she spends the most time portraying is Cholly Breedlove, Pecola's father and, ultimately, the man who rapes her. The story focuses on the early days of his life, but major emphasis is placed on four events in his life: being saved by his aunt, the death of his aunt, being embarrassed by two white hunters, and his first encounter with his father. The final two events play major role in shaping Cholly into the kind of man he is by the end of the novel. The encounter with the two white hunters is a part of Cholly's past that instills an attitude of hate and resentment towards African American women, especially during intimate moments.  This becomes very apparent when he rapes Pecola. Cholly's first, and what appears to be his only, encounter with his father has a demoralizing and humiliating effect on him. With a few quick words, it becomes apparent his father wants nothing to do with his son. This kind of abandonment drives Cholly to a life of alcohol addiction and problems. I find it ironic how Cholly throws his family's life in to chaos and then just abandons them, seeing as I t's almost the complete opposite of what his father did to him.