The Bluest Eye: Structure vs. Agency
Toni Morrison’ novel, ‘The Bluest Eye,’ looks at the life of black families living in Ohio in the early 1940s. That was the time when many Black families; whose ancestors were brought from Africa to work in fields by Whites here, had made America their home and sought to live the American dream of freedom and happiness. ‘Bluest Eye,’ as the name suggests, is the color of the eyes of Pecola Breedlove, the young daughter of Pauline and Cholly, who like any other child her age, wanted to live a life of freedom and fun. However, that was not to be, as Pecola was born in a black family and she like others of her race, faced racist attacks from whites. America was going through an uncertain period of white hegemony as black families were denied the opportunity to share the American dream. It is under such harsh and volatile environmental conditions that The Breedlove’s were brought to fructification by Morrison. In such a scenario, Morrison’ attempt to equate the role of structure vs. agency assumes significance. Throughout history, there has been a debate on whether family vs. society (structure vs. agency) is patriarchal or not, and Morrison tries to address the answer through her representation of Cholly Breedlove, a major character who runs the Breedlove family. The patriarchal form of governance has survived for centuries and its roots can be traced back to the time of the Roman rule. The Roman society was undoubtedly dominated by men, and the Roman Catholic Church too had a huge role to play in the social and cultural life of the Romans. Women, sadly were not given this privilege of place in Roman society, except to care and love her husband, rear children and look after their well-being, apart and running the household. This tradition has survived for centuries and can be seen even today, as depicted through the character of Cholly.
Morrison’s Bluest Eye, like most of her other novels is indisputably black, and it depicts not the American dream, but on the contrary, the ugliness, frustrations and pessimism abundant in multicultural America. However, she does add the element of surprise by instigating hope beneath the surface of the ugliness of cultural conflicts. Morrison’s The Bluest Eye can be understood by analogizing the role of structure vs. agency. In an agency, an individual has the ability to act in pursuit of his/her goal in the context of constraints, determinants and influence for their actions. It gives the person the freedom to act on their own without external influence. Cholly is a character that fits the description of the agency. As for the structure; Cholly ran the family, while he was supported by his wife, Pauline, and then there were his two children, son Sammy, and daughter Pecola. When pitted against each other, there is no doubt that while a structure in the form of a social system exists, Cholly as an agent dominates the novel. Cholly had a bad childhood. He was forced to live on his own and faced so many hardships, that despite his color, he was misused by a society that dominated by virtue of their complexion. He was a victim of the structure. Sadly for him, the structures of society have overridden Cholly’s ability to have control and power in his life. He had a bitter experience of life as a boy as his mother had to throw him out as she couldn’t support him. It’s also an irony that Cholly had Breedlove as a surname.
Given his characterization, every reader would love to hate Cholly. He goes to the extent of raping his own daughter. This perhaps was his way of showing the dominance of males over females. He also had a way to deal with Pauline, who despite her efforts to look pretty, loses a tooth, has a limp, cleans all day, takes abuse from Cholly, but somehow loves her job. In trying to project himself as the boss of the house, Cholly uses his authoritarian style to force himself on his family. This is perhaps because he is a misfit in society, but he has a point to prove at home. He was forced to perform sexual acts by white men as a boy, but he is capable of having his own pleasure and joy. As an adult, Cholly could experience eating a watermelon or touch a girl without fear. He also demonstrated that he was fearless as he got into fights. Perhaps the freedom that he never experienced as a child was now his and he displayed his new found freedom and authority by bossing his wife and reaches out for his daughter to show who the boss was. Should Cholly Breedlove be hated for what he was? Morrison’s thought process in the characterization of Cholly was done so with a purpose. For all his later actions, it must not be forgotten that Cholly was a man, and as any adult male, he was entitled to his way of freedom, considering that as a child, he experienced genuine suffering, having been abandoned in a truck as a baby and having suffered humiliation at the hands of white men. Thus, in comparing structure with agency, Morrison wanted to highlight Cholly as an agency that sought to show his ability to act in pursuit of his goal in the context of constraints, determinants and influences.
Pauline, for all her life was worth, could never stand her husband and called him “a model of sin and failure” (p.98). For her, life was about devotion towards the Fishers family. It was through them that she could live her dreams of Hollywood, the silver screen in theatre, and their marble-floor. There was no way she was going to get these through Cholly, and so, she would spend most of her time at the Fishers. Morrison gave each character some sort of agency, but it was through the characterization of Cholly, that she was able to justify her motives. However, all the characters were over ridden by the power of structures. While Pauline, Pecola and Sammy sought a nuclear family life, because of their color, they sought to be ‘white,’ less black, and definitely pretty. While Morrison used this novel as a critique of racism, her ability to use language in such a way to convey the ‘truth in timbre,’ earned her the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Conclusion
Cholly was far from a perfect father. In fact, he was a dictator. He doesn't provide even the barest of necessities for the family and instead, terrorizes them. He is despicable and an outcast at home. He would abuse Pauline, and hurt Sammy and Pecola. Even though the novel is centered on Pecola, it is Cholly who hogs the limelight with his deeds. Right from the time he was born to the minute he died, Cholly was a rebel, born out of circumstance. It as not his mistake that he was born a black; it was not his fault that he was forced into performing sexual acts in front of white men, and it was definitely not his fault that he was born in a poor family, it was just that he was not made to fit the structure. His rebellious, yet frivolous attitude made him a statesman for agency. Before his end, he deserts his wife and family and retreats into a world of alcoholic chaos. He dies in a workhouse.
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