Morrison’s
literature is full of oppressed characters; economic or social oppression
affects many of Morrison’s main characters. This reflection focuses on the oppressed children one may
find in Toni Morrison’s novels.
In the
novel Beloved, Morison has many black
characters who face the oppression of slavery, including children. One example
is Sethe’s youngest daughter, Denver, who was born into a life of slavery.
Denver lived the first eighteen years of her life alone and lonely, although
she lived with her mother. She was ostracized from the rest of the community
because of the actions of her mother. Denver never had playmates; instead, she
found companionship in her ghost sister. She lived in constant fear of her
mother, ever afraid that her mother would kill her like she did her sister.
Denver’s childhood was full of disappointment, even when her sister, Beloved,
returned. Beloved’s presence caused her mother’s downfall and left her in a
helpless state. The young girl, Denver, was forced to ask the community to help
the family. The black community did aid the family, but Denver had to take a
job to provide for the family’s needs. Ironically, she took the very job that
her mother so desperately tried to save her from, a servant caring for white
people. Although Denver lived a rough life, she was a resilient character who
triumphed over the oppression and gave readers the notion that she would
survive and flourish in her community.
The Bluest Eye by Toni
Morrison also has characters that live under the oppression of others. Cholly
was born in purity and innocence but quickly became degraded like many of the
other characters of the novel and lived in a community that was socially
oppressed. Cholly’s childhood living in oppression caused him to turn his
emotions inward, which led to a life of depression and self contained rage. He
is a character incapable of expressing love or compassion and is only capable
of hate and anger. His emotions were ultimately expressed in violent sexual acts.
Cholly became a man full of hatred and despised the weak and powerless members
of society; they reminded him of his own past. The oppressed character, Cholly,
finally took on the role of the oppressor and took out his frustrations on his
daughter, Pecola. He expressed his anger from his traumatizing childhood by
raping Pecola.
Pecola is
another character whose life revolved around oppression. She was teased by many
in the community because she was ugly and had no nurturing figure in her life.
The raping and teasing quickly converted Pecola’s own thinking into believing
that she was indeed ugly. Pecola never fought her father off when he raped her;
this was the only form of love she received, although it did not result from
any feelings of love. She was oppressed by the community and her family. All she
ever wanted was to be accepted and to have the blue eyes that she believed
would make her pretty to others.
Claudia
is, perhaps, the most distraught character in The Bluest Eye. Claudia rebels against the oppressing white society
because she is not popular within their white culture. The oppression turns
Claudia to hating everything and everyone white. She even hates the white baby
doll gifts from others because they remind her of a white childhood star,
Shirley Temple, who danced with Bill “Bojangles” Robinson. Bojangles was her idol
and Claudia became furious when she realized that black people were not ever
going to have the privileges of white people. Her hatred of the oppressing
white race drove her to dismember the white baby dolls she received as gifts.
She refused to like anything white or light in color and rejected them for
things of color.
Another
novel illustrating oppressed children is Sula.
This is a novel that slowly shows the destruction of the entire oppressed black
community from the Bottom. The black community is oppressed in this novel by
the white community. The whites control the majority of lucrative businesses
and receive all of the lucrative jobs. Two of the main characters in the novel
are two young black girls, Nell and Sula, who become best friends, but grow apart
as adults. Nell found oppression at the hands of her own father. He arranged
her marriage to a man, Jude, and forced her to exchange one life of oppression
for another. Nell became oppressed by her husband and bound with motherly and
wifely duties. Sula is the most oppressed character in the Bottom community and
is considered by many as an outcast and labeled as evil. Together, Sula and
Nell live through many horrendous acts throughout the novel, but both grow to
become successful in one way or another. Sula is oppressed by the community her
entire life even though her presence during adulthood actually helped the
community. Nell lived an oppressing life in poverty and struggled to care for
her children without their father present; he abandoned the family and left
Nell forever in a life of hardship.
These are
only a few of the novels Toni Morrison has written that include characters
living a life in oppression. The oppression takes many forms and comes from
different sources, but, never the less, it determines the life and mindset of
the characters. Not many of her characters ever overcome the oppression, but
some of the characters find reason to be happy in their life that is bound by
the oppression. One has to read the majority of her novels to discover them and
realize that even in a life bound by the oppression of others—happiness can be
found.
