Evil is not Absolute

Innocence and evil are very strong motifs in his novel. The source of evil in Pecola's life seems to be her parents. However, once we look into their life stories, we find that Cholly was also a victim. He innocently inquired "How come you all didn't name me Samson?"(Morrison, 133) after his father, because although he was betrayed by his father, he was still innocent and wanted him to be a part of him.

Boys who lack father figures either try very hard to be good fathers, or often continue the cycle, like Cholly, of bad parenting.

Pauline also "had a clearer idea of what drear meant"(Morrison, 118) as conditions continually worsened and "Cholly got meaner and meaner"(Morrison, 118). Both end up victims as "both Cholly and Pecola increasingly manifest severe psychopathology in the novel"(Bump, 156). Pecola ends up schizophrenic, and delirious as she believes everyone hates her "because [she] got blue eyes, bluer than theirs, they're prejudiced, that's all"(Morrison, 197). Those who were perceived as good turned out to be evil as well. Mr. Henry brightened the girls' day by giving them a quarter so that they could get ice cream, but they returned early and "saw Mr. Henry with two women"(Morrison, 77). They were surprised that their hero turned out to be evil and avoided eye contact with him "to keep from seeing those kindly teeth frame a lie."(Morrison, 78)

Deception is often subtle, but its effects harmful.

The girls could also sense evil in apparently harmless figures such as the frightening Soaphead, who turns out to be a pedophile that justifies touching children by believing "there wasn't any nastiness, and there wasn't any filth"(Morrison, 181) in the act. It's beautiful how subtly the book tells us that in innocence and childhood, it is very difficult to pinpoint the bad guys. Moreover, perhaps there is a little bad in everyone and there are no heroes. With innocence also comes confusion. The sisters were innocent enough to believe they could "ask Him to let Pecola's baby live and promise to be good for a whole month"(Morrison, 191). As a child, I would often wish on flowers and truly believe with all my heart wishes would come true if I made a personal sacrifice for them. It's because at this age children still believe they have power and that the world is just. After all, if someone makes a promise and sacrifices something, shouldn't they be rewarded? When Pecola's baby died, Claudia blamed herself and was convinced the "flowers never grew"(Morrison, 205) because she "had planted them too deeply"(Morrison, 205). As she grows up, she begins to "talk about how [she] did not plant the seeds too deeply"(Morrison, 206). One of my favorite quotes of the book is "the thing to fear was the thing that made her beautiful, and not us."(Morrison, 74) What is this elusive "thing" that made her beautiful? It was society's twisted frame of thought. It was misfortune and racism. The scariest thing is that racism is alive today. In a famous experiment in the 70s, young girls were presented with a white doll and a black doll. The majority chose the white one. The experiment was recently re-enacted, and once again, most girls chose the white doll.

The famous "black doll-white doll" exposes the insecurities society builds into children at a young age.

This is what they fear- racism, not the girl who is racist. Perhaps this is what Claudia realizes when she finally concludes "it was the fault of the earth, the land, of our town"(Morrison, 206). Not only does she imply that the soil killed the flowers, but that Pecola was a sort of flower, and in the soil she was raised in (a broken family), with the town she was raised in (a racist mindset), she simply could not bloom. As sad as it is, it's reality. This says a lot about fate. Children find it easier to believe that some things are just predestined. Perhaps it's easier to believe it, so that we don't feel guilty. Ultimately, we all have a hand in this- hatred, racism... we are it's creators. Hopefully, we can be its destroyers, as well.