Seeing the Beauty in Horror

In The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison portrays horrible of rape and child molestation beautifully. Addressing social issues that other authors refuse to touch, Morrison gives readers a glimpse into the eyes of the perpetrators. Granted, the intent is not to elicit sympathy for the men, but rather, to show readers the thought process of the rapists. By describing the sensual pleasures the men receive from their acts, Morrison demonstrates “inability of child molesters and sociopaths “to feel their victims’ pain [that] allows them to tell themselves lies that encourage their crime.” (Goleman 1995, 106) (Bump 195). Unlike other authors, who would describe the feelings of the victim, Morrison’s blatant emotive bias in portraying Cholly and Soaphead’s thought process demonstrates her audacity as a writier.

When I was first reading the part of the book where Cholly comes home and rapes Pecola, I didn’t catch the notion that it was Pecola that Cholly was having sex with. Morrison’s descriptive words described Cholly’s acts beautifully, almost like an art form. “Cholly raised his other hand to her hip to saver her from falling. He put his head down and nibbled at the back of her leg. His mouth trebled at the firm sweetness of the flesh… He wanted to fuck her—tenderly” (Morrison 128). The passion of Cholly’s sexual desires is portrayed in a way that gives readers a window into his eyes. Although the rape of his daughter is still morbid in every way, his actions, in some way, seems to make Cholly happy.

As a reader, I still can’t understand why Cholly would do such a thing, and I refuse to condone his actions. However, child molesters obviously have something wrong with their minds. Morrison describes it well when she describes Soaphead’s sexual preferences. “His attentions therefore gradually settled on those humans whose bodies where least offensive—children. And since he was too diffident to confront homosexuality, and since little boys were insulting, scary, and stubborn, he further limited his interest to little girls” (Morrison 132). In this passage, Morrison discusses the Soaphead’s reasoning for why he is a child molester. In going through his options, I suppose the reader better grasps how an individual can begin to commit such an act. Morrison effective demonstrates that these people have mental problems.

In essence, Morrison is a literary hero. Her passion for writing and conveying a message is admirable. Desiring to express herself through her writing shows her though processes and hope to impact others.