Intro
· “We thought, at the time, that it was because Pecola was having her father’s baby that the marigolds did not grow.”
· “Our innocence and faith were no more productive than his lust or despair.”
· “The sees shriveled and died; her baby did too.”
· “There is nothing really more to say-- except why. But since why is difficult to handle, one must take refuge at how.”
Autumn Chapter 1
· “Our house is old, cold, and green.”
o They are poor
· “Our illness is treated with contempt, foul Black Draught, and castor oil that blunts our mind.”
o They are chastised for being sick
· “It takes a long time for my body to heat its place in the bed.”
· “By and by I will not get sick; I refuse to.”
o Claudia is scared of getting sick again
· Frieda sings to her to calm her down
· “But was it really like that? As painful as I remember? Only mildly. Or rather, it was aproductive and fructifying pain.”
o This is what love feels like!
· Since they are poor, they lent a room to Mr. Henry
· The kids think he’s fun because he does magic tricks
· Pecola moves in too: her father burned down their house
· Pecola uses a Shirley Temple cup but Claudia hates Shirley Temple and other blonde dolls
· About her doll: “I only had one desire: to dismember it. To see of what it was made, to discover the dearness, to find the beauty, the desirability that escaped me, but apparently only me.”
· “The world had agreed that a blue-eyed, yellow-haired, pink-skinned doll was what every girl child treasured.”
o She just wants representation!
· “I destroyed the white baby dolls.”
· Mrs.MacTeer is annoyed that Pecola has drunken a ton of milk
· Pecola starts her period and Frieda tries to give her a pad
· Pecola asks Frieda how babies are made and then asks “How do you get someone to love you?”
Autumn Chapter 2
· The apartment used to be a store and Claudia describes it
· In the past, it’s been a bakery, a pizza parlor, etc
· The furniture is old and has passed through many hands
· The heating of the house is random but never there in the morning
Autumn Chapter 3
· the Breedloves (Pecola’s family) are a poor black family
· Pecola is asleep in bed and hears her mom banging around in the kitchen. She knows her parents will fight because that’s what happens when he is drunk.
· Cholly is violent and cruel because of his ego and background
· Mrs.Breedlove sneezes and they start fighting
· Sammy suggests that once Cholly is knocked out, that Mrs. Breedlove should kill him
· Pecola is disgusted and unhappy and wants to disappear
· Pecola goes to buy candy at the grocery store but the store owner is rude
· Pecola goes to visit the women in the apartment above them: China, Poland, and Miss Marie
o They are hookers and tell her about their clients
o They are not ashamed of their job
o They treat Pecola well
o They are the only people in the book who are truly free
Winter: Chapter 4
· Maureen Peal, a light-skinned and wealthy girl, is the new kid in school
o She just moved to the area
o Everyone loves her
· Claudia and Frieda are jealous of her
· Maureen’s locker and next to Claudia’s
· Maureen wants to walk home with Claudia and Frieda
· Maureen, Claudia, and Frieda are walking when they see a bunch of boys mocking Pecola for being black
· Frieda smacks one of the boys and tells the other to backup
· The boys are starstruck by Maureen so they back off, saying they don’t have time
· Maureen asks Pecola if they are in gym together
· Maureen suggests they get ice cream and offers to treat Pecola
· Claudia and Frieda thought Maureen would treat them too but decided not to get any
· “You should have got some, they have all kinds!” – Maureen to the girls
· Pecola asks what menstruation is and why girls menstruate
· “Boy shave all sorts of things they don’t need.”
· Maureen asks Pecola if she’s ever seen a naked man and Pecola said only her dad
· Claudia and Frieda tell Maureen to stop
o “I was glad to have a chance to show anger.”
· Claudia tells Maureen that she’s obsessed with men
o “Boys, babies, and somebody’s naked daddy. You must be boy-crazy.”
· Maureen calls the girls black and ugly
o This gets to Claudia
· At home, Henry gives them money for ice cream but they spend it on candy
· Once they come back home again, Henry is with China and Miss Marie
· After the women leave, Frieda asks Henry about the prostitutes and he lies but they decide not to say anything to their mom (who hates the prostitutes)
Winter: Chapter 5
· Claudia describes a kind of person: a black woman from the South who has it all. She went to college, dresses nice, has a nice husband, has kids, cares for her household cat, etc. She doesn’t enjoy sex and only loves her cat.
· Geraldine is the kind of person described above: married to a nice man named Louis with a son named Junior
· Junior is mean to the cat that Geraldine loves
· Geraldine doesn’t let Junior play with anyone other than upper-class people of color
· Junior is mean to Pecola on the playground and then tricks her to coming home with him by saying he can show her kittens
· Junior throws the cat at her
· Pecola tries to leave but Junior locks her in
· Pecola rubs the cat and it makes Junior angry so he swings it around by the leg
· Pecola tries to help the cat by pulling Junior off
· Junior is unconscious and of course this is where Geraldine comes home
· Junior told his mom that Pecola killed the cat
· Geraldine is furious and sends Pecola home
Spring: Chapter 6
· Claudia goes home to find her mom doing chores over and over, which is strange
· Claudia then goes upstairs and finds Frieda crying
o Henry pinched her breasts
o Frieda went to find her parents and told them what he’d done
o Henry was gone when they went inside
o When Henry came back, Frieda’s parents attacked him and shot at him
o A neighbor came out and said Mr.MacTeer would go to jail
o Frieda hit the neighbor (Rosemary)
o Miss Dunion (another neighbor) said Frieda might be ruined
· Claudia and Frieda don’t really understand what ruined means but Frieda is anxious
· They decide to ask Pecola to steal whiskey so Frieda doesn’t get fat
· Pecola isn’t home but the Maginot Line is drinking on the porch and invites F and C up for soda
· Frieda says she can’t come because the prostitutes are ruined
· The Maginot Line throws the bottle and the girls run away
· Claudia and Frieda decide to go find Pecola’s mother (who Pecola is with) even though she’s on the other side of town
· Claudia and Frieda find Pecola at the lakefront houses
· Pecola is surprised to see and asks why they are there
· Pecola’s mom tells them they can wait with Pecola and go back into town together
· Inside the house, a little white girl asks for Polly (Mrs. Breedlove) and Claudia is confused why she used the first name
· Pecola takes a berry cobbler from the counter but drops it so it spills and burns her
· Mrs. Breedlove yells and beats her own daughter, sends Pecola, Claudia, and Frieda away then goes to comfort the little white girl
Spring: Chapter 7
· Mrs. Breedlove grew up in Alabama and accidentally stepped on a nail when she was a toddler
· Now she has a limp and thinks it was fate.
· Growing up, Mrs. Breedlove spent alot of time alone, cleaning, and keeping the house in order
· When they moved to Kentucky, Pauline(Mrs. Breedlove) has to take care of her younger siblings (Chicken and Pie)
· At 15, she starts dreaming of a mancoming and taking her away
· A stranger shows up: Cholly Breedlove
· Cholly loves and cares for her sothey move to Ohio
· Pauline feels sad and alone
· Pauline stands out because she’s a country girl and everyone treats her differently
· Cholly starts getting addicted to drinking
· Pauline becomes a housekeeper for a rich white woman
· Cholly comes to Pauline’s work and acts drunk and irrational
· Pauline gets fired
· Pauline becomes pregnant, which makes Cholly happy but Pauline still feels lonely
· Pauline starts watching movies but adopts the idea that she is ugly
· Pauline and Cholly start fighting again
· Pauline has two kids and during the second birth (Pecola), a doctor told his medical students that black women are like horses and don’t feel pain
· Pauline joins the church and gets another job with a healthy white family
· Pauline and Cholly only have sex when he’s drunk and she is asleep
Her inspiration
· “’Black is beautiful’…yeah, but why so loud?”
· “I was deeply concerned with the feelings of being ugly.”
· The book is about intentional representation
· Calls out both the black and white community for enforcing racial stereotypes
Cholly
· Cholly is dangerously free
· Nothing holds him back
Pecola
· Pages 194 and on
o Pecola invents an alter ego that fits her idea of beauty
o Her psyche is split
o No one looks her in the eye
o “I was so lonely for friends. And you were right here.”
“A little black girl yearns for the blue eyes of a little white girl, and the horror at the heart of her yearning is exceeded only by the evil of fulfillment.”