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
· They are poor: “Our house is old, cold, and green.”
· They are chastised for being sick: “Our illness is treated with contempt, foul Black Draught, and castor oil that blunts our mind.”
· Claudia is scared of getting sick again: “By and by I will not get sick; I refuse to.”
· Frieda sings to her to calm her down
· This is what love feels like: “But was it really like that? As painful as I remember? Only mildly. Or rather, it was a productive and fructifying pain.”
· Since they are poor, they lent a room to Mr. Henry for income. 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
· Claudia says 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.”
· Claudia just wants representation “The world had agreed that a blue-eyed, yellow-haired, pink-skinned doll was what every girl child treasured.” | “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, fueled by his ego and background
· Mrs. Breedlove (Pauline) 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. These women are hookers and tell her about their clients-- they are not ashamed of their job. They treat Pecola well and 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 because she just moved to the area. Everyone loves her, and 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 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
· “I was glad to have a chance to show anger.”
· Claudia tells Maureen that she’s obsessed with men: “Boys, babies, and somebody’s naked daddy. You must be boy-crazy.”
· Maureen calls the girls black and ugly and 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
· Claudia finds out it is because Henry pinched her breasts, so Frieda went to find her parents and told them what he’d done, but Henry was gone when they went inside. When Henry came back, Frieda’s parents attacked him and shot at him.
· A neighbor came out and said Mr.MacTeer would go to jail, so Frieda hit the neighbor (Rosemary)
· 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. She 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 a lot 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 started dreaming of a man coming and taking her away, and then a stranger shows up: Cholly Breedlove
· Cholly loves and cares for her so they move to Ohio
· Pauline feels sad and alone. She 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
· Pecola is raped by Cholly (her FATHER), becoming pregnant, and then loses the baby prematurely
Summer
· Pecola, from pages 194 and on (at least in my edition) sort of goes crazy and invents an alter ego that fits her idea of beauty
· She talks to an imaginary friend and believes she has blue eyes
· “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.”