Absolutely Nothing: The Problem with Cholly Breedlove Jatara Amoni Seawright College

Humans sometimes become infatuated with certain emotions, to the point of letting these emotions control them: a single force such as anger drives their motives and controls who they become. Anger, in particular, is a belligerent and dangerous emotion because it paves the way for so many hostile acts. In the novel The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, we are introduced to the epitome of a dangerously angry man. Cholly Breedlove was a character created through pain and hardships, from a young boy abandoned by his mother to a grown man who never learned to love or be loved. Morrison sculpts the perfect statue of a man, cold as stone and with one emotion: Anger. Through Cholly’s anger; flowed disdain, resentment and hatred; a lethal combination of feelings. Through the pages of the story, Cholly morphs from a young and innocent boy, to a teen scorned by embarrassment and rejection, to a grown man who eventually feels nothing. He is numb. Morrison brilliantly exploits Cholly’s character to inflict the themes of anger and numbness; emotions that ultimately changes Cholly from a sad boy to an angry teen to a numb man.

Childhood experiences may fade with time but the effects can last a lifetime. Subconsciously a person’s childhood...