was his fault, and looking in to Pecola's loving eyes angered himbecause her wondered, "What could her do for her - ever? What give her?What say to her?"(161) Cholly's failures led him to hate those that he failed,most of all his family. Pecola's mother, Polly Breedlove, also wrongly placedher anger on her family. As a result of having a deformed foot, Polly hadalways had a feeling of unworthiness and separateness. With her own children,"sometimes I'd catch myself hollering at them and beating them, but I couldn'tseem to stop"(124). She stopped taking care of her own children and herhome and took care of a white family and their home. She found praise, love,and acceptance with the Fisher family, and it is for these reasons that shestayed with them. She had been deprived of such feelings from her familywhen growing up and in turn deprived her own family of these same feelings.Polly "held Cholly as a mode on sin and failure, she bore him like a crown ofthorns, and her children like a cross"(126). Pecola's friend Claudia is angry atthe beauty of whiteness and attempts to dismember white dolls to find wheretheir beauty lies. There is a sarcastic tone in her voice when she spoke ofhaving to be "worthy" to play with the dolls. Later, when telling the story as apast experience, she describes the adults' tone of voice as being filled withyears of unfulfilled longing, perhaps a longing to be themselves beautifullywhite. Claudia herself was happiest when she stood up to Maureen Peal, thebeautiful girl from her class. When Claudia and Freida taunted her as she randown the street, they were happy to get a chance to express anger, and "wewere still in love with ourselves then"(74). Claudia's anger towards dolls turnsto hated of white girls. Out of a fear for his anger the she could notcomprehend, she later tool a refuge in loving whites. She had to at leastpretend to love whites or, like Cholly, the hatred would consume her. Laterhowever, she realiz...
