can also be seen through her interaction with other children. She is so weak and inferior that she is always the target of other children’s harassment. When a group of black boys pick on her blackness and her naked father, she cannot stand up for herself. All she can do is “edging around the circle [of those black guys] crying” (66). Or “when one of the girls at school [wants] to be particularly insulting [to] a boy or wants to get an immediate response from him, she [would] say ‘Bobby loves Pecola Breedlove!’ and never fails to get peals of laughter from those in earshot, and mock anger from the accused” (46). Obviously these boys and girls feel they are superior to Pecola in every way. None of them want to put himself/herself in Pecola’s position. Being Pecola means being exposed to all sorts of humiliation, and unable to defend herself.At home Pecola is the victim of domestic abuse. The fight with Maureen Peal reveals something important: Pecola’s desperate reaction to Maureen’s question "Did you ever see a naked man?" indicates that perhaps she has not only seen her father naked, but has had experience with her father’s nakedness in ways that are not normal (71). When she tells Maureen Peal that “nobody’s father would be naked in front of his own daughter. Not unless he was dirty too” it sounds like she is telling her own story (71). This incident suggests that Cholly has done something terrible to Pecola before; something that Morrison doesn’t directly reveal at first. But later Morrison uncovers the fact that Pecola’s father, Cholly, sexually abuses her. Not one time, but many times. The most hurtful part is that her mother doesn't believe her. When Pecola is pregnant by the father, her mother directs all her anger at Pecola beating her brutally. Outside the house, Pecola suffers from racial discrimination. Pecola’...
