Abandonment in "The Bluest Eye"
page 105
When Cholly was four days old, his mother wrapped him in two blankets and
one newspaper and placed him on a junk heap by the railroad . . . He
gathered from [Aunt Jimmy] that his mother wasn't right in the head. But
he never had a chance to find out, because she ran away . . .
He had four years of school before he got courage enough to ask his
aunt who and where his father was.
Questions:
1) A few pages later Cholly finds his father and the end result is
disturbing for Cholly. Do you think he would have been better off never
seeing his father and avoiding the confrontation?
2) Do you think the fact Cholly's parents abandoned him is a major reason
for his actions later in life as an adult?
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