... different, but they also lead to his feelings of being superior as well as inferior. Not Doctor Street is a symbol for Ruth, Milkman's mother. She uses her name to get whatever she needs. She also is obsessed with the idea of being important; she tries to make Milkman into her father. The love she feels for her father she transfers to ... eager and happy as he had ever been in his life." (304) as well as allows him to return home and set things right in his own way. What he goes through in Shalimar is a transformation. He is baptized in an excitement for living he has never known. He co...

• Word Count: 1274
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... omnipotent, talking- (Bakerman 59). Morrison intentionally kept Pecola from any first person narration of the story. Morrison wanted to "try to show a little girl as a total and complete victim of whatever was around her,"" and she needed the distance and innocence of Claudia's narration to do that (Stepto 479). Pecola's experiences would have less meaning coming from Pecola herself because "a total ... live up to the image of the blue-eyed Shirley Temple and Dick and Jane that she will have the perfect life that they have. The importance of this book goes beyond its value as a work of ...

• Word Count: 1410
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... shrived and dies is an example of Pecola's rejection. The double jeopardy of being both poor and ugly excludes Pecola, or any equally ugly male or female, from sharing in whatever social or economic tidbits that may be offered (Bjork 41). Moreover, neither Pecola nor her parents can fully comprehend the depth of their ostracism, and therefore are further denied the ... father would stop drinking. Her brother would stop running away. If only she could be beautiful. If only people would look at her.""(Morrison) What eventually happens is that Pecola goes to Reverend Soaphead and he tricks...

• Word Count: 2499
• Approx Pages: 10
• Has Bibliography