Among Toni Morrison's works, "musical images pervade her work, but so too does the musical quality of language, a sound and rhythm that permeate and they radiate into every novel” (Rigney 8). This rhythmic writing style is particularly evident in The Bluest Eye. There is a struggle between musical language and silence throughout the novel. The song is part of the teaching of blackness and femininity that Claudia and Frieda learn from their mother. Pauline cannot find comfort in singing. Cholly's life is like that of a musician in which he feels dangerously free. Conversations with prostitutes are the only things that give Pecola a sense of laughter, instead of her continued silence. The city also has a rhythmic language. Through the language of music, Morrison manages to convey the complexity of the black lifestyle. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Morrison can “go beyond language, even as he processes it, to incorporate meaning beyond the denotation of words, to render experience and emotion, for example, as musicians do” (Rigney 7). Music can be an important part of a text because it gives the sense of a rhythmic pattern that the reader can follow. Music is a style, a sound, a feeling and an expression. Music can be a remedy for sadness or a sound of joy. Morrison wants to insert into his writing something that has only been fully expressed in music. It is through this musical language that we can understand the characters, their musical languages and their silences. First, Claudia and Frieda experiment with the music of their mother, who often finds comfort in singing the blues. Claudia describes a conversation between her mother and one of her friends as a "sweetly wicked dance: sound meets sound, bows, shines, and retreats" (The Bluest Eye 15). The sounds of their voices rising and falling are like music and words on a page. Even though Claudia and Frieda are only nine and ten years old and do not know the meaning of all the words of their mother and friend, «we look at their faces, their hands, their feet and listen to the truth in the timbre» (TBE 15). They try to listen to the way they say things through the tones of their voice. They hear laughter and excitement. By listening, they learn about life and how adults behave towards people and certain situations. Also, Claudia hates Shirley Temple. Watch Shirley dance with Bojangles "...dancing lovely with one of those little white girls whose socks never slip under her heels" (TBE 19). According to Naomi R. Rand, this dance is a "dance of denial rather than sensual pleasure" (44). This could mean that, although white, Shirley is dancing with a black man, and because of the racism that pervades Claudia's life, she feels this anger towards Shirley Temple. Afterwards, Mrs. MacTeer is able to find comfort and a way to work things out. through a musical language. Sing the blues to get through difficult times. “Singing becomes a signal for many inexpressible things by direct or indirect action” (Holloway 39). Ms. MacTeer resorts to often offensive soliloquies, though not directly. He scolds everyone, then starts singing for the rest of the day (TBE 24). Music becomes a way to face difficulties. Taking out her frustrations on others doesn't necessarily help her feel better; the song gives her a new light. If my mother felt like singing, it wasn't so bad. He sang about hard times, about bad times and about times when someone went away and left me... The misery colored bygreens and blues in my mother's voice took all the pain out of the words and left me with the belief that the pain was not only bearable, but also sweet. (TBE 25-26)Claudia and Frieda understand that music can be therapeutic. They learn from their mother their blackness and their femininity by listening to her singing. The dialogues teach girls about life, how to think and how to question things. It is the mother's "agitated soliloquies" that are instructive. His soliloquies are teachings about how the world is and how some people can be cruel and unloving. Sometimes a problem can only be understood when it is thought out loud. Through their mother's daily soliloquies, "the linguistic structuring of emotions, images, and thoughts became, for Mrs. MacTeer and her children, magic words and songs that brought grace" (Holloway 45). Music is a way to release emotions for the MacTeers. The song brings love and releases all the hate. Create a light when the darkness seems unbearable. In contrast, Pauline Breedlove uses her voice to argue with her husband, Cholly. They hadn't argued the night before, because Cholly had come home drunk. But as soon as morning arrives, a fight breaks out. These fights are routine for Pauline because "she could display the style and imagination of what she believed to be her true self. To deprive her of these fights was to deprive her of all the excitement and reason of life" (TBE 41-42) . Arguing is a way for Pauline to survive and be heard. Unlike Mrs. MacTeer, she doesn't know how to find comfort in singing or soliloquy. All of Pauline's time is consumed by her efforts to argue with Cholly and beg God to help her punish him. When they argued, "they did not speak, moan or curse during these beatings." There was only the dull sound of things falling, and flesh upon flesh unsurprised" (TBE 43). It is this inarticulability of Pauline's that makes it difficult for her to survive. Silence and words pervade her life, making it difficult. Perhaps if it were been more like Mrs. MacTeer, the song could have helped her overcome her arguments with Cholly. Sometimes through music, a person is able to express themselves in ways they never imagined they are only aware of the silence that hovers over them. like a dark cloud. Cholly's life can only make sense through the imitation of music. He has had no parental role models or positive images for his children. White men shame Cholly and his impotent anger forces him to turn against them women who accept it. The pieces of Cholly's life could only become coherent in the head of a musician Only those who speak through the gold of the curved metal, or in the touch of black and white rectangles and stretched skins and strings that echoed in the corridors. of wood, they could give true shape to his life... Only a musician would have perceived, known, without even knowing he knew, that Cholly was free. Dangerously free. (TBE 159) Morrison shows how Cholly is deeply hurt that his mother abandoned him and that his father rejected him for a game of dice. Cholly's loss of manhood haunts him. He is alone with his own perception of things, and it is this feeling of being alone that liberates him. He is free to drink, live out his fantasies, have a job, and feel guilt, shame, and fear. Freedom is like a song and a dance for Cholly because he can go back and forth in his own way to live his life. Drinking is the only way for him to feel free, free from guilt and childhood memories. When he is drunk he must not think about his life; he is insensitive to pain. Another aspect of silence is seen through Pecola. The language of prostitutes allows Pecola to break the.
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