CHILD ABUSE ROOTED FROM RACISM IN TONI MORRISON’S THE BLUEST EYE

Abstract

Child abuse which happens in America, especially for black children is inevitable with the inferior position of Afro-American people. Their oppressed life including poverty, alcoholic problems and prostitution trigger them to treat their children badly. This research discusses the child abuse phenomena described in Tony Morrison‟s The Bluest Eye, which is represented through children named Pecola, Frieda and young Cholly. They get abused sexually, physically and psychologically. This research analyzes kinds of the child abuse as well as its causes and effects. The research uses psychological approach since the study takes on the psychology of the characters as the subject matter. The theory of child abuse by Robin E. Clark and friends is applied in order to explain the phenomena of child abuse by analyzing child abuse done by Cholly to Pecola, Henry to Frieda and Cholly‟s mother to young Cholly. Racism, discrimination and segregation give deep understanding in studying child abuse of black people in the novel. Racism leads the black people into oppressed life and bad behavior such as alcoholism and prostitution and becomes the root of child abuse. The victims get traumatic effects and consequences in their personalities and behavioral consequences.