Page 88 “…he saw a very black girl taking a shortcut through the playground. She kept her head down as he walked. He had seen her many times before, standing alone, always alone, at recess. Nobody ever played with her. Probably, he thought, because she was ugly.”
This passage really highlights Pecola’s situation that Morrison presents in this novel, which is “a unique situation, not a representative one” (Morrison xi). Pecola’s race and gender vulnerabilities are presented. Junior doesn’t just say that Pecola is black, but very black. This distinguishes his blackness from Pecola’s in a degrading manner. Pecola’s weakness as a female is also highlighted in this passage. Junior, a sadist, loves torturing girls particularly and Pecola is his current victim.
Previously in the novel, Pecola was never actually seen alone. Her non-existent sense of self had been presented, but not actually being alone. She was either with Claudia, Frieda, or even Maureen Peal. It is here that her isolation in the world is concrete. Once again, the reason that she is alone is just because she is “ugly.”
Ugly is a recurring motif. When the Breedloves were first introduced in the novel, Morrison stated that they were all ugly and then went into further detail. Claudia and Frieda also do not have beauty as seen on page 74 when Claudia realizes why Maureen Peal was not the Enemy but “the Thing to fear was the Thing that made her beautiful, and not us.” It seems like there might be more to “ugliness” than just “blackness.” Geraldine is black, yet described as very pretty. Junior is black, yet not ugly. Claudia and Frieda are also ugly, yet Pecola seems to be the ugliest. What exactly defines ugly? Or is it that the point that it cannot be clearly defined?
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