This portion of the novel depicts Cholly’s backstory and character development in attempt for the audience to feel sympathy for him before reaching the climax of the story. Cholly’s sinful actions can be foreshadowed when depicted, “If the devil did look like that, Cholly prefered him”(pg134). His admiration towards this large intimidating black man and comparison to the devil can be seen as Cholly wanting to be controlling and empowered over others. We then find out he attempts to control his future and get what he wants through manipulation, which fails him. When all seems lost, he turns to the temptations of alcohol and other abusive and toxic remedies.

This chapter gives Cholly’s backstory, sad and full of death and sexual harassment, the reader easily gaining sympathy and justifying some of his actions. After this, he throws it all away and rapes his daughter, destroying any sympathy one may have felt for him at all. Nothing can excuse what he has done.

This chapter focuses on Cholly. Cholly was abandoned on a junk heap at only 4 days old by his mother. He never got to meet either of his parents. More crucial information comes in when it is revealed that his aunt died when he was only 14. Death is a tough event to handle sp this could be the cause of his drinking problem. Then, Cholly is sexually touched by a female. This leads to sex in public in which they are caught. Another instant where Cholly’s mental state might have been crushed, this time with embarrassment and worry. Cholly later fless town to find his dad and when he does, his father screams at him to leave not knowing it is his son. This seems like it was the last straw for Chollys health. From there on, he goes in a downward spiral in life. He drinks constantly, cheats, and tries to throw all his problems away in a unhealthy way. However, this story line does sort of create some sympathy for Cholly and kind of explains his drinking problem and messed up mental state. The last couple chapters are good refreshments to never judge a book by its cover.

Now this time, the story is a backstory of Cholly. He was abandoned at a very early age, but was saved by his aunt. Choly grows up and takes a job. This job led Cholly to a form of kindness as someone named Blue Jack shared a watermelon with him and Cholly cherishes this kindness. Cholly’s aunt gets sick and dies, but Cholly does not feel immediate grief because at the funeral people were taking care of him. Now his uncle is taking care of him. Cholly then has some sort of relationship with a girl named Darlene and he has sex for the first time, but two white huneters find him having sex. The men tell him to finish and Cholly pretends to finish. Instead of being mad at the white men, Cholly is mad at Darlene because he feels if he hates the white men, something inside of him will destroy him. Cholly then realises that Darlene might have been pregnant and just runs away and his excuse was looking for his father. He finds his father, but his father, Samson Fuller, pushes him away. From now on Cholly lives a dangerous life of beating women, killing three white men, not fearing death, and drinking. He tried to save this by parrying Polly, but he feels trapped. A small part mentioned in the story was how in a drunken rage he raped Pecola.

Similar to the previous chapter, Cholly Breedlove’s life is outlined in chapter 8. He was abandoned by his mother and taken in by his great aunt and when she dies, he is supposed to live with other family members. After being humiliated by two white men, Cholly sets out to find his father who he is rejected by. Cholly’s early experiences left him angry with an unhealthy idea of sex which leads him to beat women. He meets Mrs. Breedlove and is briefly enamored by her kindness, but quickly begins to feel trapped by their marriage and he begins drinking. The story switches back to the present where Cholly returns home and rapes Pecola. The events at the end of the chapter are so incredibly disgusting and, although the difficulties of his life were explained, it does not make it excusable in any way. I do not believe Cholly deserves any sympathy and the way he treats his family is inexcusable.

This chapter goes into the backstory of Cholly, and it explains a lot about why he is the way he is. Much like her neglects his own children, he was neglected by his parents. His father left and his mother abandoned him, leaving him to be rescued by his aunt. Maybe that is a reason he sticks around with his family, because he understands the pain of being abandoned and rejected. Cholly also seems to be misogynistic, stemming from his experience with the girl and the white hunters. He didn’t just focus his anger and embarrassment on that girl, he focused it on all women in general. Because of all of the rejection he faced and his misogyny, he became selfish, and he only looked out for himself. He now uses women for his own pleasure, and he can’t see any point in commitment. He even hates his own daughter, and he uses her too. He does a terrible and depraved act, and there is no excuse for it. Maybe it would have been better for him to leave like his father, because what he did to his own daughter is worse than abandonment. 

In chapter 8 the reader can start to see the struggles of every different character. However, the chapter in supposed to make the reader gain sympathy for Cholly. The reader now sees the racism and sexual harassment, humiliation and bullying that he has to deal with. Also there was some symbolism when the eat’n bread and watermelon were eat’n because it show Cholly’s childhood and innocence going away. This game gives reason as to why Cholly rapes his daughters and is an over all horrible person that I can not respect.

In chapter 8, the author/ narrator recounts the history or life story of Mr. Breedlove. His mother abandon him at a young age and his aunt choose to then care for him. Cholly gets a job and meets a man named Blue Jack who shows him kindness that he will always remember. His aunt dies and more family decides to care for him. After time has passed he goes to find his father and it doesn’t turn out to well. From that point on, Mr. Breedlove became worse and worse of a person. He would beat of women, kill white men, and marry Mrs. Breedlove only then to feel trapped in the marriage, drink, and not connect with his children. Worse of all, he rapes his daughter. I never had much respect for this man but if I had any it is all gone. He is a horrible person who deserves horrible acts upon him.

As all of the characters in this story have experienced their own types of struggle, the audience now learns more about Cholly’s experiences. I really began to show sympathy for Cholly as I read more into the chapter. Learning about his experiences with abandonment, sexual humiliation, and racism, shows that he has been through a lot. I noticed some symbolism in the scene where they break and eat the watermelon. It seems as though Cholly’s innocence and childhood is inside thee watermelon and as it’s broken and eaten that sense of innocence seems to disappear.

I this chapter we learn the story of Cholly. We learn he grew up in very poor, harsh conditions. In the prologue we learn that Cholly will do something awful. We are warned that he will impregnate his own eleven year old daughter. Morrison chooses to explain the rape through Cholly´s point of view. If Morrison chose to not to tell it from the point of view of Claudia or Pecola because it would likely remain a senseless act of violence, something impossible to understand. By telling it through Cholly’s point of view it allows us to understand. Understanding how it was possible for Cholly to commit the crime does not change our knowledge that he has caused tremendous suffering to his daughter but does change the nature of our horror. If the crime was told through Claudia or Pecolaś view point the crime would be frightening because it seems senseless, but since it is told through Cholly makes it frightening because it makes too much sense, given the kind of life he has lived. Knowing Cholly’s story may not change the horror of what he does, but it does make his action more bearable to us.

The book switches topics and perspectives again to now focus on Cholly Breedlove. We see a full history of his life and it helps to explain a little about why he is the way that he is. He is abandoned by his mother as a newborn, raised by his Aunt who then dies, and sets out on a journey to find his father. Once he is successful in finding his father, he is rejected and he then begins to feel the effects of his Aunt’s death. This chain of events leads him to a horrible life of beating and mistreating women and drinking. The only thing that is able to temporarily subside his bad habits is finding love with Pauline who he then marries. After reading this part of the chapter you start to feel the same way towards Cholly that you did about Pauline. You somewhat understand and sympathize but do bot justify the actions. However, the chapter takes a sudden and wild turn for the worst when Cholly comes home drunk one night and sees his daughter Pecola doing the dishes. In the drunken mess and lack of full awareness, he is reminded of Pauline by looking at Pecola and proceeds to rape her. He covers her up and leaves her on the kitchen floor where she wakes up to her mother looking at her. This ending makes he extremely uneasy and angry and after reading this, I think that Cholly should never be around children again or anyone for that matter. He should live out his life in pain and loneliness in my opinion.

The chapter introduces with Cholly’s upbringing, a clear indication of who the chapter is centered around. I begin to feel bad for Cholly as I read of his desertion by his parents, being adopted by his Aunt Jimmy, who soon dies by the comedic hands of a peach cobbler. As the chapter develops we meet Blue, a character Cholly was fond of. More importantly, we see a scene of Cholly’s first sexual exploit, which begins his downfall. He runs away, irrationally fearing pregnancy. He is then free, perhaps too free, and he commits vile acts like murder. Then we flash to the present, where something equally terrible takes place, he rapes his own daughter. He has a complex mix of feelings, revealing a slight human side, which is clearly too far lost.

Right from the first sentence, this chapter reveals the story of Cholly’s past. It seems like this part of the chapter gives some light into the reason he acts like he does in the present, but it also attempts to tug at your heartstrings a bit to garner some sympathy for him. It paints a picture of him as a young boy, abandoned by both of his parents and left to die, taken in by an old family member who dies at a young age, and goes on a journey to find his father, only to be rejected and left alone. Growing up without an actual parental figure clearly explains why he acts like such a bad father, and can show why he has a drinking problem, but the events at the end of the chapter almost completely switch the view of the reader on Cholly. In a drunken mess, Cholly stumbles home and sees Pecola washing dishes, and gets flooded with emotions; “guilt, pitty and then love.” First he feels guilt over her looking so unhappy and that he doesn’t know what to do to fix it, then pity that she loved him and was so hopeless and depressed, then finally that all morphed into love when Pecola shifted her body and she looked like her mother did when Cholly met her. However that love was not normal parental love, but a tender lust which he chose to act upon, and he proceeded to violate Pecola. The moment is more described in feelings and sights than in clear thoughts, which creates some confusion and possibly some questions. This wildly changed my view of Cholly, from a sad, confused man child who doesn’t know how to be a father, to an absolute monster who should be no where around children.