Everyone, no matter who, has secrets. Sometimes these secrets can include the ugly monster called: abuse. There is no way to tell what a person has gone through based on their appearance or personality. A teacher of mine once said, "Everyone wears an invisible armor and every time they are hurt or abused the armor gets dented. Since that piece of armor can't be seen no one knows how beat up that piece of armor is". The surface mask that people wear covers the hurt that someone has faced. This gives them a sense of power in their lives, but they also do it to cover up what has happened to them because they feel self-blame. However, the forward of The Bluest Eye alludes to the idea that rumors of what Pecola has gone through will circulate throughout the town. Pecola doesn't have the chance to pretend that nothing has happened. While most kids have the ability to pretend to be someone else at school and to act the part of a perfectly happy child, Pecola doesn't have that choice. Child abuse is not a new situation in the daily lives of Americans. In 2012 alone, 3.8 million kids were investigated for maltreatment and 678,810 kids were determined to be victims of abuse or neglect. There was also an average of 31 children a week who died from maltreatment in 2012. This is just plain sad. Even though kids of abuse are told that it is not their fault, most still believe that they are to blame. Since the statistics for abuse is so high it makes me wonder if I know anyone who is abused. I sometimes go down the hallways of my school analyzing people, and trust me-- I know how weird that sounds. However, after my teacher told me about the invisible armor thing I have always wondered how eye opening it would be if we could actually see it.
Resources: Our Bodies Our Selves. OBOS Violence and Abuse Contributors, 14 Mar. 2005. Web. 25 Oct. 2014.
"Library." National Statistics on Child Abuse and Neglect. Web. 25 Oct. 2014.
I really enjoyed reading your blog post! It gives some essential insight into The Bluest Eye and now I am curious to know if we will find out Pecola's past. Plus, your use of legitimate statistics creates logos to prove that child abuse is very harmful.
ReplyDeleteWas that teacher Ms. McDermott? I remember when she told us about our invisible armor, I wondered, "Do dents and scratches make the armor - which is to say, the person - stronger or weaker in the long run?" What are your thoughts?
ReplyDeleteNice logos. It's hard to imagine that so many kids are abused and I never realized the power of rumors! They're able to strip Pecola's armor right off of her, makes me feel uncomfortable..
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