Pecola and Disintegration

¨Please, God, ¨ she whispered into the palm of her hand. ¨Please make me disappear.¨ She squeezed her eyes shut.

MorrisonearlierinthenovelsaidthatuglinesswasnotapartofPecolasfamily.ButIthinkIshoulddiffer. Uglines,inthemostuniversalofthemeanings,iswithinPecolasheartandconscience.

Little parts of her body faded away. Now slowly, now with a rush. Her fingers went, one by one; then her arms disappeared all the way to the elbow. Her feet now. Yes, that was good.

Likeviolence,orugliness,sufferingdoesnotnecessarilyneedtobephysical.Alltheseconceptsmaybe expandedinvariousformsandstates.

 Morrison deconstructs Pecolas physical body in order to provide the reader with a metaphysical meaning to her suffering.

The legs all at once. It was hardest above the thighs. She had to be real still and pull. Her stomach would not go. But finally it, too, went away. Then her chest, her neck. The face was hard too.

MethaporandimageryarestillwidelyemployedbyMorrisoninhernarration,andcanbedirectlyadmired withpassagessuchasthisone.Oddly,herstomach,probablyinallusiotoeverythingthatalludesthe feelingscomingfromthatplace,ishardtopullaway,likeanallegorica anchor.  

Almost done, almost. Only her tight, tight eyes were left. They were always left. (p.45)

"It is living and ceasing to live that are imaginary solutions. Existence is elsewhere."
—Andre Breton