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Soaphead Church seems a repulsive pedophile at the beginning. But, after I read his letter which was written to God I could develop empathy with him and understand his feelings. It is interesting that Morrison uses many ironies about Soaphead. She calls him "the clean old man". Yes, it is difficult to justify him and his behaviours but after I read his letter I discovered his loneliness. May be this is the reason for his concern of little girls and their breasts and so on.:( He lies about his familiarity with God and his power. But, I think he needs it in order to overcome his misantrophy. I don't know why but somehow I can't blame him. He is a misanthrope, pedophile, dishonest or other bad things:(. But I think his fight is with his blackness nothing else. May be he is the "the clean old man" but he ruins this image because of self-hatred and blackness. We can see his anger with his life by reading his letterç He blames God by not fulfilling his duties. He tells him about Pecola and how he was impressed by her wish(blue eyes). He also tells about his pedophillia and reasons behind it. He says that he doesn't harm little girls but likes to touch them(may be in order to remove his loneliness by touching pure and innocent lassies). Also, Soaphead was abandoned by Velma and this was also a big sorrow in his life:(.
I am a bit angry with Soaphead in some ways. Tell me Soaphead, why did you give the poisionous meat and use Pecola to kill the dog(Bob)?:/
Why did you use people's frailty and deceive them by superstitions?
Why did you think you are ALSO superior like white people?? (Because you have a mixed blood! It was wrong)
Finally, tell me you were so religious and educated right? So, why couldn't you change things and defeat your self-hatred?
OK, that's all Soaphead Church. Other than this, I believe that you are a good person in spite of appreance.:)
Wow, I love this post..I love the voice you have developed on this blog, and especially the way you directly address the characters.
ReplyDeleteI think you've correctly identified his loneliness, and this line is particularly insightful: "But I think his fight is with his blackness and nothing else." Morrison has shown us a number of characters who are twisted in various ways by racial self-hatred. Soaphead is a peculiar case because of his mixed blood and aristocratic roots. It shows us that this drive to be white at any cost has disastrous consequences - for everyone.