The Real Cholly Breedlove

In Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye, one of the main characters, Cholly Breedlove, can be examined through a Freudian psychoanalytic lens, as he struggles with things like the structure of his personality and the Oedipal complex. Cholly is clearly a troubled man and throughout the story he experiences difficulty in trying to find a balance between his id and superego. Cholly also struggles with the Oedipal complex, raping his daughter, Pecola. This action ties in with his id, in that he acts impulsively to fulfill his wants. Cholly Breedlove, a main character from Morrison’s novel, can be examined using Freudian psychoanalysis as he struggles to maintain his ego and as he struggles with the Oedipal complex, raping his daughter Pecola. Cholly Breedlove’s superego has never been in full effect. When Cholly was young, he was abandoned by his mother, but was soon taken in by his Great Aunt Jimmy, and while he lived with her, although it was not the most normal situation ever, his living conditions were the most stable that they would ever be. His Great Aunt clearly cared for him, even if the way that she expressed it was a little twisted. When Cholly’s mother abandoned him, his Great Aunt Jimmy “beat his mother with a razor strap and wouldn’t let her near [Cholly] after that. Aunt Jimmy raised Cholly herself, but took delight sometimes in telling him of how she had saved him” (132). Great Aunt Jimmy provided Cholly with a good life, putting him through four years of school, and teaching him morals the best she could, acting as the only motherly figure he would ever have in his life. Although life with Aunt Jimmy may not have been the most luxurious or normal, it was the best and most comfortable life that Cholly had ever known. Even though these morals that Cholly once possessed were not extremely evident, they were still once present. Cholly once respected women, especially his Great Aunt, and during this time, his superego was in effect. He never once