Cite+incidents+from+the+story+to+support+the+suggestion+that+when+black+people+appear+to+achieve+the+lifestyle+supported+by+the+collective+voice+of+society,+they+sacrifice+passion+and+love.

Racism and hostility towards blacks within the black community is one of the numerous issues that are discussed within the novel. The black characters that openly and evidently express their contempt and despise against the other black people around them, have often accepted the widely held view regarding the white superiority and the prevalent favoritism towards the ‘white lifestyle’. Achieving this white, ‘finer’ lifestyle has become their common objective; for some of them, the accomplishment of such a goal comes through the attainment of a higher economic status and increased wealth, while for some of them, it is about obtaining another outlook on themselves that corresponds to their dreams and escaping the reality that keeps on reiterating that they are poor blacks after all. Unfortunately, the characters in the novel that exemplify such cases, Geraldine and Pauline, have all lost their abilities to truly fulfill their love and passion in their pursuit of the white life.

Geraldine is a brown woman who has developed “thrift, patience, high morals, and good manners” that characterize the ideal white lifestyle. Yet, she has chosen to sacrifice and get rid of the “funkiness of passion, the funkiness of nature, [and] the funkiness of the wide range of human emotions” (83). Geraldine pursued the white lifestyle through her marriage with a white man. However, such a choice also involved the sacrifice of her love; she does not enjoy her times with her husband including their sexual experience. Furthermore, she fails to demonstrate sufficient care and love for her son; the sole recipient of her most sincere love, passion, and care is her beloved cat.

Another character that demonstrates the case of sacrificing passion and love for white lifestyle is Pauline. Although Pauline did not have the same level of antagonism towards blackness early in the novel, she gradually develops the view that black is simply ugly and white beauty is to be appreciated. Pauline’s initial interest in movies once has been a means of escape from the harsh reality Pauline faces as a black woman, who is often discriminated against, and also sees herself as ‘ugly’ like others do. However, she resorts to a more realistic means of fulfilling her fantasy of achieving white lifestyle by viewing herself as a clean servant of an established white family, rather than a wretched black woman. Yet, as made evident from her neglect and mistreatment of her own daughter, Pecola, by choosing to focus on her identity as a servant for a white family, Pauline has abandoned another part of herself as a black mother who is responsible for looking after her daughter. Because she wishes to maintain her status as a servant for the white family, she slaps Pecola when she makes a mess at the white house and consoles the white girl of the employer’s family instead. Pauline’s love for her family, love for her daughter, has been sacrificed just as it has been for Geraldine.

Black people attempt to achieve the lifestyle stereotyped by white society. The stereotype rarely ensure happiness even for white society. Especially because many expectations and hopes are pinned on it, when black people move up from the edges of society and their expectation of being accepted and perfectly happy are let down, the lack of happiness hurts more than having no expectations at all in the first place. The people who don't achieve it are also hurt more by expectations because they think they are unhappy when they don't have it. For example, Polly could have the possibility of happiness with her family, like it used to be between Cholly and her, but she turns her back on them in favor of loving her employer's white daughter. Even though she doesn't achieve the lifestyle endorsed by the collective voice, she is still sacrificing passion and love for her own family. Either way, conforming to fit expectations or failing at meeting expectations ends up destroying passion and love in black relationships. To make themselves fit the model, boxed-in lifestyle and allow a façade of happiness, they give up the spontaneity of passion and love in favor of the rigidity of the desired ingroup.