Dear+God+Letter

Dear God Letter (page 176)
//Daisy, Evan, So Yeon//


 * Soaphead Church's past story is also revealed; his unfortunate past of being rejected by Velma seems to have caused him to seek love from powerless, little girls who cannot necessarily reject him, eventually leading him to develop unusual affections towards the young girls.
 * Distorted or misguided perception of love (parallel with Cholly - his twisted first experience with Darlene)
 * Here, the letter seems to be a justification method that Morrison chooses to use for explaining the possible causes or reasons behind Soaphead Church's actions. Using letter as a justification method seems to be effective as it can directly convey and reveal Soaphead Church's feelings and thoughts(Similar to the section where Cholly rapes his own daughter, Pecola - written with the focus on Cholly's perspective or point of view, making the incident a little more bearable by allowing the readers to understand what Cholly was thinking at the time)
 * Irony: While he admires the innocence found in young girls, his obsession with such does not seem to correspond to his own actions (a pedophile touching little girls)
 * Soaphead Church challenges the God in the letter (i.e. he is proud that he could give Pecola the blue eyes - he believes he provided hopes, something that the God could not give Pecola). For him, challenging the God seems to provide a sense of superiority and power; he is using it as a defense mechanism, for it helps him (falsely) believe that he is powerful.