Soaphead+Church

**Soaphead Church (pg. 164)**
//Emily, Abhinav, Adrian//
 * Enjoys solitude, freedom and power
 * Has similarities to Pecola in that Soaphead is also fond of inanimate objects, mainly antiques and old things that are not necessarily appreciated.
 * Pecola empathizes with inanimate objects and the dandelions that people do not appreciate.
 * When Pecola asks for blue eyes, Soaphead's initial sympathy is clouded by anger that he is powerless, showing his self-centered nature
 * Irony:
 * Misanthrope (a person who dislikes people and avoids society) who provides a service helping others
 * Believes that he is "clean," due to his celibacy and faith in God. Has the name "//Soap//head," although he is a pedophile
 * Perhaps believes that touching little girls is "clean," because the girls are pure and have not been touched before.
 * Soaphead has lingering feelings for Velma, who was supposed to help him escape from solitude
 * Only remembers negative aspects of eduction and literature (e.g. Hamlet's abuse of Ophelia), shows a selective view of the world.
 * Perhaps his selective view of the world contributes to why he sees his pedophilia as okay.
 * Huge 'contest' with God, consistently tells God that God is not good enough, and that Soaphead could have done a better job
 * Even admits that he himself is corrupted, but claims that it is God's fault
 * His love of power makes him want to control things like life and death, that's why he counsel's people, tells them what to do
 * Self-centered, afraid
 * Never really mentions or thinks about others, generally only concerned about himself
 * Not willing to get rid of the dog himself, portrayed as weak in that sense (even Pecola could do what he couldn't)

Other connections:
 * Those who are mixed race (i.e. Geraldine and Soaphead) appear as respectable people to other adult members of society. However, their homes reveal their true personalities. Additionally, only children seem to be aware of these characters' immoral/abnormal traits (e.g. Pecola sees Geraldine's strange behavior and attachment to the cat, little girls know about Soaphead's pedophile behaviors)
 * However, children do not reveal these facts to adults. In this case, instead of adults keeping information from children, the children are keeping things from the adults
 * Children often listen to the gossip and observe, seem to have more information than they're often given credit for
 * Those brought up by single parents and who have lack of community support tend to grow up corrupted.
 * Soaphead only had his father's support, grows up to be a misanthropic pedophile
 * Cholly was abandoned my his mother and brought up by Aunt Jimmy. After her death he was rejected by his biological father and remained very alone.
 * Junior is largely ignored by his mother and is not allowed to play with anyone. Hence, he abuses Pecola and falsely blames her for "killing the cat."
 * Though Pecola has both of her parents, Cholly is not much of a father and Pauline does not treat her well either (compared to how Pauline treats the Fisher's girl). Pecola is also rejected and shunned by the community during and after the time she is pregnant.