Ace your assignments with our guide to The Bluest Eye! How Hitler's Blitzkrieg Tactic Shocked the Allies in WWII. The fear in the little white girl's eyes suggests she has been taught to fear black people. She lies to Claudia and Frieda, claiming that the prostitutes give her pretty dresses and shoes, take her to the movies, and that China is going to take her to Cleveland to see the square and Poland is going to take her to Chicago to see the Loop. [19] Part of the rationale for the Maginot Line stemmed from the severe French losses during the First World War and their effect on the French population. . Because no human looks at her, she cannot conceive of her own worth and eventually loses the ability to maintain her own basic sense of identitySoaphead Church's use of Pecola for his own ends is the final step in the unraveling of her sanity. Soaphead Church, whose real name is Elihue Whitcomb, is a man of mixed race from the Caribbean. By the eve of WWII, the French had constructed a string of fortifications stretching from the Swiss Alps to the English Channel, but the heaviest defenses were along the 280-mile (450-kilometer) border with Germany. The guerre de longue dure strategy called for the French to halt the expected German offensive meant to give the Reich a swift victory; afterwards, there would be an attrition struggle; once the Germans were exhausted, France would begin an offensive to win the war. creating and saving your own notes as you read. Artillery troops operated the heavy guns, and the engineers were responsible for maintaining and operating other specialist equipment, including all communications systems. A white, comparatively wealthy girl who lives next door to the MacTeers. The Treaty of Versailles: Did the End of WWI Cause the Start of WWII? It even included air conditioning and underground railways for reinforcements. [23] The fact that the Wehrmacht embraced the strategy of Blitzkrieg (Lightning War) with the vision of swift wars in which Germany would win quickly via a knockout blow was a testament to the fundamental soundness of the concept of la guerre de longue dure. The white family's home stands in stark contrast to the home the Breedloves live in. Built at a cost that possibly exceeded $9 billion in. Those feelings are gone now, and she thinks less and less about them. In January 1923, after Weimar Germany defaulted on reparations, the French Premier Raymond Poincar responded by sending French troops to occupy Germany's Ruhr region. The events by the riverbed are important: note that Cholly's hatred is not directed at the white hunters, but at Darlene. They live above the Breedlove apartment and befriend Pecola. By signing up you agree to our terms and privacy policy. Without the natural defensive barrier provided by the Rhine River, French generals argued that France needed a new defensive barrier made of concrete and steel to replace it. The Maginot Line Two score and six years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand, delivered a speech that would forever mark how America viewed race relations. Having light eyes marks a character as different. He is a religious hypocrite. By the time the Germans crossed into French soil through Belgium, the fight was all but over. The protagonist of the novel, an eleven-year-old Black girl who believes that she is ugly and that having blue eyes would make her beautiful. [4] J.E. A decoy force sat opposite the line while a second Army Group cut through the Low Countries of Belgium and the Netherlands, as well as through the Ardennes Forest, which lay north of the main French defences. The one adult love of his life, a woman named Velma, marries him but then leaves him soon afterward. Refine any search. Complete your free account to request a guide. The passage is written with poetic tone, turning Blue Jack into something like a figure of myth, male and strong and holding up the watermelon so that it blocks out the sun. [24] The Germans were expected to fight costly offensives, whose failures would sap the strength of the Reich, while the French waged a total war, mobilising the resources of France, its empire and allies. If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. Discount, Discount Code [20] The drop in the birth rate during and after the war, resulting in a national shortage of young men, created an "echo" effect on the generation that provided the French conscript army in the mid-1930s. But when Hitler and the Nazis rose to power in the early 1930s, they quickly backed out of the Treaty of Versailles and began equipping for a much different kind of war. At a conference in London in 1924 to settle the Franco-German crisis caused by the Ruhrkampf, the British Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald successfully pressed the French Premier douard Herriot to make concessions to Germany. She finds meaning not in her own family but in romantic movies and in her work caring for a well-to-do white family. "Why the Massive Maginot Line Failed to Stop Hitler" The MacTeer family does not have light eyes. Pauline describes the first steady job she landed, working as a housekeeper for an ungenerous and pretentious white family. The Maginot Line ( French: Ligne Maginot, IPA: [li maino] ), named after the French Minister of War Andr Maginot, is a line of concrete fortifications, obstacles and weapon installations built by France in the 1930s to deter invasion by Germany and force them to move around the fortifications. The hot pie filling burns Pecola's legs painfully, but when Mrs. Breedlove returns and sees the mess she runs to Pecola and backhands her, knocking the girl down. The original text plus a side-by-side modern translation of. In a sense, the way the MacTeer girls read and misread the adult world echoes the Dick-and-Jane reader at the beginning of the novel. Get Annual Plans at a discount when you buy 2 or more! The French strategy was already set in millions of cubic feet of concrete. Toni Morrison and The Bluest Eye Background. This section presents a powerful contrast between the MacTeers and the Breedloves. [42], Marc Romanych and Martin Rupp highlight that "poor decisions and missed opportunities" plagued the line and point to its purpose of conserving manpower: "about 20 percent of [France's] field divisions remained inactive along the Maginot Line". Claudia does not yet know that her mother here is reacting to Frieda's assault by Mr. Henry. Did you know you can highlight text to take a note? [clarification needed] The line stretched from Switzerland to Luxembourg and a much lighter extension was extended to the Strait of Dover after 1934. Frieda equates being "ruined" to being like the Maginot Line, because she heard her mother say that the Maginot Line was a "ruined" woman. The Maginot Line laughs and throws her root-beer bottle at them. He humiliates Cholly and turns his back on him, returning to his game of dice. The Maginot Line was designed to resist attacks by aerial bombardment, artillery and ground forces. She makes fun of Claudia and Frieda and tries to get them into trouble, and they sometimes beat her up. While the Germans built a fleet of bombers and armored vehicles for their mobile blitzkrieg strategy, the French were putting the finishing touches on their very large and static underground fortresses. Petits ouvrages: These small fortresses reinforced the line of infantry bunkers. These were buried concrete bunkers designed to house and shelter up to a company of infantry (200 to 250 men). The first girl that Cholly likes. Andr Maginot finally convinced the government to invest in the scheme. We're sorry, SparkNotes Plus isn't available in your country. "That's just what the French did," says Kirchubel. Morrison also manages to humanize Marie (the Maginot Line) without sugar-coating her. Teacher Editions with classroom activities for all 1699 titles we cover. The main fortifications of the line were still mostly intact, many commanders were prepared to hold out, and the Italian advance had been contained. The petits ouvrages were generally made up of several infantry bunkers, connected by a tunnel network with attached underground facilities, such as barracks, electric generators, ventilation systems, mess halls, infirmaries and supply caches. They understand that China and Poland are ruined as well but think that they are not fat because they drink whiskey. Members will be prompted to log in or create an account to redeem their group membership. [50] Kaufmann and Kaufmann point to the Maginot Line along the Italian border, which "demonstrated the effectiveness of the fortifications when properly employed".[51]. Czechoslovakia also feared Hitler and began building its own defences. Cloches are non-retractable turrets. The Germany-facing section of the Maginot Line presented a string of obstacles, traps and artillery forts that ran 16 miles (25 kilometers) deep in places. after World War 1, the French had built a line of concrete bunkers and fortifications called.. Battle of Britain. The insinuation that Frieda might be "ruined" does not make Mrs. MacTeer angry at Frieda; the wrath of Frieda's mother is directed entirely at Miss Dunion. How much did the Construction of the Maginot line cost? [26] Of French trade, 35 percent was with the British Empire and the majority of the tin, rubber, jute, wool and manganese used by France came from the British Empire. His rape of Pecola is motivated by hatredthe text says explicitly that he despises his daughter for loving him because he is painfully aware of his failures. Instead of worrying that her own daughter has been burned by the hot berries, she pushes Pecola down into the pie juice. Copyright 1999 - 2023 GradeSaver LLC. [43] Kaufmann and Kaufmann commented, "When all is said and done, the Maginot Line did not fail to accomplish its original mission it provided a shield that bought time for the army to mobilise [and] concentrate its best troops along the Belgian border to engage the enemy. Built between 1930 and 1940, it was one of the world's most impressive forts, yet it proved to be almost . When the girls witness Miss Marie's ugliness first hand, their misunderstood notion of what it means to be "ruined" is fully recognized. When she speaks to Pecola and her friends, her voice is like rotten pieces of apple, but when she speaks to the white girl, her voice is like honey. Breedlove. From upstairs, the little girl calls for Polly, and Pecola accidentally pulls a freshly baked berry cobbler off the counter. Born and raised in Georgia, Cholly is abandoned by his mother when four days old, and taken in by his Great Aunt Jimmy. Our, "Sooo much more helpful thanSparkNotes. . Still, the last French troops left the Rhineland in June 1930 in exchange for Germany accepting the Young Plan. You'll be able to access your notes and highlights, make requests, and get updates on new titles. His desire to poison the animal stems solely from his own hatred of the beast, and his racial self-loathing prevents him from offering any sound counsel to Pecola. Observation Posts were located on hills that provided a good view of the surrounding area. Frieda is angered by her experience and ready to take action rather than remain ashamed and defeated. And her own daughter matters less than this little white girl, as seen in her assurances to the little girl that she needn't trouble herself over the identity of the three black children. This points toward a source of Pecola's suffering: she cannot see herself, because she is invisible to so many. On a Saturday in spring, Claudia goes inside and finds Frieda crying. Kaufmann added that before construction in October 1927, the Superior Council of War adopted the final design for the line and identified that one of the main missions would be to deter a German cross-border assault with only minimal force to allow "the army time to mobilise. It is also possible that Miss Mary Mack comes from the slang meaning of mack for a "pimp" or "flirting," dating back to the late 1800s. Frieda is uncertain how to describe what has happened to her. Your group members can use the joining link below to redeem their group membership. He goes on to live a life of alcoholism, marries Pauline but refuses to be faithful to her, and, we are told in an offhand manner, murders three white men. Ouvrage Rochonvillers was retained by the French Army as a command centre into the 1990s but was deactivated following the disappearance of the Soviet threat. Complete your free account to access notes and highlights. Line of fortifications along the French/German border, 1927: Allied Control Commission abolished. She takes care of the Fishers better than her own family, and there is a strange parallel between her care of the Fishers' daughter and the care of blonde dolls described by Claudia earlier in the novel. Claudias mother, an authoritarian and sometimes callous woman who nonetheless steadfastly loves and protects her children. She is surprised to see them, and they ask her why she is not afraid of the Maginot Line. At the same time, that willingness to interact with the little girl based on a nickname may suggest that Mrs. Breedlove shares a level of love for the young girl that she withholds from her own daughter, who is not allowed to call her mother by a nickname. [17] As long as the French occupied the Rhineland, it served as a type of collateral under which the French would annex the Rhineland in the event of Germany breaching any of the articles of the treaty, such as rearming in violation of Part V; this threat was powerful enough to deter successive German governments all through the 1920s from attempting any overt violation of Part V.[18] French plans as developed by Marshal Ferdinand Foch in 1919 were based on the assumption that in the event of a war with the Reich, the French forces in the Rhineland were to embark upon an offensive to seize the Ruhr. [33] A number of old fortifications have now been turned into wine cellars, a mushroom farm, and even a disco. So look for a guy on youtube called feedback gaming. In contrast, the opposing German Army Group C only contained 19 divisions, fewer than a seventh of the force committed in the Manstein Plan for the invasion of France. Ultimately, any tender feelings Cholly has for Pecola are transformed into a desire to consume her. Its enormous cost and its failure to prevent German forces from invading France have caused journalists and political commentators to remain divided on whether the line was worthwhile. She invites the girls upstairs for a soda, but Frieda tells her that they are not allowed to visit her because she is "ruined." Read an in-depth analysis of Claudia MacTeer. She has not yet learned the self-hatred that plagues her peers. Her mother reinforces this connection as well. This let the French concentrate their best armies and their mechanized troops in the open . The moment where she loses her tooth in the movie theatre is painful: juxtaposing Pauline as an awkward, gap-toothed, pregnant black woman to the idealized (and illusory) image of Jean Harlow on the screen shows the power of these images to destroy a black woman's belief in her own beauty. The community knows. At fifteen, she meets Cholly; they marry and move far up to the North. By referring to the floor as hers, Mrs. Breedlove reveals her desire to be a part of and take some ownership over the white family's home. Dont have an account? Purchasing Love in the Bluest Eye is often paired with violence. resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss thenovel. Frieda is not given the chance to step gradually into her sexual identity; instead, this identity is forced upon her by an adult. [32], After the war, the French re-manned the line and underwent some modifications. It was part of a bigger plan to force a German attack through Belgium. Today the Maginot Line has become a metaphor for expensive efforts which offer only a false sense of security. Free trial is available to new customers only. The Maginot Line was impervious to most forms of attack. Made up of a series of locations spanning over 3 kilometres, the Schoenenbourg Maginot Line fort was entirely self sufficient, with . Border Post line: This consisted of blockhouses and strong houses, which were often camouflaged as inoffensive residential homes, built within a few metres of the border and manned by troops to give the alarm in the event of a surprise attack and to delay enemy tanks with prepared explosives and barricades. Morrison Deconstructs White Standards of Beauty in The Bluest Eye, The Unexamined Other: Confronting the Social Hypocrisy of Maureen in The Bluest Eye. Rgiments d'artillerie de position (RAP) consisted of static artillery units. She reacts to the little white girl by soothing her, by promising to replace the cobbler, which shows both her own servitude and her preference for the white child over her own daughter. These GFM cloches were sometimes used to emplace machine guns or observation periscopes. Frieda says that they can't because Marie is a ruined woman. Despite its monumental concrete glory, which was the pride of interwar France, the Maginot Line ultimately wasn't able to stop Adolf Hitler's Nazi war machine from quickly overwhelming and occupying France in World War II. Detailed explanations, analysis, and citation info for every important quote on LitCharts. Renew your subscription to regain access to all of our exclusive, ad-free study tools. [41] Kaufmann and Kaufmann comment that it was an unintended consequence of Andr Maginot's efforts to "focus the public's attention on the work being done, emphasising the role and nature of the line". The term "Maginot Line" has become a part of the English language: "America's Maginot Line" was the title used for an Atlantic Magazine article about America's military bases in Asia. Discount, Discount Code [23], The Maginot Line was intended to block the main German blow if it should come via eastern France and divert it through Belgium, where French forces would meet and stop the Germans. He is capable of both tenderness and rage, but as the story unfolds, rage increasingly dominates. Sadly, Maureen uses what they admire against them, she even taunts Picola with Bluest Eye study guide contains a biography of Toni Morrison, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis. 7. These various structures reinforced a principal line of resistance made up of the most heavily armed ouvrages, which can be roughly translated as fortresses or big defensive works. Principal line of resistance: This line began 10km (6mi) behind the border. The dog devours the meat and dies almost immediately, and Pecola flees in terror. The local prostitues, Miss Marie (also known as the Maginot Line) is fat and affectionate, China is skinny and sarcastic, and Poland is quiet. "The Maginot Line was meant to stop a World War I-style attack of infantry and artillery, and it did what it was supposed to do," says Kirchubel, who's written multiple books on World War II military campaigns. Renews March 8, 2023 Pecola faints from the pain, and when she wakes she can't remember what happened. When Joffre, Maginot and others conceived of the Maginot Line, Germany was under tight military restrictions imposed by the Treaty of Versailles. The free trial period is the first 7 days of your subscription. Some modifications these small fortresses reinforced the Line of infantry bunkers you agree to our terms and privacy policy began... Impervious to most forms of attack she makes fun of Claudia and and. 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