Quote 1
Never did he once consider directing his hatred toward the hunters. Such an emotion would have destroyed him. They were big, white, armed men. He was small, black, helpless. His subconscious knew what his conscious mind did not guess – that hating them would have consumed him, burned him up like a piece of soft coal. (3.6.61)
Cholly is unable to hate the white men because hating them would have destroyed him, as they are socially and legally more powerful than him. Instead, he transfers his hate to the women in his life.
Quote 2
Three women are leaning out of two windows. They see the long clean neck of a new young boy and call to him. He goes to where they are....They give him lemonade in a Mason jar. As he drinks, their eyes float up to him through the bottom of the jar....They give him back his manhood, which he takes aimlessly. (3.8.82)
Cholly presumably encounters Miss Marie, Poland, and China here, but the text leaves this ambiguous. He has fun with them and rediscovers his masculinity.
Quote 3
What could he do for her – ever? What give her? What say to her? What could a burned-out black man say to the hunched back of his eleven-year-old daughter? If he looked into her face, he would see those haunted, loving eyes. The hauntedness would irritate him – the love would move him to fury. How dare she love him? Hadn't she any sense at all? What was he supposed to do about that? Return it? How? (3.8.87)
Cholly's self-hatred seems to rear its head right before he rapes Pecola. He doesn't understand how such an innocent creature could love him.
Quote 4
Having no idea of how to raise children, and having never watched any parent raise himself, he could not even comprehend what such a relationship should be....Had he not been alone in the world since he was thirteen, knowing only a dying old woman who felt responsible for him, but whose age, sex, and interests were so remote from his own, he might have felt a stable connection between himself and the children. As it was, he reacted to them, and his reactions were based on what he felt at that moment. (3.8.85)
Cholly's lack of love for his children is explained here. His experience mirrors that of other characters in the novel – like Soaphead Church – who cannot love in a moral way because they were never showed how. Childhood experiences shape the adult.
Quote 5
What could he do for her – ever? What give her? What say to her? What could a burned-out black man say to the hunched back of his eleven-year-old daughter? If he looked into her face, he would see those haunted, loving eyes. The hauntedness would irritate him – the love would move him to fury. How dare she love him? Hadn't she any sense at all? What was he supposed to do about that? Return it? How? (3.8.87)
Cholly seems to blame the rape on his inability to express his feelings toward Pecola any other way. Does Morrison's attempt to contextualize Cholly's behavior make you feel more sympathetic toward Cholly? Should we feel sympathetic toward him?
Quote 6
He hated her. He almost wished he could do it – hard, long, and painfully, he hated her so much. (3.8.52)
Cholly was racially humiliated the first time he had sex with a woman. Rather than aim his anger at the white men who wronged him, he redirects it toward black women.
Quote 7
Three women are leaning out of two windows. They see the long clean neck of a new young boy and call to him. He goes to where they are....They give him lemonade in a Mason jar. As he drinks, their eyes float up to him through the bottom of the jar....They give him back his manhood, which he takes aimlessly. (3.8.82)
Cholly presumably encounters Miss Marie, Poland, and China here, but the text leaves this ambiguous. He has fun with them and rediscovers his masculinity.
Quote 8
What could he do for her – ever? What give her? What say to her? What could a burned-out black man say to the hunched back of his eleven-year-old daughter? If he looked into her face, he would see those haunted, loving eyes. The hauntedness would irritate him – the love would move him to fury. How dare she love him? Hadn't she any sense at all? What was he supposed to do about that? Return it? How? (3.8.87)
Adult men in the novel tend to either worship innocence or be disgusted by it. We might think of Soaphead and Cholly as on opposite ends of this spectrum. Pecola's innocence only reminds Cholly of his inadequacy as a father, enraging him further.