The free trial period is the first 7 days of your subscription. Principal line of resistance: This line began 10km (6mi) behind the border. Beyond that, the French were well aware of the contribution of Britain and its dominions to the victory of 1918. Pauline has few friends; other women look down at her because she is poorly dressed and speaks like a Southern black. Get Annual Plans at a discount when you buy 2 or more! There are hints that his mother was insane. "[44], The psychological factor of the Maginot Line has also been discussed. Humiliated but also powerless, Cholly keeps at it until the hunters grow bored and leave. These GFM cloches were sometimes used to emplace machine guns or observation periscopes. ", Frieda notices a deep-dish berry cobbler, and Pecola goes to see if the cobbler is still hot. The Maginot Line is upstairs on the porch drinking root beer, and she tells the children that Pecola is helping her mother at her workplace. The false sense of security contributed "to the development of the "Maginot mentality". Frieda and Claudia are confused about what ruined means and worry that Frieda will become fat like the Maginot Line. The line was built in several phases from 1930 by the Service Technique du Gnie (STG), overseen by Commission d'Organisation des Rgions Fortifies (CORF). Mr. MacTeer chased Mr. Henry off, beating him first and then firing a gun at him. The white family's home stands in stark contrast to the home the Breedloves live in. the air battle, which lasted the into the fall of 1940. The Maginot Line was impervious . When The Maginot Line asks if the girls are looking for someone, Claudia explains they are looking for Pecola. Breedlove. From upstairs, the little girl calls for Polly, and Pecola accidentally pulls a freshly baked berry cobbler off the counter. When the Allied forces invaded in June 1944, the line, now held by German defenders, was again largely bypassed; fighting touched only portions of the fortifications near Metz and in northern Alsace towards the end of 1944. (one code per order). Subscribe now. It's possible to see an unsettling connection between the blonde dolls and the blonde daughters of families that employ black servants: in playing with little blonde dolls, black girls must either pretend the child is theirsand so negate their own race and deny their own beautyor they must pretend that they, like Pauline, are servants caring for the children of white employers. Having light eyes marks a character as different. 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. One Saturday afternoon in spring, Cholly, while totally drunk, rapes his daughter. Free trial is available to new customers only. She returned with her parents to the house, but Henry was gone. He feels a mix of tenderness and hatred as he rapes Pecola, the tenderness confused and misapplied. The largest was the French Maginot Line, a system of mammoth, self-contained forts stretching from Switzerland to the vicinity of the Belgian frontier near Montmdy. "[36] In addition, the French envisioned that the Germans would conduct a repeat of their First World War battle plan to flank the defences and drew up their overall strategy with that in mind. The specification of the defences was very high, with extensive and interconnected bunker complexes for thousands of men; there were 45 main forts (grands ouvrages) at intervals of 15km (9.3mi), 97 smaller forts (petits ouvrages) and 352 casemates between, with over 100km (62mi) of tunnels. Maginot was another veteran of World War I; he became the French Minister of Veteran Affairs and then Minister of War (19281932). Continue to start your free trial. Nevertheless, Maxime Weygand signed the surrender instrument and the army was ordered out of their fortifications to be taken to POW camps. He rents from an old woman with a nasty, aging dog named Bob. Mr. MacTeer: Claudia's father, Mr. MacTeer, is not present often in the book. Claudias mother, an authoritarian and sometimes callous woman who nonetheless steadfastly loves and protects her children. How did this happen? 9. The line wasn't Maginot's idea alone, but he helped push the ambitious, multimillion-franc project through parliament. [17] With the United States isolationist and Britain stoutly refusing to make the "continental commitment" to defend France on the same scale as in World War I, the prospects of Anglo-American assistance in another war with Germany appeared to be doubtful at best. She then throws her root-beer bottle down at the girls' feet and laughs loudly, terrifying the girls, who run until they can't run any farther. Read an in-depth analysis of Pecola Breedlove. "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. THE MAGINOT LINE I31 ernment.I As a result, much of the spirit of the reform was quietly nullified, though the law, including the two-year service, remained on the statute books. As with his son Sammy, who is always running away from home, Cholly's gender gives him a degree of agency that Pecola and Pauline simply do not have. [14], In 1926, The Manchester Guardian ran an expos showing the Reichswehr had been developing military technology forbidden by the Treaty of Versailles in the Soviet Union. She feels real affection only for her cat. Ace your assignments with our guide to The Bluest Eye! Through the window they see Mr. Henry inside with, legs and an ugly face. To be used as a basis for a counter-offensive. As far as we know, Soaphead Church is the only mortal being to whom Pecola has revealed her wish, and his emotional reaction is admiration. The 1st Army also conducted two attacks against the Maginot Line further to the east in northern Alsace. Behind them were minefields and tank traps made from row after row of porcupine-like iron girders that would cripple armored vehicles. He shot at Henry and Henry ran away. Both static and mobile artillery units were assigned to defend the Maginot Line. Built between 1930 and 1940, France 's Maginot Line was a massive system of defenses that became famous for failing to stop a German invasion. The family of Elihue Whitcomb displays a kind of mixed-race person who lives in colonial societymore fortunate than pureblooded natives, they are still ultimately powerless, allowed to occupy only the most meaningless government positions, allowed to be educated but never to rule. 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. Andr Maginot finally convinced the government to invest in the scheme. Thus the Germans were able to avoid a direct assault on the Maginot Line by violating the neutrality of Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Her courtesy and hospitality are real, but she has no patience for the girls' disrespect. During peacetime, fortresses were only partly manned by full-time troops. French strategy, therefore, envisioned a move into Belgium to counter a German assault. Although we are told that Cholly has no sense of fatherhood because he never knew his own parents (a statement which emphasizes social forces rather than Cholly's choices), we are also told repeatedly that Cholly is dangerously free. Renew your subscription to regain access to all of our exclusive, ad-free study tools. Discount, Discount Code Her life is lonely; she takes to going to the movies, where she learns about romantic love and physical beautytwo things Morrison calls "the most destructive ideas in the history of human thought." She learns that Mr. MacTeer has beaten up Mr. Henry and kicked him out of the house. The houses are sturdier, literally because they are better constructed than the houses in the black section of town, and symbolically as the families that live in them are more stable than the black families in the story. The messages the girls hear about white superiority do not come only from the white media or light-skinned blacks like Geraldine. Their purpose was to locate the enemy, direct and correct the indirect fire of artillery, and report on the progress and position of critical enemy units. These were composed of at least six "forward bunker systems" or "combat blocks" and two entrances and were connected via a network of tunnels that often featured narrow gauge electric railways for transport between bunker systems. The Germans then broke through the fortification line as defending French forces retreated southward. She asks where "Polly" is, something that infuriates Claudia because even Pecola calls her own mother "Mrs. 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. Bluest Eye literature essays are academic essays for citation. Here the Line ran east-west, around the villages of Rittershoffen and Hatten, south of Wissembourg. These generally had two floors, with a firing level and a support/infrastructure level that provided the troops with rest and services (power-generating units, reserves of water, fuel, food, ventilation equipment, etc.). Frieda and Claudia walk to the lakefront houses, in a beautiful neighborhood with a park that is for white children only. The secret German-Soviet cooperation started in 1921. PDF downloads of all 1699 LitCharts literature guides, and of every new one we publish. creating and saving your own notes as you read. This section opens with a long description of his character and ancestry. Please wait while we process your payment. A defensive strategy based on the Maginot Line was an excellent way of demonstrating to Britain that France was not an aggressive power and would only go to war in the event of German aggression, a situation that would make it more likely that Britain would enter the war on France's side.[28]. She then tells the girls that they can wait with her until Pecola is back, offering them pop to drink while they wait. He has a gruff manner toward little Black girls. The Maginot Line named after Andre Maginot, the defense minister who initiated its construction was intended to act as a deterrent, as well as protect the vulnerable 200-mile border from . Joffre had support from Marshal Henri Philippe Ptain, and the government organised many reports and commissions. 16. | Youve successfully purchased a group discount. The blocks contained infrastructure such as power stations, independent ventilating systems, barracks and mess halls, kitchens, water storage and distribution systems, hoists, ammunition stores, workshops and spare parts and food stores. The first girl that Cholly likes. Renews March 8, 2023 Struggling with distance learning? Two telephone wires were placed parallel to the line of fortifications, providing redundancy in case a wire gets cut. As a mature women, she has a different understanding of the word from that of the innocent girls, which makes it more painful and triggers her violent reaction. He tortures the family cat and harasses children who come to the nearby playground. France's birth rate had actually been declining since the end of the Napoleonic Wars. 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. As the water table in this region is high, there was the danger of underground passages getting flooded, which the line designers knew would be difficult and expensive to overcome. However, when the Germans attacked . The infantry manned the lighter weapons of the fortresses and formed units with the mission of operating outside if necessary. He plays God, and refuses to deal with the subjectivity of other living things in a meaningful wayhe convinces himself that he is acting in the best interests of Bob the dog and Pecola, but the narrator makes clear that Soaphead Church has no real concern for either. Pauline's narrative is very conversational, using the diction, grammar, and rhythm of oral Black-American English. The theme of love's scarcity can be seen in the treatment of Marie and the other prostitutes, whose names recall their vulnerable status. SparkNotes Plus subscription is $4.99/month or $24.99/year as selected above. The fortifications did not extend through the Ardennes Forest (which was believed to be impenetrable by Commander-in-Chief Maurice Gamelin) or along France's border with Belgium because the two countries had signed an alliance in 1920, by which the French army would operate in Belgium if the German forces invaded. Born and raised in Georgia, Cholly is abandoned by his mother when four days old, and taken in by his Great Aunt Jimmy. French engineers even constructed emergency dams and levees that could flood the surrounding fields to further slow the German attack. Then another neighbor, Miss Dunion, came in and suggested that they take Frieda to the doctor because she might be ruined, a fear that now makes Frieda weep. You may cancel your subscription on your Subscription and Billing page or contact Customer Support at custserv@bn.com. Kaufmann, J.E., Kaufmann, H.W., Jancovi-Potonik, A. and Lang, P. This page was last edited on 24 February 2023, at 20:42. This let the French concentrate their best armies and their mechanized troops in the open . "Maginot and these other guys weren't dumb," says Kirchubel. For the girls, their mother's word is law: they dislike Marie based on their mother's dislike of Marie. Soaphead Church proceeds to write a letter to God, in which he blames God for making the world badly. -Graham S. The timeline below shows where the character China, Poland, and Miss Marie appears in, laughter coming from inside the house. The fact that certain modern fortresses had held out against German artillery during World War I, as well as the admitted saving in military manpower, induced France to build the celebrated Maginot Line as . Cholly has had no one to teach him how to be a fatherAunt Jimmy is so much older that she hardly seems an adequate role model. This section shows the powerful deterministic forces that have shaped Pauline. The Maginot Line was built to fulfil several purposes: Maginot Line fortifications were manned by specialist units of fortress infantry, artillery and engineers. Toni Morrison and The Bluest Eye Background. The inside of the house is beautiful, and a small white girl comes in and asks for Polly. Claudia is furious that the child calls Mrs. Breedlove by this name because even Pecola calls her mother Mrs. 15. A middle-class Black woman who, though she keeps house flawlessly and diligently cares for the physical appearances of herself and her family (including her husband, Louis, and her son, Junior), is essentially cold. Complete your free account to access notes and highlights. He goes to Macon, where his father supposedly resides. Nonetheless, in 1927, the Inter-Allied Commission, which was responsible for ensuring that Germany complied with Part V of the Treaty of Versailles, was abolished as a goodwill gesture reflecting the "Spirit of Locarno". 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