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Geraldine is a well-off Black woman who lives in a house near the school Pecola attends. She is one of several light-skinned Black characters who believe that cleanliness, both physical and spiritual, is tied to whiteness and therefore privilege. However, Geraldine knows that the only way to maintain this privilege is to not be conflated with darker-skinned Black people. She thus draws a line between Black people like her and her family, whom she calls “colored people,” and darker-skinned Black people, whom she refers to by a slur and racistly associates with crime, poverty, noise, and dirtiness. She thus constructs her life according to this fragile binary, avoiding the normal dirtiness and desires of living as if doing so will bring her even closer to whiteness. She keeps the house spotless and only shows real affection to her cat.
As we see with Soaphead Church, in cutting herself off from all dirt, desire, and mess, Geraldine only creates perversion. Her lack of passion creates violence and resentment in the household. Because she doesn’t offer affection to her son, Junior, or allow him to express his emotions, his feelings fester. She also doesn’t allow Junior to play with other Black boys, making him a social outcast. Without outlet for his feelings or a sense of belonging, Junior becomes a violent, jealous bully who kills her beloved cat. However, Geraldine is incapable of seeing Junior’s violence and believes him when he blames Pecola. When she looks at Pecola, she doesn’t see a fragile and upset young girl, only Pecola’s dark skin and all the stereotypes and stigma it carries. If she were to allow herself to admit Junior killed the cat, she would have to admit that proximity to whiteness does not, in fact, make someone inherently kinder, gentler, or more enlightened. Therefore, she eagerly places the blame on Pecola and chases her out of the house.
