9. Autumn

In the Autumn chapter of the novel, Pecola came to MacTeers’ house for a while after her dad, Cholly fired up their houses. Pecola had her first ‘ministrain’ which means menstruation. She didn’t know what the meaning of it and when she noticed that she was bleeding she asked “Am I going to die?”. Frieda knew the meaning of this and she explained her that the meaning of it is to be able to have a baby. Frieda tried to help Pecola without showing to her mother. But Rosemary saw them in the garden and said Mrs. MacTeer that they are playing nasty. At the beginning, Mrs. MacTeer was angry with them but after learning that Pecola had her first period, she helped her.

In the night, when the three of them were laying down in the bed, Claudia explains their feelings for Pecola. She says that “We were full of respect for Pecola. Lying next to a real person (. . .) she was different from us now- grown-up-like”. For that ages of girls to have the first menstruation period is the most important event in the world which means the first step to the entrance of adults’ life.

Also for both Pecola and Claudia, the thought of being able to have a baby made them think about it. When they asked Frieda about what is needed to have a baby, she replied them it is needed to have somebody who has to love you. In here, the author showed the innocent feelings and thoughts of them- to have a man who loves his wife to have a baby.

But then, we will see that Pecola will have a baby from his father which seems horrible to her and she didn’t even understand what was going on…