Previous
Louis Junior
A light skinned West Indian man, Soaphead Church is a self-proclaimed misanthrope. After failing as a preacher, he deems himself a "Reader, Adviser, and Interpreter of Dreams", and provides counsel to community members. He detests the human body, believing the human body is dirty, and only desires to touch the bodies of children, which he considers clean.
Soaphead Church Quotes in The Bluest Eye
The The Bluest Eye quotes below are all either spoken by Soaphead Church or refer to Soaphead Church. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 6 Quotes
"He…picked at me."
"Picked at you? You mean like Soaphead Church?"
"Sort of."
"He showed his privates to you?"
"Noooo. He touched me."
"Where?"
"Here and here." She pointed to her tiny breasts that, like two fallen acorns, scattered a few faded rose leaves on her dress.
"Really? How did it feel?"
"Oh, Claudia." She Sounded put-out. I wasn't asking the right questions.
"It didn't feel like anything."
"But wasn't it supposed to? Feel good, I mean."
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire The Bluest Eye LitChart as a printable PDF.
"My students can't get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof." -Graham S.
Soaphead Church Character Timeline in The Bluest Eye
The timeline below shows where the character Soaphead Church appears in The Bluest Eye. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 9
An unnamed narrator introduces Soaphead Church, a self proclaimed "misanthrope", who hates people and find's the human body ugly and...
(full context)
Soaphead Church is a cinnamon-eyed West Indian man with light brown skin. His family is proud...
(full context)
Soaphead Church was born as Elihue Micah Whitcomb, the son of a schoolmaster and a half-Chinese...
(full context)
At seventeen, Soaphead Church meets a woman named Velma, and marries. She is drawn to his meticulous habits...
(full context)
Soaphead Church moves in with a woman named Bertha Reese. He doesn't mind living with her...
(full context)
Soaphead Church begins counseling community members who come to him for advice. They bring their maladies,...
(full context)
One day Pecola knocks on Soaphead's door. She comes into his house, holding her hands over her pregnant stomach. When he...
(full context)
After Pecola runs away, Soaphead Church sits down at his night table and writes a letter to God. In his...
(full context)
