Question

What does Geraldine’s treatment of Pecola reveal about internalized racism?

• A. Geraldine fears Pecola will destroy her home.
• B. Geraldine wants to adopt Pecola but cannot.
• C. Geraldine sees Pecola as a threat to her social class.
• D. Geraldine despises Pecola as a symbol of black poverty and ugliness.

Answer 1

Answer:

D. Geraldine despises Pecola as a symbol of black poverty and ugliness.

Geraldine has rejected her own blackness in favor of middle-class whiteness. When she sees Pecola—dirty, poor, and unrefined—she sees everything she wants to deny in herself. Calling Pecola a “nasty little black bitch” is the clearest expression of internalized racism, where self-hate is projected onto others within the same racial group.