God help the child

Lula Ann was very black. Ebony black. So black that her mother did not want to touch her. And her father abandoned them because he thought child was not his.

One can't blame her mother. Because she really could not understand how her daughter would turn our so dark. And she had face horrified stares from people where ever she went with the child.

And her husband, he could never believe that the child is his. He never touched the baby, never looked at her, constantly fought with his wife and finally left her. 

Lula's mother didn't want her to call her mom in public, she taught her to call her sweetness.

Lula had a terrible childhood. The tragic thing was she would feel happy when her mother slapped her because her mother will touch her then. Her life in school was even worse. Children would throw bananas at her and mock her.

Now all grown up, she calls herself Bride and  does not visit her mother, but sends her money. She is confident and  she is successful.  She dresses in all white in such a way that she looks stunning beauty. She is regional manager and has a line of apparel of her own for all women - including those who are ebony black. 

But she is rejected once again by her boyfriend Booker. He simply leaves her.  The reason was  she went to visit a child molester - Sofia and tried to give her money to start life afresh.  Sofia beats Lula badly until she was unconscious. Booker doesn't understand her obsession with this criminal and dislikes her for that.

Booker has his own childhood tragedy. He had lost his brother Adam to a serial killer. And Booker is unable to overcome the trauma.

She goes in search of Booker. Why? Because her body is morphing into that of child? Or is it her hallucination? She meets with an accident and is rescued by a couple with a child Rain. 

If Lula had a bad childhood, Rain had it terrible. Her mother would let men abuse her and when she bit a man, she threw out the child out of her home. Evelyn and her husband bring this broken child and nurture her. 

Lula with her broken leg is forced to stay in their tiny house for a long time. Once she is healthy enough, she continues her search of Queen in the town of Whiskey. And finds both Booker and his aunt. 

She encounters Booker and tells him her reason for meeting Sofia. Sofia was not child abuser, Lula had lied about just to win her mother's affection. And had visited Sofia on the day of her release from prison from feeling of guilt. 

When Booker hears this news, his anger towards her is reduced and his aunt would have acted as a buffer between them, if she had not met with a fire accident.

"God Help the child"  By Toni Morrison is reflection of racism and child abuse. 

And the persisting thought was how a child's thirst for mother's love shapes her future. and how we unknowingly hurt our children so deeply.