Geraldine, similar to Pauline, is a Southern emigrant who strives to adopt white cultural norms. However, unlike Pauline, she completely embraces and internalizes these standards. This results in her becoming alienated from the African-American community, along with her son, Junior, whose father is notably absent from both the story and their lives. Geraldine raises Junior to reflect the image of Dick from the reading primer and instructs him on "the difference between colored people and niggers." In her effort to Europeanize Junior, she unintentionally transforms him into a monster. Shunned by his peers, Junior compensates for his isolation by engaging in violent acts against young girls. In what appears to be a reference to budding sexual deviance, he targets Pecola, who is "always alone … because she was ugly," and entices her to his house with the promise of showing her kittens. However, his scheme backfires when his black cat with blue eyes seems to favor Pecola, prompting him to violently hurl the cat against a window, likely injuring it. When Junior informs his furious mother that Pecola killed the cat, Geraldine, who sees in Pecola everything she wishes to avoid—plainness and lack of cleanliness—does not investigate further. She accepts Junior's version of events and expels the "nasty little black bitch" from her home, adding both a religious and cultural burden to Pecola's self-hatred as she retreats from yet another beautiful home where she is despised by a family distancing itself from its African-American heritage.