Literature is often used as a tool to raise awareness of social problems. The novel The Bluest Eye, written by Toni Morrison, portrays the life of an eleven-year old, Pecola Breedlove, which appears as a delicate and fragile character, who has been victim of racism and violence. During the course of the novel, the author displays the main character problematic family life, full of suffering and pain from which it derives her fascination for white girls by seeing herself in a derogatory way. In this narrative, Morrison uses some elements such as beauty standards based on white people, self-conception, abuse, etc to expose the seriousness of racism in the life of young Pecola.
Since the beginning of the novel, Morrison shows Pecola’s family living in the storefront because they were poor and black; therefore they believed they were ugly. They consider their features were unpleasant, they had “the small eyes set closely together under a narrow forehead, (…) irregular hairlines, heavy eyebrows and crooked noses” They consider themselves horrible not by the fact that they were for real ugly, but thanks to the standards of beauty which were based on white people physical appearance. The drama in Pecola’s life with an abusive father and negligent mother, and the violence between both, makes this little girl fantasize on having beautiful, blue eyes and by it, making her life change surprisingly as a magic trick. She thought her life would improve since having blue eyes not only would make her change the way she look, but she would not longer be ugly and people would not longer do nasty things to her. It is interesting that this character feels no desire to change her skin color, but her eyes because Pecola’s true purpose was to be seen differently and to see things different, which it explains her focus on sight. Her self-conception of being ugly for not having blue eyes and therefore look like white girls makes Pecola live an identity crisis.
During this era, blackness was considered a symbol for dirtiness, and white for pureness. Racism came to a high level during this time, and the novel illustrates this by exposing the obsessive behavior of Pecola's mother, Mrs. Breedlove to have everything clean, organized and white. She was entirely dedicated only to carefully clean the house of her employers and pay much more attention to the girl who she took care, which obviously was white, than her own daughter Pecola, which could not even call her mother how a typically girl would call hers “mom,” but Mrs. Breedlove. This obsessive behavior from
Actions and Reactions Toni Morrison, author of The Bluest Eye, writes about a young girl, Pocola, who goes through a rough childhood experiencing abuse, being ignored, racism, and early and unwanted motherhood. InThe Bluest Eye, Morrison discusses different family societal ideals in relation to their children's depiction of self worth. In the beginning of the novel reader is introduced to the main family the Breedloves. With a father, mother, and two children the Breedloves have a very hostile environment in their home…
Blue eyes, blonde hair, white skin. This being what most African American girls desired in the 1940s. This was considered “beautiful” to African American girls in the 1940s. In Toni Morrison’s first novel and national bestseller The Bluest Eye, eleven year old Pecola Breedlove grows up as an abused and unloved daughter. One of the first events that happen in the story is when Pecola begins to menstruate and is told that she can now have babies and that she is starting to grow as…
rather unusual, considering that she did incorporate some of these ideas into her work. It sounds as though in this quote that by using such characteristics in a work, it somehow loads it down with extraneous details. However, in Morrison's The Bluest Eye, it only enhances the reading and furthers the reader's understanding of the timherself In accordance with the understanding…
Toni Morisson's novel The Bluest Eye details the life of the Breedloves and African American family of Lorain, Ohio during the 1930’s. The focal point of the novel centers around the 11 year old daughter Pecola who is deeply struggling internally to overcome a bout of self hatred. Each day she faces racism not only from white people but mainly from her own race. In their eyes Pecolas dark skin translates as ugly and inferior. By obtaining blue eyes, she feels as if she can overcome this ugliness…
The Bluest Eye Love is something that can never be defined. The thought of just that one word, love, can make one feel happy, sad or even angry. A 4 letter word that is so powerful it can make or break your life. In the book The Bluest Eye love was represented in the worst way, violently. Violent love is love that is shown in a harsh, aggressive way. This is usually because the person showing this violent love doesn’t know how to show love any other way. Violent love is a never ending cycle that…
The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison, is a brilliant novel that shows the struggling life of a young black girl named Pecola Breedlove. It takes place during the 1940s in Lorain, Ohio. This book is seen through the eyes of Claudia MacTeer describing the interaction between society and Pecola. This novel shows how people believed that only one skin color was considered beautiful, white. Toni Morrison depicts how the beauty of white girls is overpowering the images of black girls and women through subliminal…
Eyes Full of Color KalanitKnackstedt The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison is a novel that contrasts an ideal white family, with black families from the mid-1940s, Lorain Ohio. Pecola Breedlove is a young black girl from a very troubled family who is on a mission to find love; in her search she inevitably stumbles on her society’s dangerous concept of physical beauty. Morrison uses the seven literary elements to convey horrible truths about love and the harm of accepting racism. The central idea is…
Fatima Santamaria Ms. Anderson AP Literature 14 December 2012 “The Bluest Eye” Beefy Paragraph Toni Morrison composes a novel with themes of the standards of beauty including isolation experienced by many of the characters throughout the story. Morrison, by means of symbolism, uses dolls to illustrate Claudia’s frustration about why they are adored by everyone. Unlike Pecola, she does not see why these insignificant dolls possess such beauty symbolizing a misunderstanding…
Meredith Ewen Life Stories Reflection I really enjoyed reading these stories. From my experience with Special Education both in and out of the classroom, I have gained a very negative view of the system. IEPs are never done correctly; correct services are rarely provided, the kids themselves hate being classified as Special Ed and the parents are less than involved or educated in the process (whether this is by choice or by design). The stories provided a glimmer of hope in an otherwise bleak…
My review is on the short story “The Bluest Eye” written by Toni Morrison. I am evaluating how the story was put together and how it made me feel as a reader. This review will be about how well I feel it did on making me feel what the character would have felt in the circumstances she was in, in the story. This was a story about a little girl and her struggle with being a colored person in 1941. Her name is Pcola and she wishes for her eyes to turn blue so she could be pretty like all the blond…