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 haired blue eyed girls. It is about her struggle with her father raping her and getting her pregnant as well. The author goes into details about the childhood of children in that time and how they spent their days and how they were treated by other children and adults. It goes into great detail on how a child in general struggles to be a child while having their race being an issue as well. It shows that children understand more than adults think they do and how children can be misunderstood as well. Adults are busy with their lives that they don’t notice all things going on around them especially in that time.
This story begins with a kid’s story saying” Here is the house. It is green and white. It has a red door. It is very pretty. Here is the family. Mother, Father, Dick, and Jane.” (Morrison), as though she is trying to show us how the books of Dick and Jane were so we could compare latter on in the book. This is confusing at first but then it makes sense later on when it shows how jealous the children are of white children because of how they are treated. This then makes sense because Dick and Jane have a perfect life and that is completely the opposite of what they have. It goes into 2 little girls and how their family had to make money by letting a man room there. It shows how this man was nice to them right off and treated them nice. Later in the book it reveals that he was a little too nice to them and touches one of them inappropriately. This part of the book also introduces Pcola because she had to come stay with this family as well because she had nowhere else to go right then. Their house caught fire and they had to send her somewhere for a bit. This is a great start to the book because it introduces the main character while still showing how a normal childhood in this time should be. Showing a caring father and hard working mother taking care of their children like they should. It also shows that even parents who do what they can to keep their children safe is still not in control of other people and the bad things they decide to do.
This story goes into telling how the mother offered the girls a glass of milk and Pcola got to drink from a glass with Shirley Temple on it which made her day. She was so excited because she loved Shirley Temple while the youngest girl hated her because she was jealous of her being white. It also goes into detail on how Pcola drank more milk than she should have and the girls mother started ranting about how someone could drink so much milk. This shows how much stress is on the mother at this time. She doesn’t take it out on the girls just vents to herself to make her feel better.
It then goes on to tell how Pcola started her period but they didn’t want to tell their mother because she would just rant some more so they decided to take matters into their own hands. They go behind a bush around the hous and help her take the panties off. Meanwhile a little girl from down the road spies on them and tell the mother they are doing bad things which infuriates the mother. She whips her children and then the mother sees the panties lieing there with blood on them and that’s when they get to explain. It shows she is remorseful for jumping to conclusions but she can’t completely give in because she will lose the control she has over them. It also shows that the girls are going through changes. I think this is important because this is a big time in these girls’ lives and by knowing that