The bluest eye is an experimental
novel by Toni Morrison, a noble prizewinner and a very respected American
author. It tells the tale of Pecola Breedlove and her family.
The story’s narrators jump around from chapter to chapter, from Claudia, a
friend of Pecola’s, to the third person. Its centered on the struggles of a
being black woman in America at that time, Pecola’s
desire to be beautiful, and racism, specifically within their own race faced by
African Americans in Ohio.
A very present theme in “The Bluest
Eye” by Toni Morrison is the desire to be considered beautiful, specifically
Pecola’s. Pecola Breedlove comes from a poor family that nobody really likes,
and is infamously ugly. The author also made it very clear that everyone,
including the Breedloves knew it. “No one could have convinced them that they
were not relentlessly and aggressively ugly.” Morrison says as she introduces
the family. She almost describes their hideousness like an object, explaining
how each member of the family handles their faces. “Mrs. Breedlove handled her
as an actor would a prop.” “Sammy used his a weapon to caused others pain.” “And
Pecola. She hid behind hers.” She made their ugliness so obvious to show how
important it is for the time period. Specifically the word ugly, it was always
being said in the story. Being so terrible looking is a big disadvantage in
Pecola’s life. She was practically immobilized by her crooked nose, high
cheekbones, forward turned ears, and shapely lips that drew attention to her
whole disaster of a face. “As long as she looked the way she did, as long as
she was ugly, she would have to stay with these people.” The narrator explains.
Her teachers would refuse to call on her, or even look her way; her ugliness
was too much of a discomfort. Not only does Pecola want to be pretty, but also
she specifically has a need for blue eyes. In fact, her goal throughout the
whole book is to have bright blue eyes like Mary Jane, the girl on the wrapper
of her favorite candy. She has this illusion that if she had eyes like her, all
her problems will disappear. Her parents would say, “Why look at pretty eyed
Pecola. We mustn’t do bad things in front of those pretty eyes.” However the
reality of it is quite the contrary. At the end of the story, after having
endured a pregnancy from her father and going crazy, she believes she has blue
eyes. Her self torment has gotten to the point where she cant take it anymore,
she makes talks herself into believing she has reached her goal. She has a
whole dialogue with herself asking if she has the bluest, prettiest eyes in
Medallion. “Bluer then Joanna’s?” she asks “Much bluer than Joanna’s”, the
voice inside her head answers. However at the end of the day, She still has
brown eyes, and is still considered ugly, therefore practically useless.
Another theme very obviously present
in the book is racism. Not only white people discriminating black people and
vice versa, but also racism within a race. Light skinned black people were even
considered better then someone with a darker completion. Someone who symbolized
this is Maureen Peal. Or “Maginot Pie” the nickname our narrator Claudia and
her sister Frieda call her to make fun of her light skin. Not because they
thought it was bad, but because they secretly envied her. Everyone did, she was
the “high yellow dream child with long brown hair,” who “enchanted the entire
school.” One day, a bunch of boys were making fun Pecola’s brown skin (even
though they were also black) when Maureen steps up. The boys immediately
disperse. “Maureen appeared at my elbow, and they boys seemed reluctant to
continue under her springtime eyes…” Claudia says. Not only do the boys treat
Maureen better, but also so does everyone, which was made very clear by the
author. It was very obvious that her family was richer and more respected then
Claudia or Pecola’s. She knew all the latest movies, something you can infer
Pecola and Claudia don't get to see much. Overall “Maginot Pie” just knew more
things in general then Pecola and Claudia. Pecola also faces discrimination
from a white candy storeowner. However, she as well as every black person in
Medallion faces discrimination from more then Maureen Peals and candy stores
owners, but everybody. Being judged by the color of her skin was just the way
of life that she dealt with without even thinking twice. Every time Pecola
wants to go get candy, she has to deal with by Mr. Yacobowski. Mr. Yacobowski
sees Pecola as this piece of disgusting garbage, or doesn't really see her at
all. “How can a 52 year old white immigrant store keeper with the taste of
potatoes and beer in his mouth his mind on the doe-eyed Virgin Mary, his
sensibilities blunted by permanent awareness of cost, see a little black girl?” The author says. In fact, when Pecola
reached to give him the money, he hesitated, not wanting to touch her hand,
almost as if he’d get sick if he touched a black girls dirty hand. However
things like this occur throughout the whole novel, because it was that normal
for the citizens of Medallion.
Another big part of “The Bluest Eye” is how
women are treated. Specifically black women. Throughout the whole story,
Morrison mentions how husband all beat their wives, as if it can be assumed. A
marriage she specifically zooms in on is Pauline and Cholly Breedloves. Cholly
has this hatred for his wife and women and the author tells the story of how it
began. Even though Cholly is definitely not the first of men to hate women, and
his views are not unique, his story is. The day of his caretaker’s funeral,
Cholly meets Darlene, and they go for a walk in the woods. Eventually Cholly
and Darlene end up having sex behind one of the trees when they get
interrupted. Two white men appeared, snickering, and yes “there was no mistake
about them being white, he could smell it.” They embarrassed Cholly to the
point where he felt extremely deep hatred, except not towards the white men. "For
now he hated the one who created the situation, the one who bore witness to his
failure, his impotence. The one whom he had not been able to protect, to spare,
to cover from the round moon glow of the flashlight." He hated Darlene, but
not just Darlene, but all women. This story perfectly represents the way a lot
a men probably felt at the time about women and why.
The bluest eye has tons of great
examples on how messed up America once was and sometimes still is. Its
represents sexism, racism and the desire to beautiful, that was faced by Pecola
and thousands of other women in Medallion, and still is being faced by everybody today. Overall, I think Toni
Morrison delivered a good story but also a powerful novel that poses questions
about society.
blog post that inspired this essay: http://margojohnston805.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-bluest-eye-by-toni-morrison.html
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