Seasonal Symbolism in The Bluest Eye

            In "The Bluest Eye," by Toni Morrison, the reader is led to question if society actually does try to predict events by seasons. Through placing different events in different seasons, especially summer, Morrison leads you to expect the unexpected, and teaches you to read without letting your beliefs take charge. In the book, autumn is interpreted to represent the end of childhood. Many people confuse the ending of childhood and the beginning of adulthood. In reality, the two are very different. The end of childhood is when a child starts to undergo physical changes; however, it is only when their mentality starts to change, when they lose that magic of childhood, that they enter adulthood. When a young character named Pecola starts to menstruate, one of her friends, Claudia, says, "Lying to next to a real person who was ministratin' was somehow sacred. She was different from us now- grown-up-like" (32).
             This quote shows society's point of view, but by placing this in the chapter of autumn, Morrison rejects society's status quo that the start of menstruation is the start of womanhood. Instead she compares childhood to the colorful dancing leaves of autumn, full of carelessness and lighthearted pleasure. Then when the leaves of childhood fall to the ground, they start to brown. Even though there is some color left in the leaf, it will too disappear into the crumbling brownness that has taken over. And in the end, all that's left of childhood is a graveyard of brown leaves. .
             In the world there are people who like to pretend that they're something that they're not. This is most prominent in the character of Geraldine, one of many women who believe that they are better than other colored people, even though they themselves are colored. One day, Geraldine's spoiled son, Junior, sees Pecola walking close to their house and invites her inside. She initially refuses but after Junior offers her a kitten, she accepts.