In The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, the central theme is society's negative influence on the individual. In the novel, which takes place in Ohio in the 1940's, cruelty towards blacks by society and the desire to be a Shirley Temple replica are prevalent. Unable to endure the viciousness towards her by society, Pecola Breedlove, the protagonist of the story, goes quietly insane, withdrawing into a fantasy world in which she is the most beloved little girl.
By society's standards, Pecola is ugly because her skin is darker than a normal lighter skinned black child. Morrison takes this poor, innocent, ugly, little black girl and shows the devastating effects of daily events on a young child. Morrison tries to show a little girl as a total and complete victim of her surroundings. Whites would comment or act cold to her without even thinking twice about their effects. For example, at one point in the book, Pecola has three pennies in her shoe, which she has been saving to buy Mary Janes. On the way to the store she passes some dandelions .
"Why, she wonders, do people call them weeds? She thought they were pretty." In the store, the owner, Mr. Yacobowski "looms over the counter.She looks up at him and sees the vacuum where curiosity ought to lodge. And something more. The total absence of human recognition- the glazed separateness. Yet this vacuum is not new to her. She has seen it lurking in the eyes of all white people.So.The distaste must be for her, her blackness." When she leaves the store,"Pecola feels the inexplicable shame ebb." As she again passes the dandelions, she thinks "They are ugly. They are weeds." .
An act of going to the store and buying candy, an act usually filled with joy and anticipation, has turned into one of shame and anger. The disgusting way she was treated in the store lowers her self-esteem and proceeds to distort her views on beauty.
Teachers, young children's most influential adults, also loathe Pecola at schoolas do other children.
Her first novel, "The Bluest Eye," was published in 1970. ... In 1965 she started writing 'The Bluest Eye." ... " The characters in the bluest eye show exactly why such a movement was needed. ... Pecola Breedlove is the central figure in "The Bluest Eye." ... "The Bluest Eye" focuses on Pecola Breedlove, a lonely adolescent black girl in the late 1940's. ...
Bluest Eye Toni Morrison's novel The Bluest Eye is about the life of the Breedlove family who resides in Lorain, Ohio, in the late 1930s. ... She wants the bluest eye. ... Instead of conventional chapters and sections, The Bluest Eye is broken up into seasons, fall, winter, spring, and summer. ... The name of the novel, "The Bluest Eye," is meant to get the reader thinking about how much value is placed on blue-eyed little girls. ... There are two major metaphors in The Bluest Eye, one of marigolds and one of dandelions. ...
Toni Morisson's novel The Bluest Eye is about the life of the Breedlove family who resides in Lorain, Ohio, in the late 1930s. ... She wants the bluest eye. ... The narrative structure of The Bluest Eye is important in revealing just how pervasive and destructive social racism is. ... Instead of conventional chapters and sections, The Bluest Eye is broken up into seasons, fall, winter, spring, and summer. ... The name of the novel, "The Bluest Eye," is meant to get the reader thinking about how much value is placed on blue-eyed little girls. ...
The Bluest Eye, written in 1940 by Toni Morrison, is constructed to reveal a very powerful point that applies not only to the book, but also to many societies of the present day. ... The ideas and views present in The Bluest Eye are related to beauty and what makes one beautiful. ... In the opening of The Bluest Eye, the passage from the Dick and Jane story, becomes a representation of an ideal white person's life. ... Eye imagery fills the scene, as the shopkeeper cannot "see" Pecola. ... She becomes the society that would accept her as beautiful with the bluest eyes. ...
Fighting, drinking, seducing Abusive, impulsive, vulnerable Charles (Cholly) Breedlove In the novel The Bluest Eye written by Toni Morrison, the protagonist was Pecola Breedlove and the antagonist was her father, Cholly Breedlove. ... The Bluest Eye. ...
The variety of passionately displayed themes, interactions, and events presented in The Bluest Eye provide an understanding of Toni Morrison's inner thoughts and beliefs which were highly impacted by her various life experiences. ... In The Bluest Eye, Morrison thoroughly uses her previous experiences in aid to create the feeling of hardship and the melancholy tone of the novel. ... The Bluest Eye was Morrison's first novel. ... Moses expresses the fact that in traditional blues songs, the singer is the subject, however, in The Bluest Eye, Claudia tells Pecola's story instead,...
In the Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison uses abuse and hardship to show the tragic consequences that come from racism. ... The Bluest Eye shows ways in which white beauty standards hurt the lives of black girls and women. ... The characters in the Bluest Eye are faced both directly and indirectly by racism. ... Three characters from The Bluest Eye that I will be describing are Pecola , Claudia and Pauline. ... Toni Morrison shows us what racism produces in the Bluest Eye. ...
The Bluest Eye Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye tells the sad story of Pecola Breedlove, a poor prepubescent black girl, who wants to be loved and cared for by her family and society. ... She idolizes images of blond haired, blue-eyed white girls like Shirley Temple. ... Her mother, Pauline, reinforces this belief by dedicating her life to this rich white family and doting over their blond, blue-eyed little girl, while at the same time completely ignoring her own little girl. ... The child is stillborn and Pecola goes insane withdrawing into a fantasy world where she has the bluest...
The Bluest Eye Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye tells the sad story of Pecola Breedlove, a poor prepubescent black girl, who wants to be loved and cared for by her family and society. ... She idolizes images of blond haired, blue-eyed white girls like Shirley Temple. ... Her mother, Pauline, reinforces this belief by dedicating her life to this rich white family and doting over their blond, blue-eyed little girl, while at the same time completely ignoring her own little girl. ... The child is stillborn and Pecola goes insane withdrawing into a fantasy world where she has the bluest e...