The novel is filled with subtle messages, such as those, that the white race is infinitely superior to the blacks, including Claudia's white baby doll, the idealization of Shirley Temple and Mary Jane, Maureen's depiction of being cuter than the other black girls, and many other instances. .
Morrison wrote this novel because in the 1960s, black male authors published powerful, aggressive, revolutionary fiction or nonfiction, and they had positive racially uplifting dialogues with them that were stimulating. Morrison thought no one would realize that it wasn't always beautiful, how hurtful racism is. One reason why she wrote "The Bluest Eye" is because someone would actually be apologetic about the fact that their skin tone was different than other kids. When Morrison was a child, her and her friends called each other names but they didn't think it was serious. Back then, they didn't realize the implied label of racist words. "Guileless and without vanity, we were still in love with ourselves then. We felt comfortable in our own skins, enjoyed the news that our senses released to us, admired our dirt, cultivated our scars, and could not comprehend this unworthiness." (Morrison 74). She wrote "I wanted to speak on the behalf of those who didn't catch that right away. I was deeply concerned about the feelings of being ugly." .
Another reason that inspired Morrison to write the novel is because of a little girl she once knew: "Beauty was not simply something to behold, it was something one could do. " "The Bluest Eye" was her effort to say something about that; to say something about why she had not, or possibly ever would have, the experience of what she possessed and also why she prayed so much for a different appearance. Hidden in her desire was white beauty. After twenty years later Toni Morrison asked herself and wondered about how one learns of that.
